Depression Is a Treatable Disease
Life is a roller coaster, full of ups and downs. But if you start to feel like you’re always “down” or you start to have trouble just getting through the day, you may be depressed. More than 17 million people in the U.S. experience an episode of depression each year, twice as many women as men. Fewer than two-thirds of depression sufferers receive the medical help they need, yet in most cases proper treatment can alleviate symptoms of the disease.
Yes, depression is a disease. Depression is caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. It is a whole body illness that affects you physically, mentally and emotionally. Depression is not a matter of trying harder, thinking happy thoughts, a sign of weakness or lack of will. People suffering from depression cannot just “pull themselves together.” Depression is a medical disease just like diabetes or heart disease. Without treatment, depression can last for months, even years. Some people have an isolated episode of depression triggered by a traumatic event like job loss, financial difficulties or the death of someone close to them. Chronic stress or anxiety can result in depression. Some people have periodic episodes of depression throughout their lives; for others, the disease is chronic.
The symptoms of depression are unique to each person. Depression causes changes in thinking, feeling, behavior and physical health. The severity of symptoms differs with each individual. Symptoms of depression may include:
- Persistent feelings of sadness, emptiness, hopelessness or helplessness
- Loss of interest in normally enjoyed activities
- Irritability, restlessness, excessive crying
- Sleeping too much or too little, trouble getting out of bed in the morning
- Loss of appetite and weight loss or overeating and weight gain
- Fatigue, exhaustion, decreased energy.
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions, memory lapses
- Thoughts of death or suicide
Although antidepressants help alleviate depression symptoms for many people, not everyone who is diagnosed with depression requires medication. The most effective treatment for depression is generally a combination of psychodynamic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication management administered and coordinated by an experienced psychiatrist.
If you or someone you know suffers from depression, don’t lose hope. Depression can be treated. With the support and guidance of a caring psychiatrist like Dr. Tracey Marks, you can rediscover joy in your life.
Learning to Recognize Symptoms of Stress
The nagging headache starts at the office. You feel tired. You’re having trouble concentrating. Your productivity starts to suffer, and you begin to wonder if you’re coming down with the flu. By the time you get home you’re ready to tuck yourself into bed. The chills and fever never materialize but your symptoms don’t go away.
While persistent headaches, fatigue, frequent forgetfulness and decreased productivity can be signs of illness, stress is often the culprit. Stress can affect your body physically, can impair thoughts and emotions, and can impact behavior.
- Physically, excessive or long-term stress can cause headache, back pain, chest pain, high blood pressure, erratic heart beat, stomach and intestinal problems, and sleep problems. Persistent stress can decrease your immunity to disease and cause heart disease.
- Emotionally, persistent stress can cause anxiety, restlessness, excessive worry, irritability, sadness, anger, feelings of insecurity, inability to concentrate and forgetfulness. Left untreated, stress can lead to serious depression.
- Behavior changes associated with constant stress include overeating or undereating, problems managing and controlling anger, drug or alcohol abuse, increased smoking, social withdrawal, crying spells and relationship conflicts.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms of excessive or chronic stress, it is important to seek medical help. Naturally, a trip to your primary care physician to rule out and address any physical illness that may be responsible for your symptoms is in order. However, if chronic stress is the source of your symptoms, you will have to go beyond your primary care physician to cure what ails you.
Chronic stress can be treated and overcome and you can learn to live a happier, more balanced, relatively stress-free life. With the help and guidance of a psychiatrist experienced in stress management, you can learn to recognize your personal stressors and how they impact your life and health. Through cognitive-behavioral therapy, an experienced psychiatrist can help you learn to recognize and control your reaction to stress. With expert guidance, you can learn new techniques for responding to stressful situations and people. You don’t have to let control your life. With help, you can learn to control stress and regain control of your life.
Stability, Not Marriage, Key to Kids’ Happiness
A new study by an Ohio State University researcher found that it is the stability of the parent and the home, not marital status, that determines whether divorced children will thrive and be happy. The study found that children who grow up with a single mother are as likely to succeed academically and socially as those who grow up in traditional married-couple homes if the parent is emotionally stable and the home environment is stable. Published in the book Marriage and Family: Perspectives and Complexities, the study bolsters support for single-parents, gay couples, children being raised by grandparents or relatives, and other non-traditional families.
“Kids like to know what to expect,” Claire Kamp Dush, OSU assistant professor of human development and family science and study author, told The Columbus Dispatch. She explained that creating family stability means maintaining the status quo. Study data indicate that single mothers who do not move in with a new partner or remarry create the most stable home environments for their children. When home life was stable, Kamp Dush found no difference in levels of academic achievement, cognitive stimulation, emotional support or behavioral problems between children from single-parent and traditional married-couple homes.
Some researchers see a connection between stability and financial resources. Many other studies have found differences between children’s welfare and happiness in single-parent and married-couple homes. Many of those differences are rooted in financial circumstances and quality of education. When poverty enters into the equation, it can tip the balance against stable home life.
Single mothers worried about finances are more likely to suffer anxiety, depression and other emotional problems that can significantly impair the stability of home life. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 50% of children born to single mothers live below the poverty level. Statistics posted by The Heritage Foundation indicate that 35% of divorced mothers who receive child support and 42% of those who don’t live below the poverty line.
If you are struggling with single parenthood, a qualified psychiatrist like Dr. Tracey Marks can help you deal with the anger, anxiety, grief or depression you may be experiencing so that you can provide a stable home for your children.
How to Tell When Sadness Becomes Depression
It’s hard not to feel depressed these days. We’re still digging ourselves out of the economic rubble, more soldiers are needed in Afghanistan and fires are raging across California. Then there’s the normal mayhem that parades across our TV screens on the local news every night. Unless these events intrude into our personal lives, however, they affect most of us only superficially. It’s when traumatic experiences become part of our personal daily experience that the risk of depression increases.
Unfortunately, the scope of today’s problems is so great that an unusually large number of people are coping with personal disasters like job loss, layoffs, home foreclosure, debt, illness, marital discord and other difficult life challenges. As time passes and these problems continue to eat away at us without solution, anxiety and grief for our losses intensifies. Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness can overwhelm us. We blame ourselves and may even consider death or suicide. This is the risk and danger of depression.
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 14.8 million adults experience a major depressive disorder, and an additional 3.3 million Americans suffer from mild or chronic depression. Since 1996, the number of Americans taking antidepressant drugs has increased by 100%. Many people who suffer from depression do not recognize that they have the illness and do not realize that they can recover with psychotherapy treatment directed by an experienced psychiatrist.
Depressed people feel overwhelmed by a life over which they feel they’ve lost control. They are exhausted by the struggle to solve problems for which they see no solution. They stop participating in their usual activities. They lose interest in activities that used to give them pleasure. They begin to withdraw from family and friends. When sadness or despair last more than two weeks or begin to interfere with the normal activities of daily living — working, eating, sleeping, family responsibilities — consider it a cry for help. Someone who is depressed may not recognize their need for help; and many are relieved when a family member, friend or co-worker steps in to offer assistance.
Depression can be treated successfully with competent care directed by an experienced psychiatrist. On Friday we’ll discuss successful treatments for depression. Click here to watch Dr. Tracy Marks’ helpful podcast on Depression and Anxiety Coping Strategies.
Dr. Marks Debuts Self-Help Tools for Better Mental Health
You take responsibility for your physical health. You see your doctor when you don’t feel well or something isn’t right, but there are a lot of things you do for yourself every day to stay healthy. You watch your diet, stock up on fruits and veggies, cut back on salt and fats, and take it easy on dessert. You force yourselves to exercise, stop by the gym regularly, walk the dog, take the stairs, and ride bikes with the kids.
It should be the same with your mental health. Just as people sometimes need the help of a medical specialist to deal with heart problems or diabetes or disease, there are times in most people’s lives when they need the help of a skilled psychiatrist to recover from loss or adjust to a major change in their lives or manage a behavior problem. And in the same way that we engage in self-help activities to keep our bodies healthy, we can engage in self-help activities to keep ourselves mentally strong and healthy.
Recognizing the need and interest people have in protecting their mental and emotional health, Atlanta psychiatrist Tracy Marks this week introduced several self-help features and products on her website. Every Wednesday, you can now join Dr. Marks for a weekly educational podcast about mental health issues of general interest. Podcasts can be viewed and downloaded from Dr. Marks’ website; just click Podcast on the toolbar. This week on Dr. Marks Personal Development Tool Chest, the doctor talks about depression and anxiety and offers seven valuable coping strategies. A printable self-help depression and anxiety checklist and worksheet is included for viewers’ personal use. We invite you to tune in every Wednesday as Dr. Marks shares interesting and useful information on how to maintain good mental health and warning signs to watch for if you or someone you love is having problems.
In response to readers’ enthusiasm for the self-help articles published on our website, Dr. Marks now offers three educational self-help CDs:
- Discover How to Relax teaches muscle relaxation and deep-breathing exercises to relieve stress and renew energy.
- Peaceful Sleep combines soothing sleep suggestions with therapeutic music selected to erase tension and anxiety and prepare you for peaceful sleep.
- Peaceful Mind is a soothing aid to stress-relieving, soul-renewing meditation.
Parents Must Temper Children’s Dreams With Reality
As parents, we all want our children to be happy in life and succeed. We encourage our children to dream big. We nourish our children’s dreams. We buy our future fireman a fireman’s hat at the toy store and take him to visit the local fire station. We invest in a piano and arrange music lessons for our budding concert pianist. We applaud our yet-to-be-discovered movie star by sending her to drama camp at the local college. We foster our emerging soccer star’s ambitions by signing up for a traveling team. There is nothing wrong with helping our children explore their dreams. It’s one way of letting them “try on” potential career choices to see how they fit. But some parents become so wrapped up in their children’s dreams that they lose perspective and fail to interject a necessary dose of reality.
When they are young, children’s dreams change quickly. Today’s fireman is tomorrow’s astronaut and next week’s rock star. But as children grow up, dreams begin to move them toward career paths. Sometimes parents co-opt their children’s dreams, reliving their own failed dreams or missed opportunities through their children. The dad who always wanted to be a high school quarterback pushes his son into football. The mom who dreamed of winning the lead in the high school play pressures her daughter into drama.
When parents force their own agenda onto their children’s dreams, children suffer. They are torn between their own interest or lack of interest and pleasing their parents. When parents “over-encourage” their children to succeed, particularly if the child expresses disinterest or feels uncomfortable with his ability to compete, children can become anxious. Constant anxiety can lead to insomnia, behavior problems, even depression and other emotional problems.
Parents need to take a step back and allow children to fully experience their own dreams. Certainly, provide opportunities to explore interests and talents; but temper dreams with reality. If your child warms the bench during the game, don’t step in and argue with the coach or make excuses that feed your child’s sense of entitlement. Allow your child the important lessons of disappointment and failure. Finding out for themselves whether they have the ability and skill to realize their dreams helps children to refine and restructure their dreams into attainable goals.
What Parents Can Do About Bullying
Children who are bullied suffer higher rates of anxiety, depression and low self-esteem and are more likely to have suicidal thoughts than kids who aren’t victimized by classroom bullies, warns a recent Mayo Clinic report (see our August 21, 2009 post). With nearly half of all school-aged children subjected to bullying at some point during their school years, parents need to know how to deal with this ever-growing threat to their children’s physical and emotional health. The American Academy of Pediatrics, which now urges physicians to include signs of bullying in patient assessments, recommends that parents take the following steps to protect their children from bullying:
If your child is the victim of bullying:
- Teach your child to stand up for himself by saying things like “I don’t like what you are doing.” Teach him to stay calm and walk away from bullies.
- Tell your child when and how to ask for help. Suggest they find an adult and tell them about the problem if they are being bullied.
- Encourage your child to develop friendships with other children. Children who are socially isolated are more apt to be bullied.
- Support activities that interest your child.
- Alert school officials and teachers if your child complains about bullying. Be an advocate for your child and see that the situation is resolved.
- Ask other adults to watch out for your child’s safety when you cannot be present.
If your child is a bully:
- Emphasize to your child that you are firmly against bullying.
- Be a positive role model for your child. Show him how to get what he wants without teasing, threatening or hurting another person.
- Set firm and consistent limits on aggressive behavior.
- Be clear in defining age-appropriate consequences for bullying behavior and be consistent in implementing those consequences.
- Use effective, nonphysical discipline such as loss of privileges.
- Work with school officials, teachers, counselors and the parents of victims to develop practical solutions.
Bullying can have a disastrous long-term impact on a child’s emotional development. If your child is a bully or a victim, consider taking him or her to a board certified psychiatrist like Dr. Tracey Marks. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective in replacing detrimental, maladjusted behaviors with positive, life-affirming ones.
What Parents Need to Know About Bullying
Bullies. Every classroom seems to have one. In another age, bullying was considered a rite of passage; but that was before the massacres at Columbine and Virginia Tech. We now know that bullying can have long-lasting effects, both for bullies and their victims. Since April, at least three children have committed suicide as the result of bullying, according to news reports.
“Children who are bullied have higher rates of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and other mental health conditions. Children who are bullied are more likely to think about suicide, and some of these wounds may linger into adulthood,” warns the Mayo Clinic in a recent online report.
Almost half of all schoolchildren are bullied at some point, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Bullying can happen to any child, but young children and those with few friends are the most at risk. Bullying need not be physical (punching, hitting, kicking or destruction of property); teasing, name-calling, racial slurs, gossip, malicious rumors, and other verbal abuse can be even more damaging. Internet and cell phone access has moved bullying out of the school yard and onto the Internet. Called cyberbullying, electronic harassment makes it easy for children to malign, embarrass or threaten their peers anonymously.
As the school year starts, it’s important for parents to tune in to their children and watch for the warning signs of bullying:
- Bruises, scrapes or other injuries
- Ripped or missing clothing or personal possessions
- Few friends or statements such as “nobody likes me”
- Headaches, stomachaches or other physical complaints
- Trouble eating
- Trouble sleeping or nightmares
- Anxiety when preparing for school or talking about school
- Fear of going to school or playing hooky
- Trouble concentrating on schoolwork; declining or failing grades
- Fighting or behavioral problems
- Depression, listlessness
- Suicidal statements such as “you’d be better off without me”
With the advent of cyberbullying through emails, instant messaging, Facebook and blogs, bullying has become so prevalent that the American Academy of Pediatrics is urging pediatricians to include signs of bullying in patient assessments. Referral to a board-certified psychiatrist with an expertise in cognitive-behavioral therapy may be required to prevent the harmful effects of bullying or treat anxiety/depression caused by bullying.
Next time: What parents can do about bullying
