 | | |
Depression
| Depression is a state of mind familiar to almost everyone, but this very familiarity becomes problematic when
approaching clinical depressive states. In ordinary usage the word refers to a mood state that in medicine is called dysthemia, as contrasted
with the normal state of euthymia and the opposite state of elation. In psychiatric usage, disorders of mood are called affective disorders;
depression can be such a disease in itself or a symptom of another mental disorder. Normal human responses to some situations may also
include transient depressions.
Major depression occur in 10% to 20% of the world's population in the course of a lifetime. Women are more
often affected than men, by a two to one ratio, and they seem to be a particular risk in the period prior to menstruation or following childbirth.
Relatives of patients with major depression also seem to be at some higher risk of becoming depressed, and about 2% of the population
may have a chronic disorder known as a depressive personality.
Depression is defined by a standard set of symptoms described in the
American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They are:
- poor appetite and significant
weight loss, or increased appetite and significant weight gain;
- insomnia, or increased sleep;
- agitation, or retardation,
of movement and thought;
- loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities or decrease in sexual drive;
- fatigue and loss of
energy;
- feelings of worthlessness, self-reproach, or excessive or inappropriate guilt;
- diminished ability to think or concentrate,
or indecisiveness;
- recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts.
Not all of these characteristics occur in each individual who becomes depressed. For purposes of psychiatric treatment, a person is considered to have experienced a major depressive episode if he or she exhibits a loss of interest or pleasure in all or almost all usual activities and shows at least four of the above symptoms nearly every day for a period of at least two weeks. The term depression is often modified by words that imply either some specific factor or some chemical mechanism as the cause of the state.
- Depressions that have been considered as reactions to some loss of or separation from a valued person or object are called reactive (or exogenous) depressions.
- This contrasts with the usually more severe depressions without apparent cause called endogenous depressions, or those accompanied by delusions.
Melancholia, a term once used to describe all depressive states, is now applied only to these most severe forms of depression. As we are dealing with human beings, thank God, such distinctions are not clear-cut.
Two major classes of anti-depressant drugs are commonly used: the tricyclic drugs, employed since the early 1960's, and the monoamine oxidase inhibitors(M.A.O.I.'s). The herbalist should be familiar with these widely prescribed drugs as they impact the prognosis. Both groups seem to block or reduce the effect of herbal nervines and anti-depressants. This is concluded from my clinical experience but has no statistics to back it up.
- The tricyclic's are considered effective in about 75% of depressed patients. Their exact mechanism of action is unknown, but it is believed to involve their effect on the disposition of norepinephrine or serotonin in the brain. These drugs are not stimulants--in fact they often cause sleepiness--and their effects may not be apparent until two or three weeks after the start of treatment. Sleep disorders may then diminish, and a lightening of mood becomes apparent, but continued treatment is needed for six to nine months before use of the drugs ceases.
- The monamine oxidase inhibitors, prevent the formation of monamine oxidase, an enzyme that breaks down amines (catecholamines &indolethylamines) in the brain and intestinal tract. Their effectiveness is attributed to normalizing (raising) the amount of amine in the brain. Because the enzyme ordinarily breaks down food amines that would otherwise raise blood pressure, the body is no longer protected from this effect when the M.O.A.I.'s are used. Patients who are given them must control their diets with extreme care, otherwise they run the risk of severe headaches, hypertensive crises and even death. Because the drugs can also interact with other chemical drugs to cause increases in blood pressure, physicians prescribing them shouldprovide instructions to patients about the necessary precautions. A partial list of things to avoid includes:
- Foods that are rich in tyrosine
- alcohol, especially red wine
- cheese, meat, yeast extracts, herring, broad beans
- OTC nasal decongestants containing phenylephrine or phenylpropanolamine
Actions indicated for the processes behind this condition:
|
|
|
|
Tell A Friend
Printer friendly version 
on 
Whilst working in conservation and lecturing in ecology and the eco-crisis for the University of Wales, David Hoffman became convinced that to heal the world, to embrace planetary wholeness and responsibility for it 
