Useful Information

Useful Information

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Depression

For people with depression, the usual feelings of sadness that we all experience temporarily remain for weeks, months and years. Depressed people may feel worthless, hopeless and constantly tired. Daily life can be affected so that they cannot work normally, don’t want to be with family and friends and stop enjoying the things they usually do.

In milder cases, people can probably carry on although they find everyday tasks difficult but in severe cases people may find their feelings so unbearable that they start thinking about suicide.

About one in 10 of us develops some form of depression in our lives and one in 50 has severe depression. It affects families and friends as well as the depressed person. Studies suggest women are about twice as likely to have depression as men but this may be because women are more likely to seek help.

Some studies suggest depression is more likely as we get older and it’s more common among people who face difficult social and economic circumstances.

Depression isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a chronic condition that may require long-term management or treatment. Some people only have depression once but many people have repeated episodes.

With the right treatment and support, most depressed people make a full recovery so it is important that people who think they may be depressed seek help from their GP.

Causes of depression are complex and may increase as a result of

  • A stressful life event such as bereavement or relationship breakdown
  • Diagnosis of a chronic or life-threatening illness
  • Being vulnerable to depression due to low self esteem or being overly self-critical
  • Having recently given birth, because of hormonal and physical changes
  • Being cut off from family and friends
  • Drinking excessively, using drugs or substance abuse

Effective treatment for depression has been identified by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

  • For people with mild depression, further assessment is required, usually within two weeks as the patient may recover without intervention. Anti-depressants are not recommended at this stage but guided self help, such as computerised cognitive behavioural therapy, should be considered.
  • For people with mild to moderate depression, psychological treatments should be considered – mainly cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), perhaps with antidepressant drugs. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) should be considered over tricyclic antidepressants because of better safety and fewer side effects. Patients should be informed that withdrawal symptoms may occur when stopping, missing a dose or reducing the dose.
  • For people with severe depression, a combination of antidepressants and individual CBT should be considered as combining the treatments is more effective than using them on their own.

 

For more information on Depression go to:

http://www.nhs.uk/pathways/Depression/pages/landing.aspx

This text gives an overview into the conditions an IAPT service will treat.  It has been prepared here for you to use as you see fit in your locally produced materials.
All material has been taken from NHS Choices and is therefore nationally approved at the time of this toolkit’s publication.  More in depth and up to date information can be found online at NHS Choices www.nhs.uk
The Information Prescription Service available on NHS Choices is an excellent service covering the many different aspects of depression and anxiety disorders.
NHS Choices online: www.nhs.uk

NHS Choices