You are not lazy, you just suffer from depression
"I finally plucked up the courage to go to the hospital and was diagnosed with depression."
At this year's talk show conference, talk show actor Rock admitted that he was suffering from depression and shared his feelings of depression.
He said: "The biggest trouble that depression brings to me is that it makes me lose mobility. Sometimes I can only lie down and don't want to do anything. It seems like I am lazy. But you know, There is a difference between laziness and depression. A lazy person has a smile on his face when he is lying down; while a depressed person has no smile on his face."
Is it lazy or sick?
"No interest, decreased energy and physical strength, are the core symptoms of depression. After the illness, people will lack motivation and will not like to do what they originally liked to do." said Jiang Sisi, chief physician of the clinical psychology department of Peking University Sixth Hospital, "Patients It is a kind of "boring and boring coming out of my heart". When it is serious, I don't want to do anything. People who have not experienced it are hard to understand. This kind of thing. The behavior that I don’t want to do is like what people often say is “lazy”, so many patients and their families will ask, is it lazy or sick?"
As a psychiatrist, Jiang Sisi believes that Rock's description of the difference between "depression" and "lazy" is very accurate: "When a lazy person is lying down, his heart is happy, because being lazy is what you want. And depression Although they lie still, they are not happy at all in their hearts. They often stage the struggle between'I should get up and do things' and'I really don't want to move', and they even attack themselves as'lazy' and'useless' in their hearts. ."
"Laziness, as a trait, should be relatively stable from childhood to most of the time. Depression, as a disease, is a state of a person for a period of time. Therefore, if you are always diligent and love to work, you will change in a period of time. 'I'm lazy, I've changed so much I don't like to do anything, I have to consider whether I'm sick." Jiang Sisi said.
Is it an ideological problem, a cultural phenomenon, or a disease?
"Depression is not an exaggerated phenomenon, it is not a'thinking problem', nor is it a'lazy'. Depression is a real disease with a biological basis and disease entity." Jiang Sisi said.
Jiang Sisi introduced that depression as a disease, its etiology is still under study.
It is clear that depression is related to genetics, environmental factors, personality traits, and changes in brain neurotransmitters.
It should be pointed out that not everyone has the ability to recognize their depression, and many people even have been depressed for a long time without noticing it.
These people usually don’t care much about their emotions and don’t understand their own emotional changes, so they will always feel that their emotions are not problematic until they experience poor sleep quality, slow thinking, loss of mobility, and even suicidal thoughts. After the doctor, I found out that there was a problem with my emotions.
Therefore, it is very important to be aware of your emotions and to understand your physical and mental conditions in time.
Jiang Sisi believes that emotion is an internal signal in the body that reflects what is happening in the body and mind system.
For example, when a person feels afraid, the emotion of "fear" is an important internal signal, which means that something terrible may be happening.
Similarly, depression is also a signal, which means that a person's current physical and mental state, a certain life pattern, neurotransmitters in the brain, or interpersonal relationships with people around need to be adjusted.
Is it transient depression, or depression?
How to distinguish depression from depression?
Jiang Sisi said, first of all, depression is a kind of mood.
And depression is not just a low mood, it is a general term for a group of syndromes with low mood at the core.
The core symptom of depression is low mood, which is also accompanied by thinking disorders, decreased volition, cognitive impairment, and some physical symptoms.
Second, depression usually occurs when people encounter setbacks and dislikes. It is a physiological emotional manifestation when people encounter negative events, and the emotions will recover in the past.
However, severe depression will persist, especially if there is no special inducement, it may be "depression".
If a person is always depressed from time to time and for no reason, even if the degree is not very serious, the alarm should be sounded to attract attention.
Third, depression is short-lived. It is like a gust of wind, coming and going fast, and depression will last for at least two weeks.
Depressed patients are like being caught by depression. If you don't seek help and make adjustments carefully, the depressed mood will not disappear on its own, and it will even get worse.
"Check in"-self-recognition of depressive symptoms
Jiang Sisi pointed out that depression includes a series of symptoms, and many manifestations may suggest the existence of depression.
For example, low mood is a characteristic symptom of depressive disorder, which is mainly manifested as significant and lasting depression and pessimism.
Patients with mild depression are depressed, lack of pleasure, lack of interest, and lack of motivation to do things. Patients often complain of "sense of depression" or "unhappy"; patients with severe depression may feel pessimistic and desperate, living like years, and not wanting to live. It is often said that "living has no meaning" or "life has no fun".
Depression patients will also become pessimistic and negative, showing that they have low self-evaluation, thinking that everything is not good for them, that they are the most unfortunate people, and no good things will happen to them.
Jiang Sisi emphasized that low self-evaluation is one of the most common manifestations of depression, but it is difficult for patients to identify themselves.
"When a person is depressed, he is very inclined to demean himself, thinking that he is worthless, and even some people will have a strong attack on him. If the patient believes these low evaluations are true, they will be even more depressed. Depressed patients are very depressed. It's hard to jump out of my own thinking swamp, so I must seek help from others."
Severe depression patients will also have psychotic symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations; some patients will have self-blame and guilty ideas, thinking that their existence has caused trouble to the people around them, such troubles are unforgivable, and they think they are sorry Family, friends, and colleagues, and then have suicidal ideas; individual patients also have extended suicidal behavior-that is, out of sympathy, compassion or reluctance to family members, kill their loved ones and then commit suicide-such as in the news It is reported that a mother who was depressed after childbirth committed suicide while holding her baby.
Easily overlooked symptoms of depression: cognitive impairment and physical symptoms
The complexity of depressive symptoms goes far beyond this.
Jiang Sisi pointed out that depression can also cause impairment of cognitive function, such as decreased memory of recent events, increased negative memory, decreased concentration, prolonged reaction time, decreased abstract thinking ability, decreased learning ability, and decreased language fluency. In addition, Eye-hand coordination, spatial perception, and flexibility of thinking are also impaired.
Jiang Sisi observed that some students suffering from depression did not realize the changes in their moods, or attributed their mood changes to rebellion, and did not care.
They are often the first to discover that they are not as smart as before, lack concentration, and have poor memory, so they begin to blame themselves, blame themselves for not studying hard, easily distracted, and force themselves to study hard.
Because they did not receive the treatment they deserved, the patients were very painful and took a lot of detours. Some patients also suffered from a decline in their academic performance.
Jiang Sisi reminded that decreased memory function, decreased concentration, and decreased abstract thinking ability are common symptoms of depression. If these symptoms occur, you should consider whether there is a possibility of depression.
In taking drugs, many people have cognitive misunderstandings, thinking that “the drug is three-point poison” and worry that taking antidepressant drugs will make the brain dumb. In fact, it is the depression itself that affects the brain’s thinking function, not the drug. Taking drugs can often improve the thinking and cognitive functions of the brain.
In addition, depression is often manifested by a series of specific physical symptoms, such as sleep disorders, loss of appetite, weight loss, symptoms of autonomic dysfunction, fatigue, pain (any part of the body), constipation, amenorrhea, loss of libido, impotence, etc.
Especially in the two groups of children, adolescents and the elderly, when depression onset, they often start with physical discomfort.
Jiang Sisi said that it was clinically found that many depression patients in the two groups of children, adolescents and the elderly have very similar morbidity. "For example, children always have uncomfortable stomachs and there is no problem with the gastroenterology examination. Later, they were diagnosed with depression; The person has suddenly lost weight or suffered physical pain, but all examinations did not find the problem, and finally found that it was a physical symptom caused by depression."
Jiang Sisi said that although there are more and more discussions about depression, depression is still an underestimated disease.
Many people have problems but do not seek medical attention and therefore do not receive the help they deserve.
"The self-recognition of depression is very important." Jiang Sisi emphasized, "If you find that you have the depressive symptoms listed above, especially if you have multiple symptoms at the same time, you should put a question mark in your heart and ask if you have depression. The problem."
She also reminded that the self-recognition of depression is not the same as the diagnosis of depression. The diagnosis of depression must go to a regular hospital.
"Not all people who come to the hospital will be diagnosed with depression. Clinically, they will also encounter patients who have been evaluated and found that they have not developed depression. These patients can also understand their own situation better through evaluation and get some suggestions for adjusting their emotions. ." Jiang Sisi said.
Those who are diagnosed with depression should actively receive systematic and scientific treatment.
"Depression is a treatable disease. Many patients can benefit from medication and psychotherapy. I hope that when you find that you may have depression, you can go to a regular hospital for help in time." Jiang Sisi said.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Xia Jin Source: China Youth Daily
11th edition on December 07, 2021