Major Depression is REAL

Do you feel like you are regularly feeling miserable and hopeless? This is a top sign of what healthcare professions call clinical depression, also known as major depression. Major/clinical depression can make it difficult for individuals to function in their day to day activities such as work, school, relationships, and necessary actives you need to remain health such as eating, sleeping, and working out. Major depression can occur once in a lifetime for some people, while others may struggle with this disease multiple times.

What exactly is major depression? Major depression is different from feeling sad or occasionally depressed. Major/clinical depression is actually determined by a unhappy, miserable, and depressed mood most of your day, for more than 2 weeks. Major depression often results in a lower quality of life, making it difficult for the individual to function properly. Common signs of major depression are:

• Ongoing fatigue – constantly feeling tired and exhausted
• Sense of worthlessness – feeling unimportant and insignificant
• Sense of guilt
• Fogginess – trouble focusing and remembering things throughout the day
• Trouble sleeping – lack of sleep or over sleeping on a regular basis
• Loss of interest in enjoyed hobbies
• Thoughts of death and/or suicide
• Excessive weight gain or weight loss

How do you know if you have major/clinical depression? Start off by seeing your primary care doctor as they will be able to determine this for you. Your doctor will start off by performing a detailed medical evaluation, which is more extensive than a preliminary screening for depression at your annual wellness visit. Unfortunately, there is not a simple blood test or scan that detects depression, but if you are diagnosed with major depression your doctor might recommend a blood test to see if there are any medical issues causing it. It is important to be honest with your doctor and let him or her know whether or not you have a family history of depression or other psychiatric disorders.

Major depression can sometimes occur from one generation to the next in families, but often it may affect people with no family history of the illness. Women have a two-times higher risk of facing major depression over men – hormones can play a big factor. Menstruation, pregnancy, miscarriages, and menopause are all factors that can increase a woman’s chance of becoming clinically depressed. Other triggers that could contribute to this disease in both men and women are:

• Stress at work
• Stress at home
• Relationship issues
• Financial issues
• Loss of family member
• Significant change
• Being a single parent
• Medical issues personally or with a family member

Dr. Dharia and his team at Palm Beach Internal Medicine are here to help. Give them a call if you are feeling any of the above the symptoms or if something just doesn’t feel right. Depression is a serious disease and it is important to talk to your doctor to start your journey to feeling better!