(bright music)
- Today I'm going to teach you
about the five most common forms of depression
and what we can do to overcome them.
We will learn about the following five types.
Number one, major depressive disorder.
Number two, persistent depressive disorder
otherwise known as dysthymia.
Number three, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder.
Number four, premenstrual dysphoric disorder or PMDD.
And number five, postpartum depression.
If you're watching this video,
you most likely know what depression is
but precisely it's a mental illness
that is characterized by having a depressed mood most days,
and a lack of interest or pleasure in all
or almost all of our activities.
It can affect our appetite, sleep
and many other areas of our life.
It's also incredibly common
affecting more than 280 million people in the world.
So even though we can sometimes feel isolated and alone,
know that you are not alone in what you're going through.
The first form of depression I wanna talk about
is major depressive disorder or MDD.
Because this is what mental health professionals mean
when they say that we have depression.
MDD is diagnosed if we have five or more
of the following nine symptoms
in the same two week period.
And at least one of these symptoms must be either
depressed mood, you know, feeling sad, hopeless, or empty
or loss of interest or pleasure.
What we call anhedonia.
Now moving through the rest, right?
That was the first two has to be one or the other,
we must have five total out of these nine, okay?
Hang with me.
So the third possible symptom is appetite disturbance.
Meaning we could lose or gain weight due to our depression.
Fourth is sleep disturbance,
which could mean that we're sleeping more
or less than normal
depending on how our depression affects us.
And in my experience
this is usually shown by us feeling tired all day,
and then when we lay down to actually go to sleep, we can't.
And instead we ruminate about all the things we've done
that are stupid or didn't go well in our life.
It's super fun. Said no one.
But moving right along to the fifth possible symptom
is psychomotor agitation or retardation,
which is just a fancy way of saying
that we can feel restless a lot or on the other other side,
we feel like we can't move as fast as we want to.
Kind of like there is a weight on us
or something holding us back.
And just like with appetite and sleep,
it can kind of go either way
depending on how our depression affects us.
Number six is feeling fatigued or having a lack of energy
nearly every day.
Number seven is feeling worthless
or having excessive or inappropriate guilt every day.
Now this symptom tends to be another incredibly common one.
And you can kind of see how all of these symptoms
link together.
Like if I'm staying up late at night
thinking through all the dumb I've done in my life,
that can start to make me feel worthless
and guilty about things
that maybe I didn't even have control over
which then in turn can lead me feeling sad and hopeless.
So you can kind of see how they all tie together.
But okay, let's move on to the last two possible symptoms.
Symptom number eight
is having a diminished ability to concentrate.
Which is why when we are depressed,
we can struggle to remember what we watched or read
and it can make work or school incredibly difficult.
This symptom isn't talked about as
much as I think it should be.
But anyways, the final possible symptom is number nine,
having recurrent thoughts of death,
suicidal thoughts a plan or attempts
can also accompany a diagnosis of major depressive disorder.
MDD can also be part of bipolar disorder.
When people talk about bipolar depression, what they mean is
that as part of our bipolar one or two diagnosis,
we also have depressive episodes
that happen either before or after our highs
of hypomanic or manic.
And the symptoms are the same.
It just isn't MDD
if we also have the highs of hypomania or mania.
Does that make sense?
Also one important differentiation needs to be made
between depression and grief.
Grief can have some of the same symptoms of depression,
however, grief lessons over time and its severity.
And it comes back in waves when we have an anniversary
or see or do something that reminds us of who we've lost.
Depression, doesn't come and go.
It's palpable for most of the day, nearly every day.
Let's move on to the second type of depression
and that is persistent depressive disorder or dysthymia.
When the DSM-5 came out in 2013,
and yes I know the DSM-5 text revision just came out too.
Everybody's excited.
But when the DSM-5 came out
they merged the two old diagnoses of dysthymia
and chronic major depressive disorder.
And they gave it kind of a new name.
Although you can also still call it dysthymia too
for some reason, I'm not really sure.
But PDD is when we have a depressed mood
for most of the day,
for more days than not for at least two years.
I know. Remember MDD requires two weeks.
This is two years.
And that is the main difference between this and MDD.
But along with having a depressed mood,
we also only need two of the following six symptoms.
And those possible symptoms are;
number one, appetite disturbance,
number two, sleep disturbance,
number three, low energy or fatigue,
number four, low self-esteem,
number five, poor concentration
or difficulty making decisions
and number six, feelings of hopelessness.
All in all PDD is a lower grade depression
that lasts for much longer.
When we were suffering from this
we can forget what it was actually like to feel happy
or at least not feel depressed.
And that can prevent us from reaching out for help
or even speaking up about what's going on.
Especially if we started feeling this way
when we were young.
And also note that in children
these symptoms must last for one year, not two
in order to be diagnosed as having PDD
and research shows that in most cases, those of us with PDD
did start to feel this way when we were young.
And since it can lead to other mental health issues
like personality disorders or substance abuse,
it's important that we reach out
and get the help we need and deserve.
You can feel better.
Sometimes we just need some professional help
to get us there.
The third depressive disorder I wanna talk about
is disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
or what we're gonna call DMDD.
This diagnosis was added to the DSM-5
as a way of preventing the overdiagnosis and treatment
of bipolar disorder in children.
So it's a newer diagnosis, and I'm gonna be honest,
I think it still needs some sorting out
but let's get into it.
The primary symptom of DMDD
is chronic and persistent irritability.
And while many people experience irritability
as part of their depression, this is a bit more than that.
For starters, this is a childhood diagnosis
where we must meet the criteria,
whether that's through history
meaning we knew it happened back then,
or current observation.
Before, so we have to meet all this,
before we're 10 years old.
Along with that, we must have number one,
severe recurrent temper outbursts
which manifests verbally and or behaviorally,
meaning we go into verbal rages
or show physical aggression towards others.
In these outbursts are grossly outta proportion
in the intensity and duration
to the situation or provocation.
And number two, so second symptom,
the outbursts must be inconsistent
with our developmental level.
Meaning the way we're reacting
isn't really, you know, normal for someone our age.
And number three, all of these things must occur on average
three or more times per week.
Number four, our mood in between these temper outbursts
is still irritable or angry most of the day,
nearly every day.
Number five, those four symptoms I just talked about
have to have been present for at least a year.
And during that time,
we haven't had three or more months without them.
And finally, number six, those symptoms are happening
in at least two out of three settings.
Like out of home, school and with friends,
it's happening at home and school.
And these symptoms are severe
in at least one of those settings.
Also we cannot be diagnosed with this before the age of six
or after the age of 18.
And we can be diagnosed
as having had this when we were a child,
meaning that we could get the diagnosis after the fact
when we are already an adult
but it can't be noticed in an adult
and diagnosed as only happening in adulthood.
If that makes sense.
They aren't sure if this diagnosis only exists
in this age limited fashion
which is why the DSM kind of sucks sometimes
but it does state that it shouldn't be diagnosed
after the age of 18.
And it doesn't make sense to me
that we would just like grow out of this
especially since it's a depressive disorder,
but the DSM does state that
we will most likely develop MDD
or an anxiety disorder in adulthood.
Not bipolar disorder, which I guess they believed
was being overdiagnosed and treated in children.
Either way, it's important to know that
if we are feeling extremely irritable
all day most of our days,
there is a name for what's going on
and there is help available.
So please reach out and speak up.
The fourth form of depression
is premenstrual dysphoric disorder or PMDD.
While PMS can have emotional and physical symptoms as well,
PMDD is a much more severe
and debilitating extension of PMS.
It is diagnosed when we have one or more
of the following symptoms.
Number one, mood swings like suddenly feeling sad or tearful
or increased sensitivity to rejection.
Number two, noticeable irritability or anger
or increased interpersonal conflict.
Number three, we have a depressed mood,
feelings of hopelessness or self deprecating thoughts.
And number four marked anxiety, tension,
and or feelings of being keyed up or on edge.
And we must also have one or more
of the following seven symptoms as well.
And the first possible symptom is number one,
decreased interest in usual activities.
Kind of like the lack of interest or anhedonia
that we see in MDD.
Number two, difficulty concentrating.
Again, just like we saw in MDD.
Number three, lethargy, you are feeling easily fatigued.
Number four, changes in appetite,
overeating or having specific food cravings.
Number five, sleep disturbance.
Number six, a sense of being overwhelmed or outta control.
I mean, who doesn't feel that way sometimes, right?
But at number seven,
physical symptoms such as breast tenderness or swelling,
joint or muscle pain feeling bloated
or experiencing weight gain.
And between that list and the previous one,
we must have a total of at least five symptoms.
And the symptoms that we must have
have to obviously like all diagnoses,
they have to cause clinically significant distress
or interference with work, school, social activities
or relationships with others.
And now this is important,
in the majority of our menstrual cycles
at least five of these symptoms must be present
in the final week before we have our period.
And start to improve within a few days
after our period starts
and then become minimal or absent
in the week after our period ends.
All in all, if we have PMDD,
we feel like shit for most of the month,
but we have about a week
maybe two for lucky where it's not that bad.
So if anyone ever tries to minimize our PMDD
or if you even struggle to accept that it's affecting you
in your life,
maybe just like rewatch this portion of the video
and allow yourself to really hear the symptoms
because PMDD is terrible, it's uncomfortable
and it deserves proper treatment and care.
The final form of depression I'm gonna address today
is postpartum depression.
And this is when we develop MDD after having a baby.
Although the American Psychiatric Association
calls all depression during or after pregnancy
peripartum depression.
They state that they made this change
because much of postpartum depression
occurs before the baby is actually born
and they don't want pregnant people to put off getting help
because of when they experience the symptoms.
Pregnant people are more vulnerable to depression
because pregnancy and childbirth affects our hormones,
can impact our career, our financial situation
and pretty much everything we have going on in our life.
And while many of the symptoms are similar to those of MDD,
there is this added issue of connection with our child.
And those with peripartum
can struggle to feel that connection.
And some people can even develop postpartum psychosis.
About one to two people in every thousand deliveries
will struggle with this
which can make us a danger to our child or even to ourselves
which is why it's incredibly important to speak up.
If you aren't feeling or thinking like yourself
during or after your pregnancy,
talk to somebody.
Not to mention that peripartum depression itself
occurs in one out of every seven pregnancies.
Peripartum depression can happen to those of us
who already have a history of depression or anxiety
but if we haven't had depression before having peripartum
can make us more likely to develop depression
and or anxiety again.
And also I think it's important to know
that postpartum depression
can occur within a year after giving birth.
It doesn't always happen like right after we give birth.
And finally, having what they call the, you know,
quote unquote, baby blues is different from peripartum
because the baby blues happen right after giving birth
and only last for a few weeks.
If you feel your symptoms are more severe,
you're having trouble connecting with your baby,
or have any thoughts of hopelessness or suicide,
or thoughts of hurting your child,
please reach out and speak up.
It is best to get support and professional help early on
so that you can be the best parent to your newborn baby.
Since we are already talking about treatment,
let's jump into some ways
we can better manage our symptoms of depression.
When it comes to any form of depression,
therapy is always our first line
unless our symptoms are severe.
Now I know you may be thinking, well, what is severe?
If you aren't able to participate in therapy fully,
either because you can't concentrate,
can't get there on time or do any of the homework,
or if you are actively suicidal,
therapy alone isn't going to be enough.
So stick around for a minute
and I'll share some other options.
Now for therapy
we wanna find someone who utilizes both behavioral
and thought techniques.
Which usually means they practice either CBT
or DBT styles of therapy.
These thought techniques are things like
noticing our unhelpful or negative thoughts
and checking the facts
to see if we have any things to support that thought.
Also challenging them using bridge statements.
So we can move our thoughts into a more neutral,
I didn't say positive, place.
We could also fight back
and come up with three to five things each day
that went our way.
Because research shows us
that one of the main differences between a happy
and unhappy person
is that a happy person looks for the good things
in their life.
And an unhappy person looks for the bad.
So looking out into our world and seeking the good things
can change our entire mood and outlook.
The behavioral techniques I was talking about
with regard to therapy would be things like
going for a walk, getting enough, sleep,
smiling at a stranger, showering every day
and making sure we eat regularly.
Just to name a few things.
But like I said, if we can't even imagine
doing any of these things
because we just don't have the energy or motivation,
that's okay.
Along with therapy, we can consider medication
like an SSRI or SNRI otherwise known as an antidepressant.
Or even an atypical antipsychotic like Latuda, Abilify
or any other number of options out there.
Reach out to your doctor, preferably a psychiatrist
because they know psychotropic medication best.
And let them know what symptoms you're experiencing.
Also make sure to ask about any side effects
or any other medications that you're on.
And remember, it can take a few weeks
for you to feel any positive effect from the medication.
So do your best to be patient during this time.
I know it's frustrating, but it can and will get better.
Oh, and I also wanna mention
that there are other options aside from medication.
Things like vagus nerve stimulation
which you can trigger yourself,
I actually have a full video about it
if you wanna know more,
or you can even get a stimulator implanted
and let it do all the work.
All in all, just make sure you ask about all of your options
so that you get the treatment that is right for you.
Have a great rest of your week
and I will see you next time.
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