Depressive Disorders and Their Peculiarities - Coursework Example

Depressive Disorders The following paper focuses on depressive disorders, and provides a concise report on the essentials of their peculiarities. Specifically, it gives the main characteristics of depression, which serve as a ground for combining several types of disorders under the same title “depression.” Furthermore, several most prevailing types of depressive disorders, such as major, persistent, and bipolar are explained in details, including their clinical features, and both unique features and those similar to other disorders. Among other crucial points expressed in the work should be mentioned the etiology of depressive disorders, including the variety of theories that exist in this regard. It is explained that while causes of depressive disorders remain poorly investigated, the influence of several factors is already proved. In addition, the closing part of the paper is dedicated to exposing the variety of the treatment options that are widely available today with the conclusion making an emphasis on the effectiveness of the suggested interventions. Introduction Depression is a serious public health concern today, affecting the significant numbers of people from all communities or socioeconomic statuses around the world. Depressive disorders often develop at an early age, and reduce people’s ability to normally function in a society as well as the overall quality of life to the great extent. Today, specialists delimit several kinds of depressive disorders, each differing in its course, prevalence, and severity, but all can be equally threatening for one’s normal health and wellbeing. Subsequently, depressive disorders remain to be the subjects of the thorough and active investigations of the mental health specialists, aimed at deepening the base of knowledge about these disorders and improving the methods of treatment and prevention. In generally, although depressive disorders are likely to affect persons during the whole life, the timely and appropriate interventions can noticeably improve the state of a patient, diminishing the negative influence of an illness. Clinical Features To start with, the term depressive disorder is applied to the serious mental illness that affects both the mood and thoughts and the body. It results in a deeply depressive mood, which includes extreme feelings of sadness, emptiness, irritability, and other; loss of interest and of the ability to feel pleasure; decreased energy and increased apathy; feeling of being worthless or guilty; inability to concentrate; disturbed sleep, such as insomnia or hypersomnia; and other. It is also common for people to lose weight as well as experience anxiety, suicidal thoughts and make attempts to commit suicide. Thereof, the symptoms of a depressive disorder should be opposed to the occasional feelings of sadness, loneliness, or bad mood that people tend to experience from time to time. ("Depression," 2011) In contrast to a depressive disorder, such feelings can continue up to several days, are not intense, and do not produce any significant negative influence on one’s capacity to function as a healthy and active member of a society. At the same time, depression interferes into all spheres of people’s lives, impairing their readiness and ability to take care of daily responsibilities and duties. Putting it in simple words, people suffering from a depressive disorder literally cannot pull themselves together, which, however, should not be viewed as a sign of weakness, but as a serious conditions that must be treated. Major Depression Similarly to other illnesses, depression disorders can take multiple forms with each showing its own set of clinical features and methods of treatment. In general, specialists define three the most common kinds of depressive disorders. These are: major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disorder. Furthermore, different variations of the number of symptoms and their severity are quite possible within the mentioned types. The most common of all depressive disorders appears to major depression with approximately 350 million of people being affected worldwide, including 7 percent of U.S. citizens. (World health) In order to be diagnosed with major disorder a patient must show a combination of at least five symptoms, which were mentioned above, nearly every day during a period of more than two weeks. Depending on the severity and number of symptoms, major depressive episodes are differentiated as severe, moderate, or mild. In contrast to the mild episode, severe depression can completely impair the ability of patients to function in working, personal, or social spheres. ("Depression," 2014) The prevalence of major depressive disorder differs from person to person. Some may experience this illness only once or twice during the lifetime while others are likely to be affected by multiple episodes occurring frequently throughout life. Often, the intensity and severity of symptoms result in the feeling of being worthless and therefore, suicidal attempts are common among the affected individuals. Persistent Depressive Disorder Moreover, the next widespread depressive disorder is defined as persistent depressive disorder, also known as dysthymia. It is a chronic illness characterized by depressive mood that lasts for at least two years. ("Depression," 2011) While continuing for such a long period of time, episodes of persistent depressive disorder are less severe than those of the major depression and do not normally disable individuals to the great extent. However, as a whole, their quality of life and overall mental state remains affected, which negatively affects productivity and all spheres of functioning. Particularly, patients with persistent disorder experience the same sets of symptoms as persons having major depression with the only difference in their severity and period of continuation. In addition, people suffering from dysthymia can also have a history of major depressive disorder happening at some time during the lifetime. Bipolar Disorder A specific place among depressive disorders obtains bipolar affective disorder, called manic-depressive illness. The following illness differs from the rest of depressive disorders due to the uniqueness of its course. It is brain disorder that causes severe mood shifts from extremely elevated and positive moods to extremely low, characterized by the deep and prolonged depression. It is crucial that both mood extremes significantly alter the way individual perceives the world and evaluates self. Therefore, both are deviations from the norm and from the normal mood shifts that the parts of the healthy mood changes. During the episodes of high moods, which are called manic, a person tends to feel powerful in all areas of life, business and relationships; full of energy and ideas; reckless; talkative; as well as has the decreased need in sleep. ("Depression," 2014) Mania can be harmful for a person as far as under its influence persons are likely to be engaged in risky affairs, damage career, or ruin relationships with people. Speaking of the episodes of the low depressive moods, its symptoms are the same as in major depression and its severity can vary from case to case. As a rule, the number of episodes of mania and depression occurring during the lifetime varies greatly: from several episodes to multiple happening in a rapid-cycle pattern. Also, it is typical for patients to show an inclination towards either manic or depressive episodes. Therefore, during the lifetime one can experience, for example, many episodes of mania and one depressive episode. Bipolar disorder affects one throughout the life; however, it can be successfully taken under control by appropriate treatment and medications. Etiology Causes of depressive disorders are still a topic to be actively investigated with specialists acknowledging the lack of exact data and evidences to explain the patterns according to which disorders develop. At the same time, there are no doubts that their etiology is complex with the list of factors playing their specific influential role in this regard. For instance, it is agreed that heredity and biological factors as well as environmental ones are responsible for the appearance of disorders. Namely, researches proved that depressions are transmitted genetically as they run in families. Subsequently, the first degree relatives of people suffering from a kind of depressive disorders are under the greatest risk. (Coryell, 2013) However, the fact that not all persons from the risk group develop these illnesses proves the value of the environmental factors. Among such can be named living under constant stress and being overloaded with work and duties at the expense of leisure time; lack of sleep and exercise; and substance abuse. Furthermore, depression can progress under the influence of a kind of traumatic events, such as loss of a loved person or any other situation triggering significant distress. ("Depression," 2011) In addition, brain-imaging technologies showed differences in the brain structure and functioning between healthy people and those suffering from depressive disorders. ("Depression," 2011) Specifically, the parts of the brain associated with mood, behavior, and thinking prove to be different. Treatment At present, specialists possess enough methods to diagnose and treat depressive disorders effectively. In general terms, the most preferable set of interventions would include antidepressant medications and psychological support or psychotherapy. (Coryell, 2013) The treatment options depend on the severity of symptoms and the time during which they are present. For example, antidepressants are regarded as essential components of treatment of the severe and mild depressive episodes while it is likely to be avoided dealing with minor cases. Moreover, psychotherapy is an important part of the treatment plan as far as it targeted at the discussion of feelings, thoughts and problems that underlie his/her mental state. It is useful for helping patients to better realize their condition, its roots, and strategies of coping with all possible issues resulting from depression. It is also proved to be helpful for encouraging patients to remain on the prescribed medications. (Coryell, 2013) In general, the timely and appropriate treatment is helpful even in the most severe cases of depressions. It makes it possible to control the symptoms and significantly improve the quality of patients’ lives and their ability to function in all areas of life. Conclusion To sum up, depressive disorders remain in the top of diseases which threaten mental health of individuals worldwide. They affect substantial numbers of people and result in severe cases of depressive moods that undermine ability to be engaged in meaningful relationships or, in its worse cases, even perform every day activities. As a result, not only the quality of one’s being, but the life as a whole can appear under threat. Today, it is possible to distinguish between the variety of depressive disorders, with each having its own peculiar features, symptoms, and treatment options. However, the most widespread are considered to be major depressive disorder, persistent disorder, and bipolar affective disorder. People affected by them can suffer from the same set of symptoms but with quite different intensity, continuation and prescribed treatment. As a whole, depressive disorders can be effectively taken under control due to appropriate interventions, medications and therapy. References Coryell, W. (2013). Depressive disorders. The Merk Manual, Retrieved from http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/psychiatric_disorders/mood_disorders/depressive_disorders.html Depression. (2011). National Institute of Mental Health, Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/index.shtml Depression. (2014). Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Retrieved from http://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression Read More