Managing Low Mood & Depression

Описание: 1 in 4 Canadians has depression significant enough to warrant treatment at some point in their life.

Depression is that big of an issue.

As a matter of fact, according to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide.

Take a moment to let that sink in.

The single greatest cause of disability. It isn’t cancer, heart disease, diabetes... it’s depression.

RESOURCES & LINKS:
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Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3379579/

Covert digital manipulation of vocal emotion alter speakers’ emotional states in a congruent direction: https://www.pnas.org/content/113/4/94...

Do slumped and upright postures affect stress responses?: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25222...

Anti-inflammatory diet: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/arti...
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Over 300 million people worldwide struggle with depression.

That’s something, given that there are currently about 7.9 billion people in the world.
Despite the prevalence of depression being so high, there is hope.

Depression is highly treatable, and science has uncovered highly effective strategies.
But before we get to them, let’s establish a working definition for depression.

Typically, when looking at definitions for psychological disorders, we’d start with the DSM, which is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and essentially the final word on mental health diagnoses.

For our purposes, I’m going to borrow a relatively brief definition of depression from the American Psychiatric Association, as they’ve summed it up wonderfully.

“Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Fortunately, it is also treatable.

Depression causes feelings of sadness and or a loss in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home.”

And to further borrow from the APA, these are the common symptoms of depression:
• Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
• Changes in appetite – weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
• Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
• Loss of energy or increased fatigue
• Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g. hand-wringing or pacing) or slowed movements and speech (actions observable by others)
• Feeling worthless or guilty
• Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
• Thoughts of death or suicide

These symptoms must last at least 2 weeks (for a diagnosis of depression) and must not be accounted for by a medical condition.

Typically, a depression measure such as the Beck Depression Inventory is used to evaluate symptom severity.

Now that you have a better understanding of depression let’s look at depression treatment strategies.

First, it’s important to start with a plan for the day.

When mood is low, it can be difficult to get moving and having a plan will help give you some direction.

Second, be sure to take care of the basics.

If you were a car, you would need oil and gas and regular tune-ups to run well.
As humans, we are far more complex, and we need lots of clean water, healthy food and regular exercise to function well.

For my third strategy, for coping with depression, I encourage you to chunk time to get started.
Low mood often leads to low motivation, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

Committing to doing something small for a short time can help you get moving and create some positive momentum.

And fourth, making simple adjustments with your body consistently, such as smiling more, increasing the tone of your voice, and maintaining good posture, can all help to improve your mood.

So, I hope you found these 4 strategies helpful for battling depression.


If you're experiencing challenges implementing these steps, please contact us @ https://www.drsullivan.ca/

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