Depression. The silent scourge of our time

Depression is a mood disorder that affects more than 10% of the world’s population. We need to distinguish it from sadness which can be due to a specific event such as a loss and be a temporary condition.

The depressed person feels low in mood and usually describes what they are feeling as sadness or despair. He loses interest in life, reduces his activities and hardly finds pleasure in the things he does.

Psychotherapy has spectacular results in this condition since the therapist has the ability and sensitivity to empathize with the mental pain experienced by a depressed person.

Functional Depression

High-functioning depression is quite common these days because it is intertwined with the energy one needs to consume in order to cope with life’s obligations, struggling through an uncertain and ever-changing economic and social environment in our country over the past decade.

The signs of this depression are indiscernible because the person covers them behind a veil of functionality in their daily life. In this case, despite experiencing a difficult psychological situation, the person tries and manages to cope with professional, family, etc. his obligations as a result of which his symptoms are not easily noticed by those around him.

Some characteristics of these people are the following:

1. Their social life is limited and they do not enjoy participating in recreational activities as much as they should. Their sentiment remains unchanged.
2. When they carry out their duties they are usually isolated and closed to themselves.
3. They are intensely and constantly critical of themselves, creating high expectations and not enjoying their achievements.
4. They overthink and overanalyze the same problem in their mind, exaggerating it and exhausting them mentally.
5. They have limited activities that falsely help them to relax from the tension of everyday life, such as watching TV series or excessive engagement with social networks.
6. They may abuse alcohol, drugs, and various substances in order to cope with the stress they are feeling or to temporarily change the heavy emotion they are feeling.
7. The friendly and family environment does not realize that the person needs help if the person himself does not realize it or if some external stimulus does not prompt him to ask for help.

What to do

Regardless of the treatment the person may choose to pursue, which may include medication, psychotherapy sessions, or a combination of the two, they should keep in mind that the key to solving their problem lies within themselves as long as they follow the following:

1. To cultivate in himself the belief that it is a condition which will last for some time but will pass.
2. Try to talk to people close to him and people he really trusts.
3. To put a brake on his negative thoughts which maintain the symptoms of depression.
4. To ensure that there is physical activity in his daily life, whether this is a fitness program or even a simple walk. Physical activity works therapeutically in all mental states because it activates in our brain the action of substances that cause pleasure, so it is a completely natural way to feel well-being.
5. It is extremely helpful to engage in some artistic activity which helps in an indirect way to express our feelings