If you suffer from depression in the Stockholm or Lund areas

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To learn more about this study, contact:
Ewa Karlsson, phone 0732-300 450 or email ewa.karlsson@probare.se

Depression is a public illness that we currently have studies on and the hope is to arrive at better public health. Today, many suffer from depression and the number of people who suffer from it is largely unknown. Especially as it can still be associated with weakness and then especially among men it can feel embarrassing to admit that you are depressed.

You may have depression if you feel down, tired and listless for a long period of time, the desire to do your favorite things is not there even though it would normally give you joy and peace. Then you may need help to feel better. In the vast majority of cases, you get better already after a few weeks with the right treatment.

This text will be about depression in adults and how to recognize symptoms and what to do to get out of depression as quickly as possible.

Feeling sad or down is common and happens to everyone at some point and it's natural. Unfortunately, life cannot always be a bed of roses. In the grand scheme of things, it is what we can call life. When we are forced to encounter something negative, this affects us to varying degrees and normally goes away by itself.

What is a depression?

You may have depression if, for a period longer than two weeks, you feel very down, tired and out of energy. If you are in a depression, it means that you rarely or never feel any joy or desire. Not even when you're doing things you usually like.

You feel no desire to take hold of anything and the energy to deal with things decreases or disappears, everyday life feels heavy and meaningless and not even a beautiful day can make you want to take that nice walk. You can also lose interest in most things around you, things like news, work or what's happening in your friends' lives are simply not interesting anymore.

To partially or completely stop caring about others is not unusual. Can be felt by others as if you have suddenly become completely empathetic. Being depressed does not mean that you are weak or that there is something "wrong" with you as a person. Depression is common. Therefore, the advice is always to seek help early so that you can receive treatment.

Symptoms of depression

Depression can cause a range of different symptoms. Here is a description of various symptoms that are common when you are depressed. Perhaps you can recognize yourself in one, or more, of these:

Low self-esteem

  • Feeling of hopelessness
  • Lack of energy
  • Concentration difficulties
  • Anxiety, irritation or anger
  • Bodily complaints
  • Suicidal thoughts
  • Depression

Depression affects self-esteem. You can feel bad about yourself and think that you are worthless. Feelings of guilt pile up over things that you should have done but can't bear to do and this is common. You can blame yourself for things that go badly.

A normal day starts with waking up and already tired despite having slept for 10 hours. Just getting out of bed is stressful and you often wonder why you should get up when you will only end up in front of the TV on the sofa. You know you should cook breakfast, but just the thought of getting up is hard. Even though the sun is shining beautifully, you just want to close and shut yourself in, but you can't even do that because pulling the curtains is hard. The day goes by and you can hardly bear to change the channel on the TV. In the end, you have to go to the toilet and even that is really hard. When it starts to get close to evening, maybe you've managed to have a sandwich, maybe not. If you're lucky, you have someone you live with who might come home from work and wonder how the day was. Maybe that person wonders why you didn't put away some dishes and you could have vacuumed anyway. This blocks the feeling of feeling worthless. Maybe you could have made the food, but the roommate has to do that now, even though he has been at work all day. If you have children who may have to be picked up from daycare or school, you can't even bear it. The will is there to do all the everyday chores that exist in life... But the energy, the desire is simply not there. It's a mental block that screams at you to just lie down and sleep all day.

Feeling of hopelessness in depression

Feeling that life feels empty and meaningless is one of the symptoms of depression. One may think that there is no point in trying to do anything about what is wrong, and that nothing will ever be right. Why do something that won't be good anyway. Just as well not to do it then.

Lack of energy in depression

If you have depression, your strength, energy and stamina are affected. You can become so affected that you cannot bear to keep order around you. For example, you may not have the energy to clean up after you've eaten, or pick up something you've dropped on the floor. Dusting and cleaning is unthinkable. Personal hygiene is difficult to maintain. As long as you don't smell too bad, you don't need to shower. Maybe you have to be forced to take a shower before taking it. Once you're in the shower, you can stay there forever.

Difficulty concentrating in depression

You may find it difficult to read a book or follow a movie. You feel restless and unfocused, and despite this, you still can't bear to move, which can be very frustrating, which adds to the hopelessness. Anxiety, irritation or anger You can get anxiety and worry a lot about the future or about other people's demands or expectations. Because you can't stand anything, this blocks you and if you are then criticized by someone, it can easily lead to anger, irritation and anxiety. You may feel irritable or get angry easily, even for small things.

Bodily complaints in depression

  • A depression can also be felt in the body. Here are common symptoms:
  • You have problems with your stomach.
  • You have a headache.
  • You have pain in your shoulders, neck or back.
  • You have lost your appetite, or you eat and drink far too much.
  • You have lost your sex drive.
  • You have difficulty sleeping, difficulty falling asleep, wake up several times during the night, or sleep far too long.
  • Suicidal thoughts.
  • You have several thoughts running at the same time and cannot finish one thought before the next one arrives, which means that no thought is fully processed.

Sometimes depression can make you think that it would be better if you didn't live, and suicide feels like a way out. You can also feel that you are a burden on your loved ones. The thoughts that everyone would actually feel better if you were gone are constantly there in the background.

Sometimes thoughts of suicide are very strong and concrete, and you may plan to take your own life. If you are feeling well, you should NOT be alone. Then you should apply for HELP IMMEDIATELY.

You must never forget that there are loved ones who love you and care about how you feel. These are the ones you should always think of with love.

There are different types of depression

The most common form of depression is called major depression, and these are often divided into three degrees of severity:

  • Mild or mild depression.
  • Moderate or moderate depression.
  • Severe or deep depression.

The different degrees of depression describe how much you are able to function in everyday life. If you have light or mild depression, everyday life can function, even if you feel bad.

If you have moderate or moderate depression, it is difficult to cope with everyday life, and it is clear to those around you that you feel very bad.

If you suffer from severe or deep depression, everything in life is affected, and you may have difficulty eating, drinking or sleeping. For those around you, it is clearly noticeable that you cannot bear or cope with the demands of everyday life. It is common for someone who is deeply depressed to have suicidal thoughts, but not everyone who is deeply depressed has suicidal thoughts or plans.

Recurrent depressions

The risk of recurring depression increases if you are depressed for a long time and do not receive treatment. They usually say that when you are in a good mood, you don't reach quite as high up the mountain as you did when you were healthy and happy. If something negative happens, the valley is much deeper and more difficult to climb out of than if you were healthy. Usually it takes longer to get up to a stage where you are satisfied with life again because the valley takes longer to get out of. The longer you have recurring depressions, the deeper and more frequent these can become. Therefore, it is important that you receive treatment early to be able to stay away from the valleys so that you can quickly get back up on the mountain.

Seasonal depression

One type of recurrent depression that exists is seasonal depression. Then the symptoms come at the same time every year. Most people with seasonal depression experience problems during the darker seasons. But there are also those who feel worst in the spring and summer.

Exhaustion syndrome

Exhaustion syndrome is a consequence of prolonged stress, without sufficient recovery. It is sometimes called exhaustion depression, but not everyone who experiences exhaustion syndrome becomes depressed.

Bipolar disease

It could be bipolar disorder if you have recurring depressions interspersed with periods of mania. When you are in a manic stage, you are excessively excited and may lose judgment in whole or in part. Such a diagnosis needs to be made by a psychiatrist, i.e. a doctor who is a specialist in psychiatry.

Dysthymia

You can have a lighter depression, but which lasts for a longer period of time. It is called dysthymia. Dysthymia is common at a young age. Then the care and your loved ones can unfortunately perceive your depression and low self-esteem as a personality trait before you get help. This can mean that you don't get a diagnosis and miss treatment, and the faster you get treatment, the faster you get out of depression, which is very important.

Depression in connection with having children

It is not unusual to be depressed during pregnancy or when you have just become a parent. For some, the low mood can turn into depression. Then it is important to quickly seek help for it. Talk to your midwife or a doctor if you feel unwell when you are pregnant, or to someone at BVC if you have just become a parent and are not feeling well. It's hard to prepare for becoming a parent if you don't feel well at all, and that's why it's so important to know yourself and dare to seek help. Preferably as soon as possible.

Common with other disorders along with depression

It is not uncommon to have other problems together with depression, such as alcohol addiction or problems with anxiety. Therefore, it is important not to wait too long to seek help.

When and where should I seek care?

Contact a health center or psychiatric outpatient clinic if you think you or someone else has depression. Your local health center is a very good place to start by contacting and asking to speak to a psychotherapist or psychologist.

If you need to talk to someone anonymously

You can always call a hotline. There is someone here who will listen and who can give advice and support on how to move forward and who you can contact. You can always call anonymously.

If there is a rush

You should always seek care at a psychiatric outpatient clinic or emergency department if you have thoughts of taking your own life, or feel so bad that you feel you can't take it anymore.

You, who are close to you, should help the person who has thoughts or plans to take their own life to contact healthcare. In the event of immediate danger to life, call 112.

Investigations and investigations

When you seek treatment for depression, you must tell us how you feel. There are no tests or physical examinations that can show if you suffer from depression. The assessment is made entirely on the basis of what emerges in the conversation. In some cases, you may be asked to fill in a questionnaire with a lot of questions and tick on a scale how you feel. You then add up the number of points that were obtained and based on this you can quickly get a slightly simplified picture of how you feel but which becomes a good basis for further treatment.

The person you meet when you ask for help can be a doctor, nurse, psychologist, sociologist or someone else with psychiatric expertise. If the person you meet is not a doctor, you must also receive a doctor's visit for an examination and a supplementary assessment.

Assess how you feel

This is what we meant by a survey. Most often, you have to fill in one or more so-called assessment forms, where you have to answer questions about how you feel. These can be questions such as:

  • How often do you feel down?
  • How do you sleep at night?
  • How's your appetite?
  • How often do you drink alcohol?
  • What are your thoughts on life and death?

The doctor then makes an assessment based on both the interview and the form.

Leave blood samples why then? It doesn't show if you're depressed on the blood, right?

Since certain diseases linked to the body can produce symptoms similar to depression, the doctor can often do a physical examination and samples may be given.

For example, increased or decreased amount of thyroid hormone, anemia or high calcium levels in the blood can cause symptoms reminiscent of depression. The examination can also show whether you have a deficiency in other substances, such as vitamin D.

Treatment for depression

Depression can be treated in several different ways. This depends on the type of depression you have and what you prefer. During the treatment, it is good if you can try to maintain everyday routines that you can handle.

These forms of treatment work for depression:

  • Advice and support for healthy habits
  • Psychotherapy
  • Drug
  • Electroconvulsive therapy

The main way to treat mild to moderate depression consists of getting information about what depression is and what you can do yourself to start feeling better.

During conversations with healthcare staff, you will be asked questions about your lifestyle. Then you can think about your habits and see if you need support to make changes.

The following advice is the most important to follow:

Exercise

Physical activity has a calming effect on the brain and helps with depression. During physical activity, endorphins are released, which are the body's own happy pills. How much you need to move to have an effect varies from person to person. For example, you can cycle, swim, walk, work in the garden or do some other everyday exercise. It is best if you move every day for about 30 minutes.

Try to get enough sleep

Sleep is incredibly important to feel good. Try to go to bed at the same time every night. Daylight is important to feel good and to get tired in the evening. Therefore, it is good to stay outdoors, preferably in the middle of the day when it is at its brightest. Take the opportunity to take that walk then, perhaps

Eat at regular times

Eating at set times can give structure to the day and that's what it's all about. You almost have to go back to being a child again growing up. Fixed routines are important in order to have peace of mind and to know what applies. Try to eat as varied and healthy as possible. Most of the time, it is not easy to cook because the energy is not really there. But making simple meals and snacks is still better than nothing. Examples of this could be fruit and vegetables, ready-made salads, frozen vegetables or ready-made food from the grocery store. The important thing is to eat regularly.

Avoid alcohol

You also usually get questions about your alcohol habits. It is not uncommon to drink alcohol to alleviate depression and anxiety. But in the long term, both anxiety and depression are worsened by alcohol and then you may drink even more, which becomes a very vicious spiral. Alcohol also increases the risk of having serious suicidal thoughts. It is important that you are honest and tell the healthcare staff how much and how often you drink. The healthcare staff never look down on someone who drinks, which is important to take with you. They want to help you. So be honest or there is a risk that the treatment will not work.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy can help with depression and give you the tools you need to cope with everyday life and get out of depression. Going to therapy can also make it easier for you to make changes in your everyday habits. The most common treatment for depression is cognitive therapy, CBT or interpersonal therapy, IPT.

Antidepressants

Sometimes you need to supplement with medication because otherwise changed lifestyles and psychotherapy as treatment methods will not help. Then you need the help of medication in order for other treatment to be effective.

There are several different types of medication for depression. It is important that treatment with drugs is constantly evaluated, to see if it helps or needs to be changed. Doctors are ultimately responsible for your treatment, but often in consultation with a psychotherapist. It is often a doctor who is responsible for your treatment. If you receive treatment other than medication, it may be a psychologist, counselor or nurse who manages the treatment itself and whom you see regularly.

When you go through depression, it is always an individual treatment of you. No treatment looks exactly like anyone else's. This as all people react individually to treatments, this applies to both drugs and psychotherapy. Therefore, it is important that you have regular contact with your doctor and psychotherapist during the treatment period.

Assessment is given by a psychiatrist

The doctor at the health center often writes a referral to a psychiatric clinic if the treatment you have received does not help. There you can meet a psychiatrist to get a more accurate assessment through conversation and you then get tips and ideas on how to get back to being a happier person again. A psychiatrist is a doctor who specializes in psychiatry. You may also need an assessment by a psychiatrist if the doctor at the health center suspects that you have severe depression, or some other psychiatric diagnosis. This is what a psychiatrist does best.

You may also have other problems such as anxiety or an alcohol addiction. Sometimes the depression needs to be treated before the other can be treated, sometimes everything needs to be treated at the same time in different ways. It is different for different people and we are all individuals with different conditions in life. Therefore, the treatment is always adapted on an individual level.

Treatment of severe depression

In severe depression, lifestyle changes or psychotherapy as the only treatment do not help. Then you usually need to get antidepressants as the first treatment. In some cases, you may also need to receive treatment at a psychiatric clinic. You may also need some practical help to cope with everyday life. You may need to see the doctor more often for the treatment to be as good as possible. Sometimes, if there is a high risk of suicide, you need to receive care in a psychiatric clinic for your own safety.

Electroconvulsive therapy

You can get an electrical treatment, or ECT as it is also called, if you have not been helped by other treatment. Electrotherapy can be very effective against severe depression. The most common side effect of the electrical treatment is that the memory is affected. This applies above all to short-term memory during the time that the electrical treatment is in progress. Even if the problem disappears for most people, this is a method that is avoided in the first stages of a treatment.

Recovery

After a few weeks of treatment, most people usually feel better. However, it may take several months before you feel completely well. After a more severe depression, it can take longer, often up to a year. Maintaining contact with a therapist or other therapist for some time even after the depression is recommended. In such a way that you can discuss and get support in recovery if you need it.

What can you do yourself?

If you have had one or more depressions, or know that you have an increased ease of becoming depressed, you can try to make sure you do things that reduce the risk of depression. Here are some suggestions for things that can help, although they are not a substitute for professional treatment.

Develop new, healthy habits

Making changes to your daily habits can sometimes be difficult, especially if you have been unwell for a long period of time. But deciding to make a change, and sticking with it, can also be empowering and boost self-esteem. It can in itself be a protection against depression and instead increase well-being.

Regular exercise protects against depression.

You get increased resistance to stress, it's easier to fall asleep and a better sleep affects well-being. Try to find the activities that you find fun and move as much as you can in everyday life.

Quitting nicotine

If you smoke or snuff, quitting nicotine can make you feel better in the long run.

Stay more outdoors

Daylight is important to feel good. That's why it's good to take walks or bike rides in the middle of the day when it's at its brightest. Especially if it is late autumn, winter or early spring when the days are short. Having good lighting at home and at work can also affect mood for the better.

Try to lower the requirements

You are not superhuman and making the same high demands as when you were healthy will only cause more anxiety because the depression makes you have less energy. It may mean that you have to accept that at the moment I have to adjust and behave in a different way than you have been used to. You may have to lower your demands on yourself if you work. You may need to describe to your employer what you are capable of. Most employers understand that you can't always perform at your peak, and even when it comes to private life and family life, it's good to try to lower your demands.

Try to find ways to unwind

To manage stress and get more rest in life, it can be good to learn a technique for relaxation and relaxation. Many may find that walking in nature is stress-relieving. Listening to music, a podcast or a read book can help you disconnect from troublesome thoughts.

Choose things that you know you liked to do before you got sick, even if you lack the desire. Engaging in things that interest you and give you a zest for life is also important. Think about doing things you used to enjoy doing, even if the desire is lacking at the time.

Other protective factors

Stress, high demands. All musts and stresses are examples of risk factors. The opposite is sometimes called protective factors. Protective factors are things that should make you feel better, not worse.

For example, it can be support from relatives, family and friends, or dedicating yourself to things that feel meaningful. Even community in the form of associations, congregations, groups or online forums can provide support and a feeling that you are part of something, which can provide well-being. Being close to someone with depression is not easy

It can be difficult to help and support someone who is depressed. Most of the time, the person can seem grumpy and disinterested, or aggressive and sometimes seem emotionless. It is often that a person does not understand that he is depressed. Then it may be you as a relative who notices the change, and needs to talk to your relative about what you have noticed. Encourage to seek care Encourage the person who is depressed to seek care.

Be patient and try to offer hope by telling them that there is treatment that will help. It can feel like the person who is depressed is not listening to what you are saying. Therefore, it may feel ungrateful, but it does not have to be true. It is common for people who have been depressed to say afterwards that it was the support from those around them that made them fight on. Important to know is that it is not harmful to talk about suicidal thoughts It is certainly not harmful to talk about suicidal thoughts with someone who is having suicidal thoughts. It does not increase the risk that the person thinking about suicide will actually try to take their own life. On the contrary, it is only good to help the person who feels bad to put their thoughts and feelings into words. It can seem like a valve that, instead of exploding, calmly and calmly opens to be vented in peace and quiet.

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