All you need to know about agitated depression 01-2018

Depression is a persistent state of feeling hopeless, sad, or helpless. While there are some common symptoms associated with depression, people can experience depression differently.

One such example is agitated depression. Medical experts may also describe agitated depression as anxious depression or distraught depression.

Though agitated depression is not a distinct type of depression, psychiatric professionals recognize that some people have symptoms of depression as well as agitation.

Fast facts on agitated depression:

Psychiatrists do not define agitated depression as a distinct type of depression.

Agitation can be a common symptom of mood disorders.

Doctors call depression with agitation a "mixed episode" of depression.

Symptoms

Depression with agitation, is known as a "mixed episode" of depression.

Mental health professionals use a manual called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) to diagnose mental health disorders, including depression.

By using the same criteria, doctors across America can diagnose depressive symptoms in the same way.

For a doctor to diagnose someone with depression, the person must have experienced depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in life (anhedonia) for at least 2 weeks.

Also, a person will also have experienced at least five of the following symptoms:

Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or irritability on a nearly daily basis.

Lack of interest or pleasure in activities almost every day.

Experiencing significant weight loss or appetite loss that results in weight loss.
Difficulty sleeping or sleeping excessively.

Experiencing psychomotor agitation, restlessness, or feelings of being "slowed down."

Feeling fatigued or having a lack of energy nearly every day.

Feeling worthless or having excessive and unexplained guilt almost every day.

Difficulty thinking clearly, concentrating, or making decisions on a daily basis.

Experiencing thoughts of death, thinking of harming one's self, or creating a specific plan for committing suicide.

Agitation is a symptom that can cause a person to experience feelings of uneasiness and anxiety.

Some of the symptoms associated with agitation include:

angry outbursts

clenching fists

disruptive behavior

excessive talking

feeling as if a person cannot sit still or focus
pacing or shuffling feet

tension

wringing of the hands

violent outbursts

A person who has agitated depression experiences feelings of helplessness that can make them feel out of control.

As a result, they can then feel hopeless, which may lead to depressive thoughts. Agitation can cause a person with depression to act impulsively. This could cause a person to hurt themselves or others and engage in harmful behavior.

Depression has many different methods of treatment including self-help. Learn more about the best depression blogs to manage low mood here.

A person with bipolar disorder may experience fluctuating symptoms of depression and mania (an elevated state of being).

Mania is different from agitation because mania causes a person to feel hyper, "high," or overly energetic. A person may only sleep a couple of hours each night and stay awake for extended periods.
Mania does not feel good or euphoric to every person, but it can to some people.

Causes

Depression may be caused by a significant life event, such as the loss of a family member.
Agitation is often a symptom of an underlying mood disorder and is not a condition of its own. The causes of depression itself can be varied and can occur if:

the brain does not regulate mood appropriately

a person has a family history of depression and is more vulnerable to the condition

a person has experienced significant life events that are especially stressful or sad, such as the loss of a family member or divorce

a person has several chronic medical problems

Several of these factors can contribute to depression. However, doctors do not know why a person may experience agitated depression.

A person's temperament that affects their behavior may increase the likelihood that they will experience agitation related to depression.

How is it diagnosed?

Doctors diagnose agitated depression by asking a person to describe the symptoms they are experiencing.

They may ask questions, such as when the symptoms first began, what makes the symptoms better, or what makes the symptoms worse. Sometimes a person's loved ones may also describe the changes they have observed in a person's personality.

A doctor will use the criteria from the DSM-5 to diagnose a person with major depressive disorder, but agitated depression is not diagnosed using DSM-5 criteria. A doctor will also try to rule out other similar conditions, including bipolar disorder.

How is agitated depression treated?

A psychiatrist or other mental health professional may help to treat agitated depression.

Doctors treat agitated depression with a variety of approaches.

In the first instance, a doctor may prescribe medications called sedatives or benzodiazepines.

Examples may include diazepam (Xanax) or lorazepam (Ativan). These medications work quickly to help a person feel calmer and can temporarily relieve agitation.

Additional steps include:

Medications to relieve depression: Doctors may prescribe a variety of drugs to relieve depression, including anti-depressants. If a person does not respond to these medicines, a doctor may add another drug or prescribe a different medication type entirely. Examples can include anti-anxiety medications or mood stabilizers.

Counseling: Seeing a psychiatrist or other mental health professional can help a person identify thoughts and feelings that can signal the start of agitation or depressive symptoms. Therapy can help a person focus on thoughts and behaviors that can help them feel better when they struggle with agitated depression.

Stress-relieving techniques: Relieving stress and depression through physical activity, meditation, deep breathing, and journaling can all help a person cope with feelings agitated depression.
There is no one single solution to treating agitated depression. A doctor must consider a person's unique symptoms.

They will likely take a variety of approaches, including prescribing medications and recommending therapy.

Sometimes it can take several months or even years for a person to find the right combination of medications, therapy, and stress-relieving techniques that help them live better with their agitated depression.

Takeaway

While there is no cure for agitated depression, there are many treatments that can help a person live a healthier, happier life. Although finding the right combination of treatments can take time, help is available.

If a person experiences suicidal thoughts or thoughts of self-harm, they should seek emergency medical attention. Medical professionals can help identify ways to stabilize the person medically, and reduce the risks of them injuring themselves. 

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What Triples Your Risk of Being Depressed? 09-23

What Triples Your Risk of Being Depressed?

By Jim Clifton and Deepak Chopra

If economics aspires to be a science — “the dismal science” as it was traditionally called — it must recognize that the most relevant economic data are human. The rise and fall of GDP, mean household spending, and consumer confidence are useful statistics, but ultimately the “units” of the American economy are bodies and souls. What’s going on with them?

Even as the stock market soars, the unequal distribution of wealth, which reached an all-time U.S. high in 2012 (with the top 1% grabbing 20% of all incomes), also implies inequality in physical and mental well-being. We are breaking recent records there, too. It is well documented that the greatest burden on the economy is skyrocketing healthcare costs.

At $2.5 trillion annually, America’s healthcare bill is three times the size of the defense budget and nearly twice the size of the whole Russian economy. It is also roughly twice the size of the entire Indian economy, and India has a billion-plus population.

When you compare America’s per person health care spending to comparable societies, things look even worse. The U.S. spends more than $8,000 annually per person on healthcare, where Canada and Germany each spends roughly $4,500 per person, while the United Kingdom spends about $3,500, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Yet even as we lavishly outspend those countries, Americans have shorter life spans and generally worse health outcomes. In other words, citizens in comparable societies live longer but spend half the money we do on healthcare or less.

What’s afflicting our bodies to such an extent that the medical system may not be able to manage a turnaround? One big answer: epidemic rates of obesity and diabetes  . Obesity is the primary cause of Type 2 diabetes and a major contributor to chronic disease in general, including hypertension and coronary artery disease. If the United States solved the obesity problem, its economy would arguably roar back, unburdened by unsustainable healthcare costs. The news that our obesity epidemic has stopped rising and in the case of school children may even be declining, is a start, although long overdue.

But the country can’t reliably tackle obesity, which is correlated with low income levels, or turn the economy around, if many of its citizens are depressed. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index just uncovered that being unemployed, dropping out of the workforce, or working part time while wanting full-time work are the strongest predictors of having depression  . Unemployed adults and those not working as much as they would like to are about twice as likely to be depressed as Americans who are employed full time.

Clearly our society has a crisis of body and soul – and often both together, since depression significantly raises a person’s risk for disease almost across the board. Economists don’t realistically figure these human factors into their predictions, and we’ve only scratched the surface. Well-being also declines from a host of things specific to America: chronic stress, uncertainty over keeping a job, anxiety over lost pensions, pressure to increase productivity (already the highest in the world but constantly pushed to rise even higher), and the longest work week in the developed world, along with the lowest vacation time.

The cure for the worst things is a full-time job. Gallup workplace data show that the ultimate job is one in which you get to do what you do best every day, your manager encourages your development, and your opinion counts. When and if every American can have this “therapy” of full-time meaningful employment, then depression, stress, and anxiety will subside, and the average person will become much more motivated to tackle chronic health problems like obesity. The human factor can never be over-emphasized if we intend to get the economy roaring again, but more importantly, if we intend to take well-being seriously and not simply raw economic data.

The “Dream Job”| Sages and Scientists: Mallika Chopra – Part 1

Courtesy of YouTube/The Chopra Well  

Deepak Chopra, MD, is the founder of The Chopra Foundation and Co-Founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing. Chopra has written more than 75 books, translated into 35 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. www.deepakchopra.com

Jim Clifton is Chairman and CEO of Gallup, and author of The Coming Jobs War.

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