Depression Diagnosis and Treatment Questions and Answers

While there are more than four types of depression, these are the main and most major types of depression that affect individuals the most, which are:

Situational Depression
While situation depression is short-term it is mainly stress-related and can develop after experiencing a traumatic event or series of events. Situational depression is a type of adjustment disorder that can make it hard for you to adjust to your everyday life following a traumatic event. Some events that can cause situational depression include:

– Issues at work or at school
– Illness
– Death of a loved one
– Moving
– Relationship issues

Biological Depression
A person’s depressive symptoms start with an imbalance of any neurotransmitters or hormones that start to affect your mood and physiology. In some, it can lead to sudden feelings of despair and anhedonia, which in others it simply changes the physiological state which makes it impossible for people to achieve their goals.

Psychological Depression
Many patterns of thinking are associated with psychological depression. These thinking patterns include:

– Overstressing the negative
– Taking on responsibility for negative events but not for any of the positive ones
– Inflexible rules about how you should behave
– Thinking about how you know what others are thinking and they must be thinking negatively about you

Many experience these patterns from loss, sense of failure, or stress.

Existential Depression
It’s common for everyone to question their existence and place in this large world we live in, especially after experiencing major events like trauma, loss, religious trauma, the crisis of faith, or another life-altering event.
Feeling trapped and searching for a deeper meaning to life, unable to move forward from a point of crisis, fixating on past choices or mistakes, and feeling guilty for your inability to make a difference in the lives of others are all existential depression. It can make you lose touch with your personal values and life goals and you begin to notice your sense of self-becoming blurred.

There are many things that can cause depression, the four main causes of depression are:

1. Major Traumatic Events
2. Death or Loss
3. Abuse
4. Serious Illness

While these are not the only major causes of depression, they are substantial. Other causes of depression include:

– Age
– Certain medications
– Conflict
– Gender
– Genes
– Substance misuse
– Other personal problems

If you or a loved one is depressed, it can be helpful to know that there are treatments available to help. What about ways to help prevent depression in the first place? While there is no clear answer, these tips can be helpful to try to prevent depression:

– Finding available ways to help manage stress and improve your self-esteem
– Taking good care of yourself by getting enough sleep, eating well, and staying active
– Reaching out to family and friends when times are getting hard
– Receiving regular medical checkups with your provider if you are not feeling right
– Reaching out for help when you think you are depressed, do not wait as it could get worse

Finding treatment when you are depressed and feeling like you will never get out from under a dark shadow can be debilitating. However, even the most severely depressed can be treated. There is no one size fits all option for treating depression, however, at Best Fit Counseling & Psychiatry, we offer customizable solutions to help treat your depression and give you tips to help manage it if it comes back.

First thing, request an appointment with us so we can learn as much about your depression as possible. This is important to help determine whether your symptoms from depression are due to an underlying medical condition or not. Treatment takes time and commitment, you may start to feel overwhelmed, or feel it’s slow, however all of this is normal. Recovery for everyone has its ups and downs, but we are here to help! Getting regular exercise can be effective as it helps to boost serotonin, endorphins, and other feel-good levels just like anti-depressants do. Getting enough sleep, getting a well-balanced diet, and getting social support all help to reduce your symptoms of depression.

Best Fit Counseling & Psychiatry is home to a leading team of professionals who want to help everyone on their road to recovery. Call us for more information. We serve patients anywhere in Michigan and our corporate offices are in Ann Arbor MI and surrounding areas including Pittsfield Charter TWP MI, Ypsilanti MI, Saline MI, Dexter MI and Scio TWP MI.