Depression - the symptoms of this common mental disorder are diverse, and depend on a variety of factors. A well-known fact is that women are more prone to this unpleasant ailment than men. For female depression are characteristic: seasonality, chronic course and pain of unclear genesis.
Depression - symptoms in women
A beautiful half of humanity is endowed with a vivid emotionality. The whole spectrum of emotions a woman receives thanks to the work of the hormonal system. Change of mood, lability during the day is so natural for a woman, a huge role is played by the menstrual cycle, the life of a woman is literally tied to him, and her well-being and mood depends on the harmonious work of hormones and nervous system. Depression is a common symptom:
- anxiety;
- irritability;
- apathy;
- motor retardation;
- suicidal thoughts;
- tunnel consciousness;
- gloomy perception of the world;
- pain in the body of different locations.
Depression - symptoms in women, how to get out of a painful condition? You can try to cope on your own, if it's an easy degree, remember what helped to cope earlier with this misfortune. Experts do not recommend fighting depression alone, so when the symptoms are obvious, it's time to ask for help from relatives and friends. It is important to remember that there are "bad periods" for everyone, and "everything passes, it goes away" - everything flows in nature, everything changes, everything is subject to cyclicality.
To get out of depression, you need to nurture your spirit and find new meanings of your existence. In severe cases, only a timely assistance specialist can help get out of this whirlpool. Group and individual psychotherapy: cognitive-behavioral, dynamic, psychoanalysis will help to balance the state, find resources that hide in its depths depression and life blossom with new colors.
Types of depressions and their symptoms
What symptoms of depression are the "calling card" of the disorder - it depends on the form or type of depression:
- Psychogenic - occurs in difficult life and tragic circumstances (divorce, dismissal, death of a native person). Psychogenic depression, symptoms: loss of meaning in life, excessive fixation on loss, anxiety for one's life and close people.
- Neurotic - is typical for indecisive individuals, with low self-esteem, which is difficult to make difficult decisions in life. Neurotic depression, symptoms: weakness, sleep disorders, decreased sexual desire or frigidity, constipation, low blood pressure.
- Somatogenic (somatic) depression is associated with diseases of the internal organs, more often with brain tumors.
- Circulatory - an extensive group of depressions, which include: manic, asthenic, alcoholic, postpartum - the symptomatology is different, depending on the factors and causes that caused this or that type of depression.
General classification of depression:
- Exogenous - a response to external aggressive or stressful environmental influences.
- Endogenous causes are caused by internal disturbance of the organism's general homeostasis, imbalance of hormone production, chronic diseases.
Postpartum Depression - Symptoms
The birth of a child is an energy-consuming and complex process for a woman's body. The first joy of meeting with the baby after a while (from two weeks to a month after delivery) is replaced by despondency, a feeling of devastation, the world suddenly becomes "gray." Postnatal chronic depression symptoms:
- crying child annoying, heard sharp and piercing, young mommy hard to withstand it;
- contact with the child does not bring joy;
- they think of their imperfection as a mother ("I am a monstrous mother!", "I am unworthy of this baby", "what was I thinking about when I wanted to be a mother!");
- lactation is lost;
- digestive disorders;
- impaired appetite;
- in severe cases, postpartum psychosis occurs, during which it is possible for a woman to inflict physical damage to herself or a child, attempting suicide.
Hidden Depression Symptoms
Hidden depression is called depression without depression, the prevalence of this type of disorder is very high among the population. Experts call the main reason that modern people live at a furious pace, when you need to do a lot, and there is no time to turn on the alarming bells of the body. Masked Depression Symptoms:
- problems with breathing (sudden chest pains during inspiration);
- jumps in blood pressure, rapid pulse;
- frequent dizziness , loss of orientation in space;
- fluctuations in weight, swelling in the evening;
- sleep disorders;
- emotional swing, lability;
- hypochondriacism;
- migraine.
Symptoms of depression in women after 40 years
Age sneaks up unnoticed, and now the woman is already 40, why is this figure in the most magical way affects the psyche of a woman. Psychologists who conducted the study found that for many women this figure, when thinking and worldview changes dramatically, transformation is very painful, life is divided up to forty years and after, depression at this age can be severe, often visit thoughts about death and about that , how many are lost and not done. Depression, symptoms in women after the age of forty:
- an unstable mood associated with the beginning of menstrual cycle disorders, reproductive processes begin to subside, so the tearfulness, irritability, anger are possible in the mood;
- lost interest in new information, its assimilation;
- absence of the meaning of life, all the old meanings lose their value;
- decreased libido;
- feeling that the best part of life has already been lived, and there is nothing exciting and interesting in front;
- a feeling of total loneliness;
- communication with friends is reduced to a minimum, sometimes a complete rupture of former friendships;
- food disorders (flatulence, bulimia, anorexia );
- panic attacks.
Suicidal depression - symptoms
Suicidal severe depression, the symptoms of the disorder depend on the causes that caused this condition:
- tragic events related to the loss of loved ones;
- the decline of a professional career or dismissal;
- alcohol or drug dependence and the inability to escape from the vicious circle;
- social injustice (undeserved criminal punishment);
- unrequited love.
Suicidal depression, symptoms:
- loss of interest in life;
- emotional coldness, indifference;
- a woman can lie in bed for hours, turning to face the wall;
- talk of death, death itself is seen as a deliverance;
- lack of care for appearance, slovenliness - a woman ceases to follow herself, does not comb, does not wash;
- all previous hobbies do not bring joy.
Endogenous Depression Symptoms
Endogenous depression in itself includes various forms of the disorder, but all of them are caused by internal causes, failure of the well-coordinated work of the organism and genetic predisposition (hereditary factor). Endogenous depression, symptoms and treatment:
- slow thinking and motor skills - thought processes are inhibited, coordination of movements is slowed down, lethargic;
- hypochondria;
- looking for symptoms of illness, women think that they are sick with serious diseases, for example, cancer, go through a lot of medical research, confirming that there is no cancer, but this does not calm them, they are looking for another doctor and are again undergoing various kinds of procedures;
- visual and auditory hallucinations;
- sleep disorders;
- panic attacks.
Treatment of endogenous depression:
- antidepressants (amitriptyline, imipramine, hemofirin, azafen) - improve mood, promote the production of serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine;
- anxiolytics (tranquilizers) - anxiety reduction, relaxation, sleep improvement (afobazol, diazepam, fenozepam, atarax).
- nootropics - improve cognitive processes, stimulate mental activity, help the body cope with stress factors (piracetam, phenotropil, glycine).
Alcohol Depression - Symptoms
Dependence on alcohol causes serious changes in the body and a depressive state, and female alcoholism is considered the most difficult to cure. Alcoholic depression, symptoms and treatment:
- suicidal thoughts;
- apathy;
- the desire to muffle the state of alcohol;
- anhedonia;
- lack of motivation and meaning of life.
Treatment should be carried out in a hospital, drug therapy includes symptomatic effects, psychotropic drugs, to relieve agitation and muscle relaxation. Long-term group and individual psychotherapy helps to understand the causes of the disease and develop new constructive behavior, to find a resource state.
Manic depression - symptoms
Bipolar disorder in the depressive phase gives a high percentage of severe mental states up to suicide, is difficult to treat. Manic clinical depression symptoms:
- nervous excitability or vice versa, depression;
- delusional ideas;
- insomnia;
- Obsessive movements;
- endless longing;
- wandering gaze;
- incoherent thoughts;
- unreasonable laughter;
- feeling of despair.
Somatic Depression Symptoms
Somatogenic deep depression - the symptoms depend on the localization of the disease, for example, with brain tumors, there may be anxious thoughts, panic attacks, insomnia. This depression is treated by eliminating the underlying disease, then all the symptoms come to naught. Depression accompanied by pain in the body is a reason to suspect a somatic depression.
Asthenic Depression Symptoms
Asthenic, sometimes psychosthenic depression - a mental disorder often observed in young people, is the easiest type of depression, whose predictions are favorable. Asthenic depression, symptoms in girls:
- apathy;
- laziness;
- boredom;
- fast exhaustion and fatigue, low working capacity;
- tearfulness;
- non-assembly;
- vegetative-vascular disorders.
Atypical Depression - Symptoms
Atypical prolonged depression symptoms of the disorder may be worn out or uncharacteristic for the classic species, so making a diagnosis can be difficult. Atypical depression, symptoms:
- a feeling of lead in the body;
- excessive appetite;
- pathological drowsiness, constant need to lie down, even during the day;
- aggression, irritability.
Physical symptoms of depression
The state of depression, symptoms arising from a disorder can occur in different parts of the body and range from mild to severe pain. Depression, physical symptoms:
- itching of the skin;
- heaviness and squeezing in the chest (lack of air, pain during inspiration);
- pain in the heart;
- attacks of joint pain;
- numbness in the extremities, shivers;
- changes in taste (metallic taste in the mouth);
- menstrual irregularities, severe pain during menstruation;
- migraines ;
- enuresis;
- coughing attacks of asthmatic type.