Depression
Everybody tends to feel down at one point or another in their lives, but what happens when that feeling lasts for
weeks at a time? This could be a major sign of clinical
depression.
Depression can affect your mood, thoughts, behavior, and body and can lead to problems at school, work, or home. Depression affects the way you communicate with others, and the way you think and feel about life in general. Depression may also lead to alcohol or drug abuse as well as other addictions.
Many risk factors can contribute to clinical depression. Some of these factors include one's biology (body's function), medications, family history (genetics), situation (i.e. death of a loved one, divorce, etc.) and other co-occurring illnesses such as stroke, heart disease, cancer, or diabetes.
Researchers have found that major depression is significantly more common in patients with diabetes than in the general population. In fact, studies indicate that people with diabetes (Type 1 or Type 2) are twice as likely to become depressed as compared with non-diabetes groups, and women with diabetes suffer more from depression than men with diabetes. Approximately 15% - 20% of adults with diabetes, both type 1 and 2, suffer from depression (Lustman PJ, et al. Depression in Adults with Diabetes. Semin Clin Neuropsychiatry 1997). Increased health care use and costs for people with diabetes who have depression is 4.5 times higher than for individuals without depression ($247 million versus $55 million). (Deyi Zheng, E, & Simpson, K. Diabetes Care 2002; 25(3), pp. 464-470)
Depression can become a serious paralyzing factor in
caring for one's diabetes. It can cause people to just
want to "give up" or "not care anymore" about things
like taking their blood sugar levels. It can also cause unhealthy eating
patterns, not taking one's medications, lack of motivation to exercise or good
self-care for diabetes. Ask your physician, psychologist, social worker or other
mental health professional for help.
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What are the symptoms of
clinical depression*? |
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*It is natural to briefly experience some of these symptoms from time to time. However, if you have been encountering a number of these symptoms for two weeks or more and they are having a detrimental effect on your personal or professional life, you may be experiencing a more serious form of depression. The conclusion is stress and depression are treated by your body as a danger to your survival and are one leg of the four legged "diabetes" stool, that we are working on together. We need to learn how to control stress in our lives as one of the keys of learning to control diabetic results that are a by product of uncontrolled stress.. There are several solutions to stress. One is learning what is known as the "relaxation response". This is a system of turning off the fight or flight alarm your body's operating software system has been getting from your input indicating a stress situation alert for fight or flight. The relaxation response book by Dr.Herbert Benson lists several methods of overcoming this false message your up tight life situation has been sending to your body survival alarm system. Fight or flight false alarm triggerings can be turned off by Bio Feedback. This is basically a machine read out of your "up tight" mental condition and can be as simple as a thermometer. The machine, thermometer in this case, gives you a read out of how warm your hands are. When you are up tight, your hands are cold. When you are fully relaxed they are warm. Simple system is you learn how to raise the temperature of your hands by controlling thoughts etc and soon you can learn to warm your hands, (relax) without the use of the thermometer. You have when you perfect this technique, learned how to invoke the relaxation response and undo the "my survival is at stake" false alarm your body's survival software has been getting. You can learn self hypnosis, meditation, prayer etc. all systems used to over come the "stress" alarm, being sent to your survival programming and causing hormones etc. to be dispatched to get your body ready for fight or flight or keep it in that state, often for months. Solutions include overcoming loneliness, ( a recent study indicates
is a big factor in several health conditions) attend diabetes support
groups, join several online groups and fully participate with others in
your overcoming diabetes program. Learn a relaxation response method that works for you, to overcome stress and we write more on how to do that in other articles and invite you to research it elsewhere as well..
– Stress includes emotions which are feelings of anger, resentment, loneliness, sadness and fear (many imagined fears) for example, all sending fight or flight alarms which over time are exhausting to your glandular system and a major interference and contributor with Insulin and blood sugar levels. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms talk with your doctor, nurse, counselor or other health/mental health professional. |
What is the treatment for depression?
If diagnosed, depression is treatable. Relief of depression is associated with improved glycemic control. Exercise greatly improves diabetic control as well as releases more endorphins, the body's chemical compounds that improve mood and fight pain. However, if you are already physically active, exercise may not relieve your depression symptoms.
Your health care team will need to make a proper assessment in order to decide the best method of treatment for depression. Treatment can consist of antidepressant medication, psychotherapy, cognitive/behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, or any combination. Besides taking doctor prescribed drugs (antidepressants) and having psychotherapy, other steps can be taken to relieve depression symptoms.
The following resources may be useful to you:
- Mental Health Association of Rhode Island
- National Foundation for Depressive Illness
- National Institute of Mental Health
- National Mental Health Association
RI Council of Community Mental Health Centers, Inc. 272 Exchange St, Providence (401)273-0900
Samaritans Emergency Line [Suicide prevention] (401)272-4044 www.samaritansri.org
Suicide Prevention [HEALTH site]
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DISCLAIMER: Any and all information and/or articles contained within this website are not meant as nor should they be taken, viewed and/or interpreted as medical advice. They are presented for your information, your education on the subject and as a guideline only. If you have any questions or need additional information, please consult your family doctor or trained medical personnel before taking any action. Information is edited by a layman from published authors and scientific reports, plus personal experience as a diabetic. If you notice any substantive errors please contact the publisher harlanjacobsen@webtv.net, put the word "Diabetes" in the subject line.
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