Depression is the common cold of mental illness, and stress and fatique often contribute. Here's how to interrupt the cycle.
"After her first marriage ended several years ago, Sarah Sanderson was enveloped in profound sadness. 'Besides sadness, I had no other emotions. Physically, I always felt on the verge of tears - I had a knot in my stomach, a lump in my throat, my eyes burned. I woke up that way in the morning.' It was her lack of emotional range that frightened her most. 'I couldn't deal with my children's hurt. My empathy was gone, too.' Sanderson went to her family physician for help. After an assessment, the doctor diagnosed a clinincal depression and prescribed Prozac. Within a few weeks, Sanderson's emotional landscape began to change. She still felt the depth of sadness but she could also feel other emotions -- anger, joy, empathy. 'It gave me back my feelings and reactions,' she says. 'It made me more decisive so that I could do what I had to do instead of hiding under the covers'. Once she experienced the changes that resulted from having her depression treated, Sanderson realized that she had probably suffered depression at other times, although not as severe. 'I know now that the periods of flatness that hit me out of the blue lasted longer than they should have,' she said.
Depression is still one of the most under-diagnosed, under- treated diseases there is, although an increase n public education is raising awareness of the disease and reducing its stigma. About one million Canadians suffer depression. But, says Dr. Ranjith Chandrasena, deputy director of psychiatry at the Riverside Campus of the Ottawa Hospital and associate professor at the University of Ottawa, only a small percentage of sufferers receive treatment for their illness because both sufferers and their doctors have trouble recognizing the disease.
All over the world, depression is more common in women that in men; one in four women and one in ten men will suffer a depression at some point in their lives. Researchers believe that women are more prone to depression because of the many hormonal changes that can affect the chemistry of the brain in menstruation, pregnancy and menopause.
Part of the difficulty for sufferers is understanding that no one factor causes depression. Firstly, depression is a biological illness that involves an imbalance in brain chemistry. Using the breain imaging techniques of positron-emission tomography (PET), researchers can trace chemical activity in the brain and identify a pattern of underactivity in the frontal regions of the cortex and overactivity in the limbic regions that correlate with depression. The newer antidepressants work by re-balancing the brain chemistry.
But depression can be triggered by events in a sufferers life. It can be a reaction to a series of difficulties or stresses, such as a financial setback or a marriage breakup. Too many stressors at the same time can bring on a depression. Some people are predisposed to depression. They may have a family history of the disease, a brain- chemical imbalance or they may have suffered a trauma. For example, being the victim of sexual abuse can increase the likelihood of suffering depression.
Article excerpted from the magazine: "Canadian Living", Spring 2000.
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