Disease Profile: Major Depression
It is not unusual for us human beings to express emotions toward a certain event, a loss of a person or a thing. With this thing in mind, when are we diagnosed with major depression? What makes it different from the normal sadness?
Major depression, also goes by the names such as major depressive disorder – MDD, recurrent depressive disorder, clinical depression, unipolar depression or unipolar disorder, is described as an all-encompassing low mood and reluctance to activities supposed found enjoyable. Patients with MDD are typically prescribed with an antidepressant of which the most widely used is Zoloft. It is often given as a monotherapy as Zoloft can dangerously interact with other substances including alcohol.
The term depression becomes ambiguous as we use the term for the actual mood disorder and lower mood problems without clinical significance. MDD may badly affects one’s health in general, family, work or school life, sleeping and eating proclivities. A criteria has been made in order to diagnose depressive disorders on the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statisticla Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-IV-TR).
At least one of the 2 major symptoms need to be present to be diagnosed with MDD – depressed mood and anhedonia (or the inadequacy to show enjoyment to an activity that used to be enjoyable). These symptoms, however, need to be constant for at least a period of 2 weeks. Further, DSM –IV-TR excludes cases where the symptoms are accounted by bereavement although it is possible that an MDD might have evolved from the normal bereavement.
What’s more, a vast majority of these symptoms may occur on a daily basis in a person with MDD:
- Psychomotor agitation or retardation
- Recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation or a suicidal attempt
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt
- Diminished ability to concentrate, or indecisiveness
- Significant weight loss when not on a diet or weight gain, or a change in appetite
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Insomnia or hypersomnia (excessive sleepiness)
MDD and other mood disorders are serious illnesses and require medical attention. Additionally, self-medication of Zoloft is not recommended especially without the medical diagnosis of MDD. You may develop a number of adverse events which may include Zoloft birth defects if you are an expecting mother.
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