Ayucare Online » Ayurveda for Healthy Mind,Body and Soul

What we experience in our life affect us mentally, emotionally and physically. Ayurveda can provide insights and perspectives into the events in our lives. When we can see events as opportunities for our personal transformation, often we discover gifts within adversity. By releasing negative judgments of our circumstances, we free ourselves of stress.

Q. What is Depression?

Ans. Depression is a medical illness & not just a feeling of hopelessness. It's more then just feeling sad.

Q. How common is Depression?

Ans. It's as common as the Common Cold. According to the World Health Organization, it's the Third Most Common illness in the World after Infectious diseases & Heart disease. It's the 4th in the 10 most frequent diagnosis made by the family doctor.

Q. Who is at risk to get Depression?

Ans. All of us are! An alive human being (with fair intelligence) is the greater risk. As confirmed by scientific data 1/4 to 1/3 of us are going to have it. Every 3rd female and every 5th male will have it at least once.

Q. What are the causes of Depression?

Ans.

Biological

Psychological

Social

a. Biological causes :

I. Chemicals / Neurotransmitters : Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers, which are critical in the transmission of nerve impulses in our brain and nerves. The level of certain neurotransmitters, noradrenaline & serotonin are decreased in the brain. Most of the medications used for treating depression (Anti depressants) help in elevating the levels of these chemicals in brain.

II. Genetic : For every possible physical and mental character, there is a gene in our cells. So there is a gene for Depression. The parents of a depressed person are at a higher risk for depression. If a sibling has depressive illness, then there is a 15% chance, that it will be there in another sibling. If depression is after the age of 40, then chance of it being genetically transmitted is less.

III. Hormonal imbalance : Though the exact mechanisms are not understood but imbalance of female sex hormones can lead to depression. Depressions in the postmenopausal and post partum (after delivery) period are the examples.

b. Psychological causes :

I. Personality/ Attitudes : Following types of personality traits predispose to depressive illness.

Very ambitious

Anxious

Obsessive/Perfectionist

Setting very high standards for self

Persons having the above traits/ attitudes are more likely to experience depressive episodes in their lives, as compared to people who don't have such type of personality.

II. Coping strategies with life events : How we deal with stressful events like separation/divorce/death, etc. determines how predisposed we are to depression. People who are,

	Impulsive
	Aggressive
	Self centered

are more likely to have depression

c. Social causes and social supports :

A lot of stressful life events like death/divorce/disease predispose to depression.

Interpersonal relationships matter a lot. Good relations with friends / spouse / siblings have a positive effect in preventing depression.

Single people are more prone to depression than couples.

Similarly, studies have found divorced persons to be more prone to depression.

Q. What are the features of depression?

Ans. Most of the people who feel low and depressed are given a lot of advice by friends and relatives. It is automatically assumed that these feelings of low energy / low mood are just a matter of time, and would get better if the individual made a little effort to feel good and happy.

Persistence of such feelings of lethargy / low energy / low mood indicates that the person may be suffering from clinical depression. Following are the features that a depressed individual experiences.

a. Biological features (duration - 15 day or more) :

Decreased sleep--- the person gets up very early in the morning say, at 3 am & can't sleep again. Frequent awakenings. Poor quality of sleep.

Dryness of mouth.

Constipation .

Reversed diurnal variation - everybody feels better in the morning but a depressed patient feels worst in morning & slightly better in noon to evening.

Generalized body ache - lot of poorly localized pains and aches like headaches, abdominal pains.

Easily fatigued & lethargic.

Panic features like palpitations and sweating.

b. Psychological features
I. Sadness of mood.
II. Decreased pleasure & interest in activities which they enjoyed previously.
III. Decreased attention, forgetfulness, forgets where he/she has kept things.
IV. Easily irritated.
V.Most importantly, lack of interest in staying alive. This condition can be fatal. 40% of all suicides are reported in people with depression. However, it is easily diagnosable & treatable.

Q. What are the treatments available for depression?

Ans. A number of medicines are available suitable to different patients. Broadly these are termed as Anti Depressants. These drugs remain the mainstay of therapy for depression.

There are certain important things to be kept in mind regarding anti-depressant use:

Adequate dose, for adequate duration is the cardinal rule.

Sometimes, small doses for less duration is given by non-specialists. It leads to incomplete recovery with frequent relapses.

Antidepressants are not sleeping pills.

They are not habit forming.

A healthy life is most important for a happy life. The modern pace of life hardly gives us time to take care of our health, so caught up are we with our day to day work. But ancient Indian wisdom says that the true fulfillment of life begins with good health.

Good health is the key to a happy life. In a fast and demanding life, health unfortunately takes a backseat whereas it should be of prime concern. There are many questions that plague your mind, but answers to these are either insufficient or unavailable. Sometimes one is too lazy or shy to discuss these with the doctor. For a healthy life, numerous things have to be set in order.

Watching the calories, good exercises and healthy food is absolutely essential. Besides these, we also deal with sexual problems and methods to cope with them. These include Sexually Transmitted Diseases, impotency, testicular pain, contraceptives etc.