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[
Depression
Screening Test ]
Depression
vs. Sadness
How
do you know when what you are experiencing is just a
bad day or something more serious? We all have
our ups and downs depending on how our day or week is
going. The transition from bad day to rut to
clinical depression can be gradual and leave even the
strongest person thinking, "What is wrong with
me? I just have to try harder! Why am I so
lazy? Why can't I get out of bed?"
SIGNS
OF CLINICAL DEPRESSION
- Concentration
is often impaired
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- Feeling
fatigued after 12 hours of sleep
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- Inability
to experience pleasure
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- Decrease
in appetite or food loses its taste
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- Feelings
of guilt, helplessness and/or
hopelessness
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- Sleep
disturbance or unable to fall back to
sleep
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- Missing
deadlines or a drop in standards
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- Increased
alcohol/drug use
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- Increased
sexual promiscuity
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- Increase
in self-critical thoughts with a voice in
the back of one's mind providing a
constant barrage of harsh, negative
statements
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If
someone experiences most of the above symptoms for
more than two weeks,
there is a good chance they are suffering from a
clinical depression.
Questions
About Clinical Depression
WHAT
IS CLINICAL DEPRESSION?
Clinical
depression is a medical illness similar to pneumonia
that even the strongest person cannot overcome without
treatment. Clinical depression is similar to heart
disease and cancer in that all of us have a
susceptibility to each. If we have a family history of
one of these illnesses, our susceptibility increases.
This explains how some develop a clinical depression
only after extraordinary stressors and others develop
clinical depression seemingly out of the blue.
Clinical depression is a very common illness that
affects approximately 3-5% of the population at any
one time. There is a 20% chance of having an episode
of clinical depression at some point in one's life.
The percentages are similar for the general population
and college students.
IS
CLINICAL DEPRESSION TREATABLE?
Clinical
depression is readily treatable with counseling and/or
medication. Medication can correct the chemical
imbalance (low levels of brain serotonin and
norepinephrine) that is found in people with symptoms
consistent with clinical depression. Unfortunately,
fifty percent of people who have clinical depression
never get help and suffer silently. Untreated, the
average clinical depression can last 9-12 months. With
treatment, people often report significant relief
within 4-6 weeks.
WHO'S
SUSCEPTIBLE TO CLINICAL DEPRESSION?
Clinical
depression often has its first onset in people between
the ages of 18 and 22. Many stressors are inherent to
these years, which may contribute to the onset of a
clinical depression: separating physically and
psychologically from one's family, managing the
increase in freedom, dealing with the successes and
disappointments that occur in academic, athletic, and
extracurricular activities, developing and losing love
relationships, many people experience death for the
first time during these years with the loss of a
friend or family member, choosing a major, finding a
job, leaving the familiarity and security of college
for the real world.
WHERE
DO I GET HELP?
Talk
with your physician, check with your medical insurer
or call FindingStone Counseling Center for an initial
consultation free of charge when you mention this
website.
Click
here for information on FREE
and CONFIDENTIAL depression screening
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