What is Depression?

Sadness and depression are universal responses to defeat, disappointment, and adverse situations. Grief is a reactive depression in response to separation and loss.

Happiness and elation, the flipside of the coin, are the universal responses to success and favourable outcomes and situations. They can also be a way to defend against sadness and depression (i.e. In the case of denial towards loss or disappointment).

Depression and mania become medical concerns when the sadness or elation is overly intense or becomes maladaptive causing dysfunction in individual’s health, social life and work.

Mood Disorders

Depression and mood disorders are the second most commonly seen conditions in psychiatric and general practice, yet, they are often under or misdiagnosed and consequently not treated.

The term mood disorder refers to the group of psychiatric illnesses that include depressive and manic-depressive disorders that are characterized by disturbances in mood (particularly sadness and joy) and related behaviour.

Depression: Individual experiences episodes of low mood, loss of interest in activities, sleep disturbance, appetite changes, decreased concentration and inability to experience the usual emotions. Mood may be accompanied by feelings of guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, indecisiveness and thoughts of death and suicide. Anxiety is very common with depression. Depressive episodes may last weeks or months.

Dysthymic Disorder: Persistent low-grade depressive mood that may be viewed as depressive temperament (gloomy, pessimistic, humourless, passive, lethargic, unmotivated, introverted, skeptical, hypercritical, preoccupied with inadequacy, failure and negative events). The depressive symptoms may start in childhood and persist for decades into adulthood.

Bi-Polar Depression: Alternating episodes of depressed mood with episodes of “mania”: person has feelings of high energy, inflated sense of self, becomes impulsive, very talkative, experiences racing thoughts, short attention span and decreased need for sleep. The individual may participate in risky behaviour (gamble, sex, shopping spree etc)

Cyclothymic Depression: Like Bi-Polar but less severe. Periods of mood changes may last only a few days.

Secondary Depression: Depression that is a result of or aggravated by other organic and physiological causes (see below)

Suicidal Behaviour or Ideation: Includes plans and actions, thoughts, self-destructive behaviour, attempted suicide (non-fatal) and completed suicide (fatal). Suicide is usually contemplated when the perceived problems of the individual exceeds his or her resources to deal with it to the point that death is seen as the only solution.

What Causes Mood Disorders?

There are many different causes of mood disorders. The underlying factors that precipitate mood disorders are:

Biochemical factors: Changes and subsequent imbalance in the brain neurotransmitters (Serotonin and dopamine)

What Causes Mood Disorders? (Continued)

Psychological factors: Coping ability of individual.
There are many theories about the psychological cause of depression:

1. Learned helplessness: depression is the result of habitual feelings of pessimism and hopelessness
2. Aggression turned inward: Depression may be maintained by individual’s tendency to keep anger unprocessed and unexpressed in healthy ways
3. Loss (grief): Depression is a reaction to the loss of a thing, person, status, self-esteem or even habit pattern
4. Interpersonal relationship: Depression is reinforced by the attention and control the individual receives due to his or her depression.

Keep in mind that thoughts and mood affect biochemistry and biochemistry affects thoughts and mood. Therefore, treating both is of benefit to the individual.

Physiological factors:

• Pre-existing medical condition: diabetes, heart condition, lung disease, cancer, arthritis and chronic inflammation and pain, liver disease, allergies, fibromyalgia, neurological disease
• PMS
• Hypothyroid
• Hypoglycemia

Naturopathic medicine takes into consideration all the possible causative and maintaining factors of your mood disorder. Dietary changes, nutrient supplementation, stress management exercises and acupuncture may all be part of the comprehensive treatment plan for mood disorders. By coordinating all these treatment therapies we hope to change the biochemical, psychological, physiological and external factors and return the balance of your moods.