Popular Science Time - Does depression mean depression?

When faced with some stressful events in life, we will feel depressed and frustrated. If the mood worsens, we will also experience some depressive symptoms, such as insomnia and fatigue. At this time, some friends will start to worry whether they have depression. In particular, some false reports on the prevalence of depression that have appeared on the Internet recently have increased people's concerns about depression.

In fact, this worry is wrong. Depressive mood and depressive symptoms are not the same as depression. Depressive mood, depressive symptoms and depression are three different concepts and cannot be confused.

• What is depression?

Emotion is a psychological activity mediated by the subject's wishes and needs. Depressive mood is a very common emotion. Various events in life, such as failure in exams, high work pressure, and interpersonal discord, can trigger depression. This is an indispensable adaptive response that humans have retained during the evolution process.

Moderate depression can remind us to rest in time, save energy, and adjust our state. At the same time, it can also help us send out a "help signal" to gain the care and support of others. Depression usually lasts for a short time and can be relieved by relaxation, exercise, talking, etc.

• What are depressive symptoms?

If depression is not relieved in the short term, it may cause depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms are often an imbalance in the three levels of emotion, cognition, and behavior, specifically manifested as low mood, anxiety and irritability, negative cognition (such as thinking that you are worthless), sleep disorders (such as insomnia, early awakening, sleepiness), physical symptoms (such as appetite, weight changes), etc. However, these symptoms are not irreversible. They are just stage reactions under stress and can be gradually improved by active adjustment or seeking professional help.

• What is depression?

Depression (depressive disorder) is a type of mood disorder caused by various reasons, with significant and persistent depressive symptom groups as the main clinical feature, which is more serious than depressive mood and depressive symptoms. To make a preliminary judgment on whether you have depression, you can use the following three perspectives as a reference:

• Duration

Depression lasts for more than 2 weeks, and depressive symptoms occur every day.

• Severity

Depression can make people feel very painful subjectively, and it will affect normal work, study and interpersonal communication.

• Exclusion criteria

Some physical diseases may also cause symptoms similar to depression, and the possibility of physical and physiological problems needs to be ruled out.

If you are really worried that you have depression, please go to a regular hospital psychiatry department for treatment in time. Through professional treatment, the symptoms of patients with depression can usually improve and gradually recover.