Depression is a depressed state of mind. In depression, the emotional state is negative. This is the difference between depression and apathy. With apathy, emotions simply fade away. It is impossible to confuse these states.
Necessary
- - test "scale of depression";
- - MMPI test;
- - projective techniques for studying the sphere of conflict.
Instructions
Step 1
If you once woke up in a bad mood, knowing perfectly well what problems it caused, if you understand what kind of work you have to solve these problems, and, realizing the difficulty of the task, got out of bed and started solving them, then this is not depression. … Depression is a psychophysiological condition with clear symptoms.
Step 2
First of all, pay attention to the emotional state. There are emotions, but they are painted in negative tones, the prospects are viewed as gloomy, self-esteem is underestimated. This is not just a bad mood, but a decrease in the general background of mood to negative.
Step 3
Note that depression is rarely pure. The symptoms may contain components of obsessions. For example, constant memories of some unpleasant episode in life, dark "premonitions" that haunt the patient. Obsessive thoughts of suicide are especially dangerous.
Step 4
Depression is often accompanied by constant anxiety. You may notice that anxiety is sometimes concretized into fears. It can be fear of losing your job, fear of impoverishment, fear for life and health (both your own and those of your relatives).
Step 5
Pay attention to the depth of the depression. Here options are possible from "just a bad mood" to severe forms, including motor and speech retardation, loss of appetite and even loss of color perception. To determine the depth of the depressive state, you can use psychological methods, for example, the "depression scale", the results of which are very accurate.
Step 6
Studying depression, you will definitely pay attention to the fact that they are all divided into endogenous and psychogenic. Endogenous depression occurs without any external reason. They can reach considerable depth and be accompanied by somatic symptoms. For example, endogenous depression can be indicated by constipation and dry mouth. Sometimes endogenous depressions are cyclical (bipolar depressions), while the depressive phase is replaced by a phase of excitement and euphoria.
Step 7
Endogenous depression is caused by various diseases, among which there can be both mental (cyclothymia, manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia) and somatic (for example, hepatitis). Endogenous depression can be caused by poisoning with toxic substances, drug exposure, traumatic brain injury and vascular diseases of the brain (including age-related changes).
Step 8
Psychogenic depression occurs against the background of an acute traumatic situation (reactive depression) or in case of frustration. Frustration is a condition in which a person loses hope of achieving personal mental comfort. With emotional exhaustion, a long stay in a state of frustration, a situation of anxious expectation, an unresolved conflict, neurotic depression develops.
Step 9
Acute reactive states of depression are often encountered in disaster medicine. It is known that such a state can turn into prolonged neurotic depression. Neurotic depression is characterized by the presence of a conflict between a real situation and a person's personal needs. Neurotic depression goes away if the conflict is exhausted or loses its emotional significance.
Step 10
In terms of identifying and diagnosing depression, it is especially important to detect and study the conflict situation and the conflict sphere. If the patient claims that there is no reason for depression, this does not mean that it is really absent. With neuroses, a subconscious repression of a conflict situation often occurs, this is a defensive reaction of the personality, and you must take it into account.
Step 11
The phenomenon of latent (larvae) depression causes particular difficulty in diagnosis. At the same time, the patient can laugh, joke, be the soul of the company. Complaints about his well-being are not expressed, for example: “It's just that my head aches …” But a psychological examination can reveal that he has depression, reaching alarming depth.
