Major Depressive Disorder: Learn About The Symptoms And Treatment Today!

What Is Major Depressive Disorder?

Major Depressive Disorder is a medical condition which is characterized when a person has a series of despair and distress for about two weeks or more. When a person is suffering from depression, he or she have low self-esteem and hence shows a lackluster energy on most activities he/she usually previously enjoyed. Periods of depression vary among people and also comes with different situations and instances. Depression can be serious at times that it often leads to loss of life of the individual, at this level, the individual sees suicide as the best option. There are various factors that could cause or trigger Major Depressive Disorder. These factors may be environmental, genetical in nature not living behind other factors like psychological factors.

Majorly, individuals suffering from depression usually faces difficulty in sleeping, carrying out normal activities, eating etc. There is no standard amount of time in which people have depression in their lifetime as a study carried out showed that at least 50-70% of the total world population will face depression(either minor or severe) for at least one time in their lifetime. This given to the global economic crisis, insecurity, and war. These are the major environmental factors that often triggers Major Depressive Disorder in the major populace of the world.

Major Depressive Disorder(MDD) is often regarded as clinical depression, it is a serious condition that was previously attributed to the aged and middle-aged group. Things have changed now to the extent that even youths now suffer from depression also. This is due to pressure from peers, bad results, relationships, environmental and family-oriented problems. Most times people suffering from clinical depression never sought to seek medical help, instead, they leave it until the thing becomes severe to the extent that one feels the insignificance of life hence seeking suicide. However, medicine has put in place various methods that could be adopted in treating individuals suffering from Major Depressive Disorder.

What Are The Common Symptoms Major Depressive Disorder

When one is suffering from major depression, there is a noticeable change in the person's mood and orientation to like. Depressed people may show less or no concern to their loved ones, various activities they used to enjoy, work. Severe symptoms of clinical depression may include hallucinations, hopelessness, guilt, think of committing homicide, sudden weight loss, helplessness, restlessness, sleepless nights.

Other symptoms like headaches, hypersomnia, the feeling of self-worthlessness, recurring thoughts of death, Parkinson's disease. MDD also leads to other severe diseases like pulmonary disease, stroke, other cardiovascular diseases usual featured among the aged.

What Causes Or Triggers Major Depressive Disorders

Although nobody can say the precise cause of major depressive disorders because of its ambiguous in nature, there are still some known triggers and causes that have been associated with clinical disorders in the past. Genetic factors have also been identified as a major cause of MDD, the genes can adversely affect cognition in the brain and thereby causes mood instability when they've been stressed. Some common causes of major depression include the following:

• When someone loses a person he/she loves so much either by death or after the marriage has been dissolved, one tends to get depressed afterward.
• Often times when an individual experiences sharp changes in life like a major accident, relocation, lack of a job after graduation, the are chances the individual get depressed.
• Another personal factor that causes Major depression(Although this one is common among young folks) is a breakup, relationship breakup often leads to depression when one tends to miss the other partner very much to an extent that he/she can't just stop thinking about the other person.
• Other ways people get depressed to include emotional or physical abuse(eg rape) when a girl has been raped, she tends to get very depressed and often times leads to death due to the self-violation. Therefore, rape patients are often advised to go for a mental evaluation as it is very important in their rehabilitation.

How Can Major Depressive Disorder Be Diagnosed And Treated?

A thorough medical checkup is carried out on you by your physician(Psychiatrist). After that which you'll receive a screening for depression, your health professional will ask you some basic questions about the history of your family psychiatry. It's good to be aware of family's mental history so as to better know how to prepare yourself for depression. At times, psychiatric doctors run blood tests on patients in order to better detect other medical conditions that may have symptoms similar to that of MDD. Other famous medical conditions like stroke come with similar symptoms as MDD.

The assessment carried out by the psychiatrist include an examination concerning your mental state in which the results are gotten from your current state of mind and mood. Also, it examines your orientation to life, hopelessness, self-harm and presence or absence of positive thoughts. The examination uses the Hamilton Rating scale for depression or the suicide behavior questionnaire. Know that your rating score alone cannot fully determine if you're currently depressed or not as more assessment and diagnosing needs to be done to fully ascertain your mental state.

It is good to know that major depressive disorders can be treated. All you need to do is to submit yourself to your psychiatrist in order for him/her to carry out the basic necessary test and assessment on you and therefore recommending the right major depressive disorder treatment which is antidepressant medication is best suitable for you. Furthermore, there is a need for your medical practitioner to place you on screening mode hence testing various medications and how effective there are to your body system. Other treatments adopted in treating depression include electroconvulsive therapy otherwise known as ECT. This is often used in place of drugs when the drug previously used failed to effective.

How Do One Manage Major Depressive Disorder Efficiently?

Clinical depression is a disorder that can be managed well if well treated. The various treatments used in treating MDD are medication, psychotherapy, and ETC. Most times, psychotherapy is used in treating young people suffering from clinical depression like the teenagers. The use of these treatments aforementioned has been structured in a way to function for the right patient. For example, the use of psychotherapy together with antidepressants are adopted in treating MDD patients whose depression level is still moderate and people who have a history of severe/mild depression. Also, the antidepressant is usually administered to people suffering from mild or severe depression.

Various treatment options for clinical depression are much limited in developing countries compared to their developed counterpart due to the fact that they lack basic health amenities and health personnel to carry out this function. Also, the rate of people developing depression is higher in developing countries due to the bad economy and lack of access to basic healthcare. 

The best ways in which you can manage your depression include: sleeping at the right time, exercising, and taking a balanced diet have proven futile in best managing the major depressive disorder.

How We Can Prevent Major Depressive Disorder

There are various methods which we can adopt to prevent clinical depression. Scientists have discovered that consuming fish at large scale can reduce the risk of developing a major depressive disorder. Other ways which include behavioral interventions are also very good methods in preventing MDD. Knowing the triggers of major depressive disorder and doing your possible best to prevent them is another way to prevent the disorder. I've mentioned some of the triggers of MDD above, you can learn them, practice them, and apply what you've learned here in your day-to-day activities. 

Are you previously an MDD patient? well, the best way to prevent it from coming back is to keep taking your medications and the right time. Also, you have to avoid thinking too much and strenuous work. Lastly, if you notice any major depressive symptom, quickly report it to your psychiatrist or psychologist so as to know the next step to take.