THE DANGER OF DEPRESSION IS INCREASING!
Depression; It is one of the most important psychological diseases that we hear about more frequently in recent years and that we witness firsthand, sometimes affecting us and sometimes our loved ones.
Although depression is identified with the feeling of sadness, it is different from sadness. Sadness is one of the emotions we feel. Depression is a disease that has dimensions of emotion, behavior and thought. Depression has 3 different dimensions:
Emotion dimension: The depressed person is generally pessimistic. There is a feeling of hopelessness about the future. Feelings such as unhappiness, helplessness, worthlessness, anger, guilt (mostly self-oriented) are other emotions that accompany the depressed person.
Behavior dimension: General feeling of the person There is inactivity. Behaviors such as constant desire to sleep or inability to sleep, refusal to eat or overeating, substance use or increase in use, unwillingness to talk, fatigue, weakness are observed.
Cognitive dimension. : The person's thoughts are confused and scattered. He/she has problems with focus and concentration. The person has thoughts that consider himself worthless and life meaningless. The person; Negative and generalizing thoughts such as 'Life is meaningless, it's not worth living, everything is so bad, no one loves me, I'm useless, etc.' are common.
What Causes Depression?
strong>Depression leads to many negative consequences. It causes the person to withdraw from social and business life, to be worn out psychologically, physically and socially, and to experience loss of energy.
Who (World Health Organization): Depression will be a global problem by 2030. There will be a crisis!
The World Health Organization (WHO) periodically publishes statistical analyzes on the changing frequency of diseases around the world. It also explains what health problems are expected in the coming years by looking at the frequency of development of new diseases. According to the latest published report, the most common disease is cardiovascular diseases and the second is depression.
The World Health Organization estimates that approximately one in every 10 people worldwide has mental health problems. He explained that depression is bad, 900 thousand people commit suicide every year, 3 out of every 4 people with seriously ill mental health do not receive any treatment, and depression will be a global crisis by 2030.
According to the report, while there is one specialist per 100 thousand people in low- and middle-income countries, there is one specialist per 2 thousand people in rich countries. While 2 dollars per person is spent on mental health in poor countries, 50 dollars are spent in high-income countries.
Depression Causes Loss of Workforce
Depression affects the person himself and himself. Not only does it affect their relatives, it also affects their productivity at work. As a result of the reluctance, inactivity, pessimism, lack of motivation, loss of energy and decrease in work efficiency caused by depression, serious job losses are expected to occur in both the public and private sectors in the coming years. Depression, which is a serious disease, is currently ranked 5th in the list of workforce loss.
The physical, psychological, sociological and economic damages that will occur when depression is added to common diseases reveal the need to take preventive measures.
Is Depression a Weakness of Faith?
Some people claim that depression is caused by a weakness of faith. I think it is useful to answer this claim with Mevlana's following observation. According to Mevlana; The heart is the shore of the divine sea of manifestation. Waves constantly come to the heart from that ocean. These come in different shapes and sizes, like light waves. These waves have an effect on the person depending on where they come from. Some of these waves come from Allah's name 'Basit' and the effect it creates in the heart is relief. The person feels relief under the influence of this wave. Another wave comes from Allah's name "Kabz" and causes distress, constriction and depression in the heart.
The purpose of these waves manifesting in different ways is to prevent the person from living monotonously. For example, if a person always encounters the manifestation of the name 'Basit' and blessings, can he realize the beauty of this? In order to feel the state of relief, one must experience distress from time to time. Because everything is just the opposite
In light of all these explanations, it is natural for there to be changes in the person's emotional state. The long duration of the distress can be explained by the person's lack of appropriate intervention, not by weakness of faith.
Depression. What Should Be Done?
Once depression occurs, it is treated in two ways.
Medication Treatment: In drug treatment, antidepressant drugs are given to the depressed patient, and the patient uses these drugs as much as possible. It is required to use it for at least 6 months. The possibility of recurrence of depression increases with early discontinuation of the drug. Medication helps to recover from depression faster than therapy, but sometimes use alone is not enough. Because the person's hormones are intervened with medication, the emotional state is tried to be balanced, but the intervention in behavior and thought is insufficient.
Psychotherapy: With psychotherapy, the negative and emotional state that reveals and maintains the person's depressive mood. It is aimed to eliminate dysfunctional automatic thoughts. The therapist helps the person, who is free from the influence of dysfunctional thoughts, gain functional and positive thinking skills. It also ensures that the skills learned to change behavior and thoughts are supported with homework. Homework and physical activities are indispensable for therapy.
Medication? Psychotherapy?
One of the most frequently asked questions is which one is more effective in treatment. There are differences regarding this from country to country and even from expert to expert within the same country. For example, in America, medication and psychotherapy are used together to treat depression. In England, there is a different practice. There is no medication for the initial treatment of mild to moderate depression in the UK. Psychotherapy treatment is applied. When the progression of depression cannot be prevented by psychotherapy, medication and psychotherapy are applied together. In our country, the approach to this issue is left to the initiative of the experts and the patient's preference.
The general opinion is that drug treatment is necessary in advanced depression to prevent suicide and other harms that may occur. However, in mild and moderate depression, psychotherapy cannot be treated with medication. It has been stated that it gives similar results to treatment, is advantageous because it has no side effects, and the possibility of relapse of the disease is less common than drug treatment. According to a study conducted in Europe, the relapse rate of depression is as high as 80% in patients treated only with medication, while it is seen between 20-30% in patients treated with therapy. This result reveals that depression treatment should be supported by therapy even if it is provided with medication.
To summarize, with cognitive behavioral therapy, the person is given the ability to acquire healthy thoughts and behaviors by intervening in his/her dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors, thus reducing the risk of recurrence of the disease. is decreasing. In the treatment of chronic depression, it is recommended to use medication and psychotherapy together.
Read: 0
