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Depression
What Do These Students Have in Common?
When I took a part-time job and started living off-campus, my course work fell apart. I couldn't concentrate or sleep, and I was always IRRITABLE and angry.
Leah, sophomore year.
After two years of straight A's, I couldn't finish assignments anymore. I felt exhausted but couldn't sleep, and drank A LOT. I couldn't enjoy life like my friends did anymore.
John, junior year.
I've always been anxious and never had much confidence. College was harder than I expected, and then my parents divorced, which was traumatic for me. After a while, all I did was cry, sleep, and feel waves of panic.
Marta, freshman year
College offers new experiences and challenges. This can be exciting it can also be stressful and make you, or someone you know, feel sad. But when "the blues" last for weeks, or interfere with academic or social functioning, it may be clinical depression. Clinical depression is a common, frequently unrecognized illness that can be effectively treated.
What is Clinical Depression?
Clinical depression can affect your body, mood, thoughts, and behavior. It can change your eating habits, how you feel and think about things, your ability to work and study, and how you interact with people.
Clinical depression is not a passing mood, a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed away. Clinically depressed people cannot "pull themselves together" and get better.
Depression can be successfully treated by a mental health professional or certain health care providers. With the right treatment, 80 percent of those who seek help get better. And many people begin to feel better in just a few weeks.
Major depression is manifested by a combination of symptoms that interfere with your ability to work, sleep, eat, and enjoy once pleasurable activities. These impairing episodes of depression can occur once, twice, or several times in a lifetime.
Symptoms of Major Depression
- Sadness, anxiety, or "empty" feelings
- Decreased energy, fatigue, being "slowed down"
- Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities
- Sleep disturbances (insomnia, oversleeping, or waking much earlier than usual)
- Appetite and weight changes (either loss or gain)
- Feelings of hopelessness, guilt, and worthlessness
- Thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts
- Difficulty concentrating, making decisions, or remembering
- Irritability or excessive crying
- Chronic aches and pains not explained by another physical condition
What Causes Depression?
The causes of depression are complex. Very often a combination of genetic, psychological and environmental factors is involved in the onset of clinical depression. At times, however, depression occurs for no apparent reason. Regardless of the cause, depression is almost always treatable.
Family History: Depression often runs in families, which usually means that some, but not all, family members have a tendency to develop the illness. On the other hand, sometimes people who have no family history also develop depression.
Stress: Psychological and environmental stressors can contribute to a depressive episode, though individuals react differently to life events and experiences. In coping with stress, some people find writing in a journal, exercising, or talking with friends helpful. But in clinical depression you need some form of treatment (usually medication and short-term psychotherapy) to start feeling better soon.
My family wanted me home every other weekend and I didn't fit in there anymore. I'd argue constantly with my father, who still treated me like a child. My sister thought I was 'uppity.' Everyone was miserable and I felt guilty. Kim
College and Stress
Common stressors in college life include:
- Greater academic demands
- Being on your own in a new environment
- Changes in family relations
- Financial responsibilities
- Changes in your social life
- Exposure to new people, ideas, and temptations
- Awareness of your sexual identity and orientation
- Preparing for life after graduation
Taking the First Step
I knew I was depressed but thought I could pull out of it by myself. Unfortunately, friends reinforced this attitude by telling me to just toughen up. When that didn't work, I felt even worse because I had 'failed' again. When a friend suggested I talk to his counselor, I resisted at first. In my mind, professional help was for weak, messed up people. But then, I hit a bottom so low that I was willing to try anything. John
I decided to try treatment when my friends got fed up with me. They didn't want to talk about my problems any more, but my problems were the major focus of my life. I needed someone who could help me understand what was happening to me. I'd seen ads for the counseling center and decided to give it a try. Kim
Getting Help--Treatment Works
If you think you might be depressed, discuss this with a qualified health care or mental health professional who can evaluate your concerns. The NDSU Counseling Center provides screenings, assessments, and on-going therapy for students who seek services for depression and many other concerns. If a student would rather seek private services, the Counseling Center staff can facilitate a referral. Several effective treatments for depression are available and can provide relief from symptoms in just a few weeks. The most commonly used treatments are psychotherapy, antidepressant medication, or a combination of the two. Which is the best treatment for an individual depends on the nature and severity of the depression. Certain types of psychotherapy, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy, can help resolve the psychological or interpersonal problems that contribute to, or result from, the illness. Antidepressant medications relieve the physical and mood symptoms of depression and are not habit-forming. In severe depression, medication is usually required.
This information is provided for you by the
National Institute of Mental Health and the NDSUCounseling Center, 212 Ceres, 231-7671
www.ndsu.edu/counseling