Mood disorders refers to the category of disorders that includes things that people might call depression, major depression, depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, manic depression, dysthymia, cyclothymia, melancholy, the blues, being down in the dumps, or even a nervous breakdown.Depression takes so many forms that it is not very predictable what people might do when they are depressed. Some people seek treatment for depression simply because it feels so lousy and they want some relief. Some others suffer so severely that they cannot even get themselves to begin treatment because they are so paralyzed by the depression. For some, it comes and goes, but never stays long enough for them to bother about getting treatment. For others, they may experience a depression severe enough to warrant treatment, but somehow they get through it and it never returns. For some, depression has become such a constant presence in their life they do not seek treatment because they are afraid of what might happen if they got better.
Our approach to treating depression begins with accurate assessment. Depression can be very biological in nature or very situational in nature or both. It is very important to establish which kind of depression you might be dealing with before you begin treatment because the treatment plans can be very different. Once the assessment is made, a recommendation is made for medication or for therapy or for both. The most successful treatment of depression usually involves both, but either one can be helpful by itself.
Down To Earth specializes in diagnosing depression in children, teenagers, and men. For whatever reason, the majority of the depressed women tend to diagnose themselves and present for treatment stating depression as the primary complaint. However, children and men rarely do. Children fail to tell you they are depressed because they don’t know it. Men fail to tell you they are depressed because they either don’t know it, or have turned it into anger, which is more socially acceptable for men to exhibit. Teenagers can usually tell you that they are depressed, but we use our clinical skill to help determine what is usual and typical for a teenager and what is indicative of a more serious psychological disorder.
