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Assessment |
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| Depression Consultation |
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Review Date: Monday, October 01, 2007
Reviewed by: Convergence Health Content Staff |
| For additional assistance addressing wellness issues on your mind, please contact your Health Care provider.
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 Depression is a complex condition; thus it deserves a complex assessment. The ConvergenceHealth Depression Consultation evaluates you for depression in several ways. First, it helps determine whether or not you might be depressed, and estimates how severe that depression may be. Next, if it determines that you might be depressed, it looks at the specific type and pattern of your depression. Lastly, it looks at its causes, chronology and any associated conditions.
Although only a licensed physician or mental health practitioner can diagnose and treat depression, you may find that taking our Depression Consultation gives you valuable insight into your emotions and your overall health. The information it provides might also help speed your recovery and/or enable you to find the right kind of treatment for your needs.
What is depression? Depression is a medical illness, and it is finally starting to get the respect it deserves as an illness. Depression primarily affects the emotional centers of the brain, "depressing" their ability to experience a normal range of feelings, particularly those associated with pleasure, happiness and motivation. Theses areas of the brain, through their connection to the rest of the nervous system, all of the body's organs, and the immune system, disrupt many of the body's physical functions as well. It's important to remember that depression is not just a bad mood or a sign of poor coping. Depression doesn't just feel bad: it's bad for your whole body.
Just about anyone can develop depression under the right conditions. As with any illness, susceptibility to it varies enormously from person to person. You are born with some degree of genetic vulnerability to it. Later, your childhood experiences, particularly your interactions with parents in the early years of life, but also your experiences later with peers, altered the wiring in your brain so as to make it easier or harder for you to get depressed. Traumas, losses, and life stresses may have added to the burden. Close, supportive relationships, meaningful work, exercise, and a good diet help protect against depression, while their absence makes it more likely.
Are stress and depression related? Yes. In fact, stress and depression can worsen each other through a feedback loop. For example, enough stress can lead to depression; depression, through fatigue, loss of motivation, difficulty thinking and hopelessness, leads to more stress. Both stress and depression lead to disturbed sleep; sleep deprivation can produce or worsen depression. Both sleep deprivation and depression weaken immune function. The result can be an increase in the risk of both minor illnesses like colds and flu, and major conditions like heart attack, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
Depression is treatable. Don't be afraid of being "labeled" as depressed, because depression can be cured. But it can't be treated at all unless it is identified. So if you suspect that you may have depression, take the Depression Consultation to gain insight into your condition and learn what to do, both on your own and with the help of the right kind of health professionals, to beat it. |
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