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on: Friday, 08 August 2008 13:52
on: Friday, 08 August 2008 13:46
on: Friday, 08 August 2008 13:13
on: Friday, 08 August 2008 12:57
on: Friday, 08 August 2008 12:43
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QUOTE (SCIROCCO @ May 1 2008, 12:14 PM) *
I also found this site one night when I was trying to come up with an "accident". This feeling has got to be the worst there is. I read all of the stuff about calling help lines and going to the er and whatnot. I actually considered calling the number but couldn't bring myself to do it. What really helped me was telling a friend. It was probably one of the hardest things I ever did. And I bawled like a baby. I never do that... at least not when people can see me. And it really really helped. It literally felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And now that I think about it, it turned what was the worst possible feeling into a good feeling. Strange...???
The other thing that really helps me is this forum. I'm a bipolar guy that spends most of the time depressed. I pretty frequently end up thinking of ways to have an "accident". It really really helps me to come on here and just read other people's posts and comments and replies. I felt like I was the only person in the world like myself until I found this place. Now I guess I feel pretty "normal". Because there really is no normal.
The advice up there is good. I'd definitely do something. If you tell someone they won't take it lightly and won't be judgmental. Family and friends, doctors, crisis centers all care about helping you.
(SCIROCCO)
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Depression & Mental Health FAQs
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated 40 million Americans living today will suffer from major depressive illness during their lives. Seasonal affective disorder is major depression that appears in the fall or winter and goes away in spring, thought to be caused by lack of sunlight.
Postpartum depression occurs within four weeks of a women giving childbirth. Most new mothers suffer from some form of the �baby blues.� Postpartum depression, by contrast, is major depression, thought to be triggered by changes in hormonal flows associated with childbirth. Catatonic depression is a rare form of major depression characterized by (at least two): Stupor, excessive motor activity, extreme negativism, peculiarities in voluntary movement, and repetition of other people's words or actions. - mcmanweb.com
Psychotic depression is a rare form of depression characterized by delusions or hallucinations, such as believing you are someone you are not and hearing voices.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the US population age 18 and older in a given year, have a depressive disorder. Depression is a chronic illness that exacts a significant toll on
America's health and productivity. It affects more than 21 million
American children and adults annually and is the leading cause of
disability in the United States for individuals ages 15 to 44.
Lost productive time among U.S. workers due to depression is estimated
to be in excess of $31 billion per year. Depression frequently
co-occurs with a variety of medical illnesses such as heart disease,
cancer, and chronic pain and is associated with poorer health status
and prognosis. It is also the principal cause of the 30,000 suicides
in the U.S. each year. In 2004, suicide was the 11 th leading cause of death in the United States, third among individuals 15-24.
According to the World Health Organization, depression is presently on track to becoming the world's second-most disabling disease (after heart disease) by the year 2020. Depression is responsible for some $87 billion a year in lost productivity in the US (a conservative estimate), and according to Bank One, is responsible for most lost work days in its employees after pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally, one million people worldwide die by their own hand, most as a result of a mood disorder. Finally, the linkage between depression and a host of physical illnesses makes it arguably the world's greatest killer.
Research presented at the 56th Annual Conference of the Canadian
Psychiatric Association shows a marked link between bipolar disorder
and migraines. The odds of migraine in persons with bipolar disorder were 40% higher than the general population. Data
obtained from 36,984 people aged 15 and over, who screened positive for
manic or depressive episodes with migraine, were compared against those
who screened positive for mania but who didn�t suffer from migraines. Amongst
males, 14.9% of those with manic episodes were also diagnosed with
migraines compared with 5.8% of the general population. Amongst
females, 34.7% had both migraines and bipolar disorder compared with
14.7% who only had migraines.unquote.gif While the research was
skewed towards persons who were already diagnosed with bipolar
disorders, what does it mean for people who suffer from migraines but
who may have an undiagnosed bipolar disorder?
Migraines and headaches aren�t fully understood but the manifestations are very real and debilitating for their sufferers: Throbbing pain Nausea Heightened sensitivity to light or sound Seeing dots, wavy lines, flashing lights, or blind spots Difficulty with speech, sensation, or movement
An estimated 2.1 million
American adolescents have experienced major depression within the last
year, according to a new comprehensive government study. Researchers
surveyed more than 67,000 young people ages 12 to 17 and found that one
in 12 had suffered from serious depression in the previous year.Nearly
13 percent of girls had struggled with depression, compared to less
than 5 percent of boys. Odds of depression increased with age -- just 4
percent of 12-year-olds experienced depression but that climbed to 11
percent for older teens.
Our DF Members
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Depression: Many workers have a secret
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New York Times Syndicate - July 13, 2007
Cox News Service ATLANTA -- Julie Rexrode has lived with a secret for more than half of her life.
Except for her husband and some other family members and close friends, no one knew about her depression. Not even her two children or her co-workers.
"I was very good at putting on a facade for people," said Rexrode, a patient care technician at Piedmont Fayette Hospital in Fayetteville, Ga. Rexrode, 37, hid her condition to avoid being ostracized.
"There's a stigma," said Rexrode, who has tried 60 different medications and electric shock therapy during the past 20 years.
"People look at you differently, like (you're) a crazy person. I didn't want the stigma placed on me. People don't understand. It's a disease, just like cancer."
Unlike many other illnesses, depression remains largely a societal taboo that affects about twice as many women as men, according to mental health experts.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the workplace. Depression costs U.S. business at least billion a year in absenteeism, lost productivity and direct treatment costs, according to Mental Health America, an Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit. Experts at Harvard Medical School, which has done extensive studies on depression's impact on the workplace, put that figure closer to billion.
Last year, companies paid another million in damages to depressed workers who sued their employers under the Americans With Disabilities Act, according to M. Lee Smith Publishers, a national newsletter on labor law trends.
Despite the consequences, many employers "aren't tuned into" depression, says Ronald Schouten, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Some treat depression, often a chronic condition, as a temporary problem that can be fixed with a few visits to the internal employee assistance program, mental health experts say.
"People have insurance, but (mental health coverage) is not on parity" with other medical coverage, says Ellyn Jaeger, director of public policy and advocacy for Mental Health America of Georgia.
Those who have some type of mental health coverage often get only limited doctor visits, she added.
"That's not the kind of treatment any other illness gets," said Jaeger, who suffers from depression. "That's not adequate.
Businesses, if they want a healthy work force, need to realize how serious depression is."
Some employers do. They are screening workers and educating them about the disease, as well as seeking assistance from the medical community.
Other businesses recognize the importance of the problem, experts say, but the high cost of coverage forces many to make hard choices about where their health care dollars will go. Ultimately, that often means mental health benefits get short shrift, even though depression is a leading cause of workplace disability worldwide, says Harvard's Schouten.
Beyond the stigma, employees who struggle with depression often encounter supervisors who aren't equipped to handle their condition, Schouten said.
"People are still worried that if they bring up an issue of someone having an emotional disturbance, they'll be sued," he said. "Other people just aren't comfortable talking about it."
But passage of the Family Medical Leave Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act in the past 15 years has made it more important that employers know how to deal with depression, says Susan Fentin, a partner with the labor and employment law firm Skoler Abbott & Presser in Springfield, Mass.
"I have tremendous sympathy for people who suffer from depression," Fentin said. "I also see it from the employer's side and how difficult it is to manage."
Compounding the problem can be the environment at many companies, where many employees are working extra hard and feeling overwhelmed. Experts say women disproportionately bear a lot of the load as they assume multiple roles: wife, mother, caregiver, worker. The pressure manifests itself as disturbances in mood, sleep, appetite, concentration and interests. Men often suffer depression in silence, they add.
Depression is one of the key obstacles preventing some working women from being successful at work, according to a study done a few years ago by the American Medical Women's Association and the National Mental Health Association (now Mental Health America). In the survey, eight in 10 women who had been diagnosed with depression said having the condition was a bigger barrier to their professional success than pregnancy, child care, elder care and sexual harassment.
"The pressure of work is one of the most common reasons for depression," said Dr. Dwight Bearden, a Macon, Ga., psychiatrist who has been in practice for 25 years.
Untreated, the disease is disruptive and, at its worst, debilitating. In some cases, it has derailed careers.
Rexrode, for instance, spent much of the 1990s cocooned in her darkened bedroom, blinds drawn. She was unable to work during that time.
"I'd get up in the morning. I'd get my kids off to school," Rexrode recalled recently. "I'd go back to bed until my kids came home from school. I cried all the time. I couldn't do anything."
It's a different story now.
Last November, Rexrode had a device called a Vagus Nerve Stimulator implanted. It sends mild, intermittent pulsed signals to the vagus nerve on the left side of the neck. That, in turn, sends signals to the part of the brain that controls moods. The surgery typically costs ,000, a sum not covered by many insurance companies, including Rexrode's. But she became part of a study and only had to pay several hundred dollars.
Rexrode says the surgery was "my last hope." Except for the tiny jolts that make her hoarse sometimes, she feels the surgery has helped a lot, returning her to a more normal life. She goes to the movies, skating and shopping with her two children. In addition to working as a patient care technician at Piedmont Fayette, she'll attend Clayton State University in the fall, where she plans to get a degree to become a registered nurse.
Now, she says, "I get up in the morning and open the blinds."
Tammy Joyner writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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Depression & Mental Health FAQs 2
What is Clinical Depression? Clinical
depression can affect your body, mood, thoughts, and behavior. It can
change your eating habits, how you feel and think about things, your
ability to work and study, and how you interact with people. Clinical
depression is not a passing mood, a sign of personal weakness or a
condition that can be willed away. Clinically depressed people cannot
"pull themselves together" and get better. Depression can be
successfully treated by a mental health professional or certain health
care providers. With the right treatment, 80 percent of those who seek
help get better. And many people begin to feel better in just a few
weeks.
Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health World Health Organization Finds Depression Often Goes Untreated By Salynn Boyles WebMD Medical News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Sept.
6, 2007 -- Depression has a greater impact on overall health than
arthritis, diabetes, angina, and asthma, but it all too often goes
unrecognized and untreated, a report from the World Health Organization
(WHO) suggests. more... Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health
For Additional Information About Depression Write To: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663 Bethesda, MD 20892-9663
For free brochures on depression and its treatment call: 1-800-421-4211. or visit: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
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