How To Identify Depression
by Cynthia Wilson, M.A.
What do Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe and Vincent van Gogh have in common? They all suffered from depression.
Everyone may feel sad or upset about life's disappointments from time to time. This occasional sadness and disappointment is very different from clinical depression, a serious illness that may be caused by a brain disorder. Depression profoundly impairs the ability to function in everyday situations by affecting mood, thoughts, behaviors and physical well-being.
Studies suggest that there are biochemical and genetic links to depression. A considerable amount of evidence supports the theory that depressed people have imbalances in the brain's neurotransmitters, which are the chemicals that allow communication between nerve cells. Serotonin and norepinephrine are two such chemicals whose low levels are thought to play an especially important role in depression. The fact that women have naturally lower serotonin levels than men may contribute to women's greater tendency to depression. Environmental factors can also play a role in depression. When combined with a biochemical or genetic predisposition, life stressors, such as relationship problems, financial difficulties, death of a loved one or medical illness may cause the disease to manifest itself.
Children may also experience depression; however, their symptoms are often mislabeled as normal emotional and psychological changes that occur during growth. This leads to childhood depression being under diagnosed and undertreated.
Early studies of childhood depression focused on "masked" depression, where a child's depressed mood was evidenced by acting out or angry behavior. While this does occur, particularly in younger children, many children display symptoms similar to depressed adults. The primary symptoms of depression revolve around sadness, a feeling of hopelessness and mood changes.
Though some children may continue to function reasonably well in structured environments, most kids with significant depression will suffer a noticeable change in social activities, loss of interest in school, poor academic performance or a change in appearance. Children may also begin using drugs or alcohol, especially those over 12 years old. Children with a family history of depression are at greater risk of experiencing depression.
If you know someone who is suffering from depression there are several things that you can try that may help. For example, encouraging the person to make an appointment with a doctor and, once they've made that appointment, going along for moral support and to let the doctor know about any concerns. Encourage the person to stick with the treatment and take prescribed medicine.
It can be several weeks before medication takes effect; encourage the person to stick with treatment even though they are not noticing any immediate changes. Give emotional support by listening and offering hope. Invite the person to join you in activities that you know they used to enjoy. Don't accuse the person of faking illness. Take any comments about suicide seriously and seek professional help immediately.
Depression can be caused by any combination of factors that relate to physical health, life events, family history, environment, genetic vulnerability and biochemical disturbance. Depression is not a passing mood, nor is it a condition that will go away without proper treatment.
Hair Pulling Can Be Problematic
by Cynthia Wilson, M.A.
Hair pulling can be a real psychological problem. The psychological term for pulling hair out is "Trichotillomania". Hair pulling can occur in both men and women at any age. The most common regions of the body where hair is pulled from are the scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic hair and facial hair. Some people who pull out their hair ingest the hair; his is called "trichophagy". Hair pullers may also exhibit other habits such as, nail biting, knuckle cracking, face or scalp picking or scab picking. Hair pulling is often an ongoing problem that can lead to lower-self-esteem, embarrassment, and avoidance of social situations. Hair pulling is considered an impulse disorder and the pulling of the hair can cause a reduction of anxiety and tension for the individual causing the disorder to be chronic.
Hair pulling can be caused by stress, unconscious conflict, and relationship difficulties. There are other causes for hair pulling, such as disruptions of different brain chemicals levels that may play a role. This being said one of the most common treatments is antidepressant, specifically, Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. There are other medication alternatives if the antidepressants are not effective. If medication is the appropriate treatment it should be under the advisement of a medical doctor. There are side effects to most medication, for this reason medication management is extremely important. As for psychological treatment the most common techniques are Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Therapy, and Hypnotherapy.
Hair pulling can have a significant impact on the family, friends, and of the individual hair puller. Here are some important facts to know when dealing with a hair puller. Hair pulling is far from being a "bad habit". Hair pulling can be accompanied with serious psychological and medical problems. There are also things to stay away from, such as saying any of the following comments: "It is just a bad habit", "It's just a phase you are going through", "It's just stress", "Don't you care about you appearance". There are some things that will be helpful that are alternatives to the comment listed above. Such as, ask your loved one to help you understand more about their problem, ask your loved how you can help them with their hair pulling, and offer encouragement for small steps and support when setbacks occur.
If you have a child who is having problems with hair pulling there are few more pieces of information to take in account. The average age of onset for hair pullers is typically twelve or thirteen years old, hair pulling can begin at almost any time. There have been several hypotheses for causes of childhood hair pulling. Among these are streptococcal infections, problems with brain chemistry, genetic inheritance high levels of stress, and certain parenting styles. The best approach for getting the child treatment is to consult a profession and have the child assessed to determine the best plan for treatment. Parents of child hair pullers should not blame themselves for the child's problems nor expect to find answers to the problem without the help of a professional and the cooperation of their child.