Everything you need to know about
Depression
Major Depressive Disorder
What is Depression
Depression is a serious mental health condition that is characterized by really low moods, loss of pleasure in activities, feelings of hopelessness, and even physiological changes such as change in appetite, excessive sleep, or difficulty concentrating. Depression is different from sadness in terms of its severity, length of time, and how it affects our day to day living. Depression, although common, can really affect a person significantly in different setting, such as school, work or at home.
What does Depression look like?
Depression is an impactful condition and can often look obvious to people. However, it’s important that depression can also be invisible to the people surrounding. Generally, however, Depression presents as three primary things:
Feeling Low: This is persistent feelings of sadness, lowered motivation, and loss of interest or pleasure on things that was once enjoyable. This also shows as fatigue or feeling incredible tired day to day.
Changes in day to day things: Depression can also present physiological changes like unintentional weight loss or gain, too much or too little sleep, or even persistent irritability for no reason.
Themes of hopelessness: Excessive feelings of guilt, self-criticism, and feeling like nothing will change are common symptoms of depression. This is especially important as it can present themes of death or suicide.
Effective treatments for Depression.
CBT: Behavioral Activation
Behavioral Activation is a therapy is a modern evidenced-based tool that has been shown to be really effective treatment for depression compared to medication alone.
Behavioral Activation (BA) is rooted from cognitive-behavioral therapy in that it tackles depression by focusing on increasing positive behaviors and activities in a person's life. Unlike traditional therapy that delves into the root causes of sadness, BA emphasizes action over reflection.
The idea with BA is that it depression can often lead to a vicious cycle of feelings that makes us withdraw from activities that are self-regulating. By identifying a “master list” of different small and achievable tasks and creating systems to allow the practice of these activities, it allows an overall increase in well-being.
Pharmacotherapy and Modern Medicines
Medications such as selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors, atypical antipsychotics, and other drugs highly effective ways to treat the symptoms of depression. While the consensus of data shows it can positive help a person alleviate symptoms associated with depression, it’s important to note that this is not a cure. It’s an powerful assistive tool to help individuals increase their capacity to engage in prosocial behaviors and help with cognitive restructuring through psychotherapy.
On the other hand, there is emerging data that shows certain hallucinogen and dissociative like Ketamine (especially alongside therapy), can help an individual with depression gather a new perspective, through the process of neuroplasticity and brain derived neurotrophic factor, alleviate symptoms of depression. Although the research is in its infancy, it may be a great tool to posit positive changes and help alleviate symptoms.
Learn more about your Depression with a free call with an ADHOC Therapist
Meet our depression experts
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Andrea Ronell - Therapist
Hey! Andrea here, your guide through the confusing world of teen & young adult mental health. Truth be told, you are the main character of your story – maybe you’re just a little afraid to shine. I'm here to equip you with practical tools and strategies to navigate those challenges and crush those negative vibes.
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Jimmy Yang - Therapist
I'm Jimmy, and I specialize in helping teens like you find real, actionable solutions for your mental health struggles. No matter how small they seem, these steps can make a huge difference. Together, we'll ditch the confusion, figure out what works for YOU, and help you unlock your inner rockstar.
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Marina Dragovic - Therapist
Hey there! I'm Marina, and I'm all about helping teens, young adults, and adults from all walks of life navigate their unique journeys. I ditch the whole "labeling" thing and focus on helping you discover your inner bad*ss, the one with the strength, resilience, and power to tackle whatever life throws your way.
Carlo Catabijan
Tap to learn more
I’m a Filipino-American immigrant and a gleeful Millennial who is on a mission. I created Adhoc Therapy with the hopes of addressing modern social, emotional, and psychological challenges with a different approach. One that would fit the narrative you resonate with, tools that are realistic, and conversations that you look forward to.
How Does Adhoc Therapy Treat Depression?
We at Adhoc Therapy care about your well-being, but not in a superficial kind, rather in a real and relatable way. Our approach is to try and understand your feelings of pain and sadness, but to also validate where you are and that at times, s*it sucks. Our aim is to help understand you, the process of your emotions, and find meaningful ways to promote a more positive lifestyle.
At Adhoc Therapy, we promote a combination of therapy and lifestyle changes. We first try to help understand your symptoms, thoughts, and processes and then we work with you to find "the little steps” that you know is doable. We do not expect giant leaps towards recovery but small, achievable goals that is consistent and at your own pace.
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Sadness is a symptom of depression. It's important to understand that feelings of sadness is normal to experience. Where it becomes a pathological is based on the context, severity of sadness, and its impact to day to day life.
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There are no current cure to depression but treatment options have improved in that people are able to recover from depression more effectively.
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This is a highly debated question as researchers tend to have different theories about the cause of depression. What we can say however is that there may be multiple pathways that leads to depression from certain imbalances in neuromodulators, genetic factors, distressing life events, and even medical conditions.
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Depression is a catch-all term for feelings of extreme sadness, low motivation, and feeling hopeless. However, the are other diagnosis pertaining to depression such as dysthymia, bipolar disorder, and perinatal depression.
FAQS
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Validate their feelings, practice patience, and be present with them. Often times, folks with depression don’t share their feelings as they are afraid of judgement from others. Checking-in with someone who has depression, empathizing with them, and helping them in day to day things can help promote their sense of safety with you.
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While there is no dietary guidelines for treating depression, there are some research that healthy dietary patterns, rich in fruits, vegetables, lean meats, nuts, and whole grains, and low in processed and sugary foods, are associated with a lower risk of depression and depressive symptoms.
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Modern treatment for depression involves the use of emerging treatments such as ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and MDMA-assisted therapy. Psychedelic studies are still emerging and have not been fully approved by the FDA as gold-standard towards the treatment of depression.
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It depends! Video games can definitely help alleviate the symptoms of depression but what's more important to understand is that it does so by doing something that is pleasurable, community-building, and promote a sense of purpose. If playing video games is something that makes you feel good, then it should be a part of your self-regulating activities. You should also look for other activities that is pleasurable, promotes being with your community, and getting a sense of purpose.
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