Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2015 23:26:13 GMT
Good news is that this is my major, and I'm going in to Clinical Therapy. This thread is going to be my dumping grounds for your resources on this topic! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
First up: Depression.
It's easiest to just expand on the definitions of Major Depressive Disorder (with Catatonic/Psychotic(both mood congruent and mood incongruent) presenting symptoms but I will also mention Melancholic features (however there are also: Anxious Distress features, Mixed features, are less necessary unless you believe this character has a comorbid anxiety disorder. So I'm just leaving those out.), along with Dysthymia and SAD.
Major Depressive Disorder is characterized by torpid and "sad" behaviour wherein the person with the disorder has one or two of the following presenting body language:
- They are slow, isolationary, tend to speak softly and quietly, and tend to sit on their own. Many will say that every moment feels "heavy" or similar.
- They can also present agitatedly as being irritable, and constantly fidgeting, pacing, wringing their hands, and making sounds (such as sighing).
It is worth noting that having conversations with depressed people can be a chore not only because they will often speak slowly, with few words, and softly (as mentioned), but also because they have low attention spans which often wane. People with depression are also very prone to becoming frustrated when presented with problems and often cannot find themselves able to "come up with a solution", this can lead to their heads filling with self-recriminations which continue to lower their sense of will and drive, along with their sense of self worth and self esteem. As they are often feeling dejected and completely without hope and initiative, they may be apprehensive, anxious, and despondent much of the time. Also worth noting is that many people also tend to give complaints of body related symptoms such as aches and pains, but there is no cause to them. This is called a psychosomatic symptom and is a symptom in the body caused entirely by the brain. People with depression lose interest in things which they previously enjoyed (one of the most well known symptoms), and also constantly feel fatigued.
Depressive symptoms have different presentations across the lifespan and across cultures but I am trying to hone in on the common "USA/Western" MDD sufferer. Please tell me if I am wrong and I will adjust some information accordingly based on their culture (it shows very differently in those from East Asia for example, where there are far more somatic symptoms than emotional ones, due to East Asians (especially China and Japan) putting strong focus on "concealing" emotions).
Depression does have a tendency to dissipate, so it does "come and go" so to speak in cycles if someone has recurring depressive episodes. However, in cases where depression becomes chronic, the person does not completely "snap back" to an earlier level of functioning between episodes. This is called Dysthymia, and I will get to that right after I talk about presenting features.
I mentioned the ideas of "cataonic" and "psychotic" depression, and this is major depressive disorder with very specific features.
Catatonic Depression is standard MDD presenting with extra symptoms, such as muteness and motionlessness (whether they perceive that they cannot move or simply choose not to varies from person to person), along with things such as serious emotional distress when forced to move. Some of them will mimic what someone else hears or mimic their motions. People who are catatonically depressed have an extremely hard time with completing normal tasks and what may take us 30 second can take them hours to complete without assistance.
Psychotic Depression which is mood congruent means that psychotic episodes happen with specific emotional states in the person with MDD. Mood-incongruent means it can happen "whenever". Psychotic symptom presenting depression is a complex case to handle and effectively has hallucinations (gustatory, tactile, and auditory are most common in this case, but visual are not unheard of) along with delusional thoughts (often pertaining to their depression), such as the perception that this is caused by a different disease and isn't really depression, the belief that this is caused by outside forces, such as governments attempting to cripple them, so on.
The last one I'm touching on is melancholic depression, which may be to your interest as a writer. Melancholic depression is essentially depression which can last for profoundly long times and can completely change the personality of the person whom exhibits it. However the standard symptoms mirror MDD, but much more severely.
To return to "chronic" depression, dysthymia is a persistent and lowered depressive mood. Think of your normal "neutral" mood. Theirs is a mild depressive episode. This can co-occur with major depressive disorder, and they will continue to make many complaints of somatic symptoms such as aches, pains, inability to sleep/oversleeping, appetite changes, and sex drive fluctuations without having severe emotional episodes.
Dysthymia and depression are both treated with a combination of cognitive-behavioural therapy(ideal) and medication for stabilization and coping mechanisms.
SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is essentially "Winter Blues" - it is a disorder, but it only shows up in the 'darker' months of the year. It is often treated with light therapy, wherein the patient is given a special lamp to have turned on near them which mimics natural sunlight. This is often more than enough to deal with SAD.
First up: Depression.
It's easiest to just expand on the definitions of Major Depressive Disorder (with Catatonic/Psychotic(both mood congruent and mood incongruent) presenting symptoms but I will also mention Melancholic features (however there are also: Anxious Distress features, Mixed features, are less necessary unless you believe this character has a comorbid anxiety disorder. So I'm just leaving those out.), along with Dysthymia and SAD.
Major Depressive Disorder is characterized by torpid and "sad" behaviour wherein the person with the disorder has one or two of the following presenting body language:
- They are slow, isolationary, tend to speak softly and quietly, and tend to sit on their own. Many will say that every moment feels "heavy" or similar.
- They can also present agitatedly as being irritable, and constantly fidgeting, pacing, wringing their hands, and making sounds (such as sighing).
It is worth noting that having conversations with depressed people can be a chore not only because they will often speak slowly, with few words, and softly (as mentioned), but also because they have low attention spans which often wane. People with depression are also very prone to becoming frustrated when presented with problems and often cannot find themselves able to "come up with a solution", this can lead to their heads filling with self-recriminations which continue to lower their sense of will and drive, along with their sense of self worth and self esteem. As they are often feeling dejected and completely without hope and initiative, they may be apprehensive, anxious, and despondent much of the time. Also worth noting is that many people also tend to give complaints of body related symptoms such as aches and pains, but there is no cause to them. This is called a psychosomatic symptom and is a symptom in the body caused entirely by the brain. People with depression lose interest in things which they previously enjoyed (one of the most well known symptoms), and also constantly feel fatigued.
Depressive symptoms have different presentations across the lifespan and across cultures but I am trying to hone in on the common "USA/Western" MDD sufferer. Please tell me if I am wrong and I will adjust some information accordingly based on their culture (it shows very differently in those from East Asia for example, where there are far more somatic symptoms than emotional ones, due to East Asians (especially China and Japan) putting strong focus on "concealing" emotions).
Depression does have a tendency to dissipate, so it does "come and go" so to speak in cycles if someone has recurring depressive episodes. However, in cases where depression becomes chronic, the person does not completely "snap back" to an earlier level of functioning between episodes. This is called Dysthymia, and I will get to that right after I talk about presenting features.
I mentioned the ideas of "cataonic" and "psychotic" depression, and this is major depressive disorder with very specific features.
Catatonic Depression is standard MDD presenting with extra symptoms, such as muteness and motionlessness (whether they perceive that they cannot move or simply choose not to varies from person to person), along with things such as serious emotional distress when forced to move. Some of them will mimic what someone else hears or mimic their motions. People who are catatonically depressed have an extremely hard time with completing normal tasks and what may take us 30 second can take them hours to complete without assistance.
Psychotic Depression which is mood congruent means that psychotic episodes happen with specific emotional states in the person with MDD. Mood-incongruent means it can happen "whenever". Psychotic symptom presenting depression is a complex case to handle and effectively has hallucinations (gustatory, tactile, and auditory are most common in this case, but visual are not unheard of) along with delusional thoughts (often pertaining to their depression), such as the perception that this is caused by a different disease and isn't really depression, the belief that this is caused by outside forces, such as governments attempting to cripple them, so on.
The last one I'm touching on is melancholic depression, which may be to your interest as a writer. Melancholic depression is essentially depression which can last for profoundly long times and can completely change the personality of the person whom exhibits it. However the standard symptoms mirror MDD, but much more severely.
To return to "chronic" depression, dysthymia is a persistent and lowered depressive mood. Think of your normal "neutral" mood. Theirs is a mild depressive episode. This can co-occur with major depressive disorder, and they will continue to make many complaints of somatic symptoms such as aches, pains, inability to sleep/oversleeping, appetite changes, and sex drive fluctuations without having severe emotional episodes.
Dysthymia and depression are both treated with a combination of cognitive-behavioural therapy(ideal) and medication for stabilization and coping mechanisms.
SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is essentially "Winter Blues" - it is a disorder, but it only shows up in the 'darker' months of the year. It is often treated with light therapy, wherein the patient is given a special lamp to have turned on near them which mimics natural sunlight. This is often more than enough to deal with SAD.