Varsha, a 32-year-old housewife, feels low all the time. She shows no interest in housework and most of the time watches TV. She sometimes forgets to eat and is underweight. She takes no pleasure in smiling at her young daughter’s antics nor has the desire for intimate relations with her husband.
On the other hand, Payal, a college teenager, is considered “moody” by her friends. She gets extremely tensed when exams approach and keeps fearing that she will fail. There are days when she is irritable, snaps at everyone and cries for no reason.
Are both these people suffering from depression?
Clinical depressionWhile any low emotional state is commonly referred to as depression, clinical depression is different. An expert would probably diagnose Varsha’s case as true clinical depression
As Dr Parul Tank, consulting psychologist with Godrej and Wockhardt hospitals, Mumbai, says, “Mental health experts are trained to recognize the symptoms of depression but it has become such a common word that everyone complains of it”.
On the other hand, there are chances that five to nine percent of adults who go to the doctor complaining of common problems such as back pain or headaches might also be suffering from depression. Even so, studies suggest that doctors and nurses miss the signs about half the time.
Treatment
Learning to differentiate when sadness moves into a full blown mood disorder is crucial to the treatment. Early recognition and treatment of depression is the best strategy to prevent complications including suicide. But it is equally important to recognize that certain blues and low moods often pass with time.
