Part I
Discovering Depression and Designing Defences
In this part . . .
Discover the symptoms of depression and identify whether you or someone you care about may be depressed. We tell you about depression worldwide. And we explain the different forms of depression.
Defeating depression’s no walkover. Many obstacles block the path. We identify these blocks and show how you can get past them. In this part, we also provide an overview of the various treatments for depression, and reveal how to obtain the best possible help.
Chapter 1
Understanding and Overcoming Depression
In This Chapter
Understanding what causes depression Depression can feel like being locked away in a prison. Feeling frightened, alone, miserable, and powerless, you can find yourself withdrawing into a shell. Hope, faith, relationships, work, play, and creative pursuits – the very paths to recovery all seem meaningless and impossible. Like a cruel punishment, depression imprisons the body, mind, and soul.
Though depression may feel isolating and inescapable, we have a set of keys for unlocking the prison door. You may find that the first key you try works, but usually the door is double locked, and opening it needs a combination of keys. We’re here to help, and have a pretty impressive bunch of keys for you to try out, taking you from darkness into the light.
In this chapter, we explain the difference between sadness and depression. Next, we show you how to recognise depression across a range of different people. We work out the costs of depression in terms of health, productivity, and relationships and tell you about the treatment options for depression. And finally, we offer you a glimpse of your new life, beyond depression.
Understanding Your Level of Well-Being
But if there was a magic cure for depression, would that be the whole answer? Surprisingly not. Increasingly, we are becoming aware that people who all score zero on a traditional depression rating scale, (i.e. no depression) can nonetheless be in hugely differing emotional states, from just ticking over, to achieving real fulfilment, satisfaction, and happiness. If we see happiness and depression as opposite ends of one continuum, then moods can go beyond depression. We can use just one questionnaire not only to rate presence or absence of depression, but also life satisfaction/well-being. Professor Stephen Joseph and his colleagues developed a very useful self-report questionnaire which builds on this idea to assess the spectrum of well-being, which is shown below. Take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire if you wish to understand your level of well-being.
A number of statements that people have made to describe how they feel are given in Table 1-1. Please read each one and tick the box which best describes how frequently you felt that way in the past seven days, including today. Some statements describe positive feelings and some describe negative feelings. You may have experienced both positive and negative feelings at different times during the past seven days.
To work out your score, use the following scoring key to turn your answers into numbers.
For items 2, 4, and 5: Never = 0, rarely = 1, sometimes = 2, often = 3. For items 1, 3, and 6: Never =3, rarely = 2, sometimes = 1, often = 0. Now, using the scoring key above, add scores on all 6 items to give a total score, with a possible range of 0 to 18. Most people score between 11 and 13. Higher scores indicate greater happiness. As scores decrease, however, happiness fades into unhappiness, which fades into depression. Research estimates that scores below nine are increasingly indicative of depressive states. If you scored very low on the questionnaire, it is possible that you are suffering from what psychologists call clinical depression. Of course, one short questionnaire can’t give us all the answers – that would take a full assessment from a psychologist – but it may be useful in giving you a sense of where you lie on the spectrum of well-being.
Importantly, what this questionnaire shows is that it’s not just helping people manage their depression that’s important, but also finding ways to increase their happiness.
A key theme throughout this book is that we all can be overwhelmed, and experience depression, if sufficient powerful events occur simultaneously, testing coping skills to the limit – and then beyond. The level of misery, can feel unprecedented. It can take an inordinate effort to admit to the problem and accept help. But if you choose to self-disclose, we trust you’ll be amazed by the level of support, and reciprocal revelations.
Feeling Blue, or Depress...
