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Depression - What is it?
26/09/11 19:00 View entire series at: It's All In The Mind
It’s All In The Mind is a series of helping tools for doing pastoral care with people suffering from mental illness. It is written by Kirk Vette from Shore Vineyards Churches, who is a clinical worker for YouthLine NZ. Kirk and his wife, Caroline, live in Auckland with their three children and on his day's off you will find him sneaking off for a surf.
Depression - What is it?
Unfortunately depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness in New Zealand.
Most people experience low moods at some time in their life after a difficult situation such as the death of a loved one, loss of a job etc. As life moves on the low mood generally dissipates we experience pleasure and the low mood becomes a memory.
However if the low mood lasts for 2 weeks or more and a person generally feels down for most of that time and has no pleasure in the things that normally give them pleasure they may be experiencing what is called a depressive episode.
The web site www.depression.org.nz clearly outlines the signs that indicate a person may be experiencing depression;
Key signs
- constantly feeling down or hopeless
- having little interest or pleasure in doing things you used to enjoy
Possible signs
- irritability or restlessness feeling tired all the time, or general loss of energy
- feelings of emptiness or loneliness
- no longer interested in favorite activities
- sleep problems – too much, or too little
- weight loss or gain
- low self-esteem
- problems with concentration
- reduced sex drive
- thinking about death a lot
If you recognise any or all of these signs – particularly the key signs – you should take action sooner rather than later. Depression is far easier to deal with before it gets serious. (www.depression.org.nz)