This is an automatically translated article.
The article was written by Master, Resident Doctor Nguyen Thanh Long - Consultant Psychiatry - Psychological Clinic, Department of General Internal Medicine - Vinmec Times City International General HospitalDepression is a mood disorder that causes feelings of sadness and loss. The disease is divided into different levels, in which mild depression can be recognized early to promptly improve and prevent disease progression.
1. What is depression?
Depression is a common mood disorder. Patients often have a sad mood, with or without symptoms, or cry. Lack of motivation, decreased interest in everything, including activities that were in a previous hobby.
Depression affects a person's feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, causing the person to face many difficulties in life, or physical and mental problems.
Depression is so common that 80% of the world's population will experience depression at some point in their lives. The lifetime risk of depression is 15-25%. It can occur at any age and is more common in women than in men. This syndrome has a high rate in people who are separated, divorced, and unemployed.
Depression is a disease that needs attention and treatment. In a patient with mild depression, the patient may not yet need medication and the condition is not so dangerous. But above all, the patient needs to receive the attention of family and loved ones and even a doctor to help overcome this condition, because depression can be a lot worse if left untreated.
2. Manifestations of mild depression
Mild depression will not have all the symptoms of general depression. In order to be diagnosed with depression, at least one of the two symptoms of core depression must be present:
Sad mood, with or without symptoms or crying. Lack of motivation, decreased interest in everything, including activities that were in a previous hobby. In addition to those main 2 million, patients with mild depression also have 7 other related symptoms:
Tâm trạng buồn bã, có hoặc không kèm theo triệu chứng hay khóc là một trong những biểu hiện trầm cảm ở mức độ nhẹ
Sleep disturbances Changes in appetite Fatigue Slow movements, irritability Difficulty concentrating or solving simple everyday problems. Feelings of disappointment and guilt about yourself. Thinking about death or having suicidal thoughts. Based on these symptoms, mild depression is classified as having 1 main symptom and less than 4 related symptoms. People with mild depression can get better without medication, and over time, symptoms tend to subside on their own.
3. Causes of mild depression
Mild depression can have many causes, but it is usually caused by 3 typical groups of causes:3.1 Due to psychological trauma Psychological trauma, also known as stress, is a major cause of depression . Patients can be affected from outside such as psychological shock, family and friends conflict, stress at work or in life.
3.2 Due to the use of addictive substances or psychoactive substances Addictive substances such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs... all have the common characteristic of causing stimulation, euphoria, and temporary euphoria. After that, these substances make the nervous system greatly affected, making the patient easily enter a state of depression, body fatigue, reduced intelligence, inhibition.
3.3 Due to physical disease of the brain
Bệnh thực thể ở não
Patients who have been affected by trauma, encephalitis or brain tumor ... are at high risk of developing depression due to damaged brain structure. Patients with signs of mood disorders, poor stress tolerance, just a little stress will cause emotional disorders.
Depression causes a lot of harm to sufferers, directly affects the patient's life, is also a factor that makes other diseases more serious and complicated such as: Heart, stomach , Thyroid.
If you encounter such conditions, you should not be subjective, because even mild depression requires treatment. Many patients, out of shyness, or because they think they can handle it on their own, make the situation worse. For the life and happiness of yourself and those around you, you should not do that. A good treatment, a supportive doctor, and the sharing of a loved one can make it much easier to get over mild depression.
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