Depression is almost as common as it is debilitating: one in five people will experience it in their lifetime and it is the leading cause of disability in the world. How does it develop, how does it differ from 'feeling low' and what therapies can help to alleviate it?
Depression is common, but what distinguishes it from ‘feeling low’?
As many as one in five of us experiences depression at some point during our lifetime. At any one time, 10 per cent of us are depressed, according to the Mental Health Foundation. Not everyone seeks treatment for depression, and some people don’t ever share it with friends and family, let alone a healthcare professional.
This is why precise figures on the incidence of depression are hard to come by, but we do know that it is more likely to happen as a result of certain life events, or at certain ages, or times. Teenagers are about twice as likely as younger children to become depressed, and about 12 to 15 per cent of mothers become depressed after pregnancy and childbirth. There is a further peak at age 65 plus.
Depression is much more than feeling a ‘bit down’ or ‘low’ occasionally, perhaps as a reaction to bad news, or some temporary difficulty in your life or at work. You may be depressed if you feel tired a lot of the time, even if you’ve been sleeping a lot; if your motivation for doing even normally enjoyable things has gone; if you have mystery aches and pains or headaches.
Many people with depression have a strong tendency to ‘ruminate’, repeatedly churning over problems, difficult conversations and situations, to try to resolve them. But rumination is usually not helpful, and can actually get in the way of problem solving, and make depression worse.
As many as 1 in 5 of us will experience depression
There’s no single way of experiencing any of this, however. Some people become intensely depressed for a relatively short time, maybe lasting a few weeks; others may be mildly depressed for a long time, even years. Other people have variations on this, or a mix of experiences.
Different varieties of depression may need different forms of support. For example, bi-polar disorder brings with it low and high mood swings, with sometimes intense and difficult periods at either end of the spectrum. Seasonal Affective Disorder can occur in the autumn and winter and bring about depressive symptoms as a result of a reaction to the darker days and evenings.
Risks factors and inheritance
Although depression is not predictable, in that we don’t know who is going to experience it and when, there are definite risk factors that make it more likely to happen to some of us than others. Past experiences, perhaps going back to childhood and even infancy, can make some people less resilient to negative life events, and perhaps lead to a low opinion of oneself.
There’s some evidence that depression runs in families (especially bipolar depression) and there may be a genetic factor for some people. Major life pressures, especially bereavement or serious stress at work, or relationship difficulties, can also put people at higher risk.
Fortunately, there are a variety of psychological therapies available to alleviate depression and its cognitive, behavioural and emotional symptoms.
For example, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been found to be as effective as antidepressants in alleviating depressive symptoms: CBT and antidepressants are associated with similar rates of recovery, but evidence suggests that CBT has far fewer cases of relapse. Researchers in Exeter also recently found mindfulness therapy to be as effective as antidepressants in preventing relapse of depression, and more effective in improving quality of life. It was also proved to be as cost-effective in helping to stay well in the long term.
The House Partnership, 9th November 2015
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Elizabeth Gilbert-author of Eat, Pray, Love-talks about Schopenhauer's theory about intimacy and relationships and why people are like porcupines. Relationship counselling provides a safe space in which to work through difficulties together.
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Mindfulness, though it draws influence from ancient Buddhist tradition, is fast becoming an essential part of a range of non-religious psychological therapies and helping people with a wide variety of physical and emotional concerns.
In the current economic climate - when job security is at an all time low - many people are finding that their best course of action when ill is going to work anyway... but what are the costs not only to the economy, but more importantly to our wellbeing?
A man's problems with his wife keep him awake during a whole night. An animation about insomnia, by Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits, promoting the short story 'Night Thoughts' by Helen Simpson, for Granta magazine's issue on feminism.
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Levni Yilmazis is an independent film-maker, artist and publisher. In this short animation he provides a wry how-to guide for breaking up . . . in 64 easy steps!
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This film by the charity OCD-UK offers insight into the problems that people with OCD face, and how they experience the condition. OCD responds very well to a combination of CBT cognitive behavioral and mindfulness therapies.
CBT has been consistently shown to aid recovery from OCD in over three quarters of people who undertake it by encouraging them to change the way they think through 'cognitive restructuring', and use this to change the way they behave through 'cognitive management'.
A short video from animator Kelly Bailey on what it's like to live with panic and agoraphobia, containing recorded testimony of real people who have struggled with and overcome these fears.
The focus of mindfulness-based therapy is upon recognising and accepting each moment in the present instead of jumping to hasty and often damaging reactions. This is proving to be greatly beneficial to improving our relationships with others.
Professor Paul Salkovskis, a clinical psychologist and director of the Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma, discusses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. And Karen reveals how this form of therapy helped her overcome OCD.
Sleep brings a range of benefits to our minds, physical health, and well-being, and insomnia can be extremely disruptive to our lives and functioning. Insomnia and long term, chronic sleeplessness, can be extremely disruptive to our lives and functioning, so what can we do to tackle it?
Depression is three times more common following a heart attack: as many as one in three survivors qualify for a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. Research is beginning to reveal which parts of CBT Cognitive Behavioural Therapy CBT may be most helpful to these patients.
Cutural and religious rituals and many of the behaviours of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) show striking similarities: washing, checking, repetition... is OCD a manifestation of a deep human need that has spun out of control?
Kadam Morten Clausen, resident teacher at the Kadampa Meditation Centre in New York, discusses how stress is all about our perceptions of others and of the world. Mindfulness practices, as encouraged at The House Partnership, can help you find a path to a life free of stress.
Iain and Susan are struggling to work out why their sex life has ground to a halt. A short promotional film for the BBC animated documentary: Wonderland: The Trouble With Love and Sex.
Levni Yilmazis is an independent film-maker, artist and publisher. This is his ironic take on the less-than-helpful advice some people give when you're experiencing depression.
Though it has been proposed that food issues such as extreme dieting, anorexia and bulimia are on the rise and influenced by media pressures, analysis of texts about and by many of history's key figures suggests that these problems have been around for centuries.
A clip from the BBC's Weird Nature series showing how Vervet Monkeys in the Caribbean have taken to stealing cocktails from people on the beach. Studies show that they have the same percentage of teetotal and alcoholic individuals as the human population.
