About Depression
Depression is a common yet serious disorder. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, this disorder is characterized by severe symptoms that negatively impact feelings, thoughts and daily activities, and that last for at least two weeks
Symptoms of depression include the following:
- Persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, hopelessness
- Feelings of irritability, guilt, worthlessness, pessimism
- Loss of interest or pleasure in activities and hobbies
- Decrease in energy, fatigue, moving or talking more slowly
- Restlessness, difficulty concentrating and remembering
- Inability to make decisions
- Difficulty sleeping or awakening
- Changes in appetite and weight
- Thoughts of death or suicide
- Physical issues (headaches, pains, cramps, digestive problems) that have no physical cause and do not stop, even with treatment
Types of Depression
- Persistent depressive disorder or a depressed mood that lasts for at least two years is the most common definition of depression.
- Psychotic depression occurs when a person has some form of psychosis in addition to severe depression.
- Post-partum depression is such severe depression that the new mother cannot properly care for herself or her new baby.
- Psychological Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is depression that occurs during the winter when the amount of natural sunlight is extremely limited. are partly based on learned patterns of unhelpful behaviors.
- Bipolar disorder is not depression, but a person with bipolar disorder experiences low moods that meet the criterion for major depression.
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) — a relatively new diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) — is characterized by severe, recurrent temper outbursts in children and adolescents that are grossly out of proportion to the situation.
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is basically a much more extreme form of pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS); women with PMDD experience severe depression and suicidal feelings.
How Many Suffer From Depression?
If you are struggling with depression, you are not alone! In 2017: *
- 17.3 million adults (or 7.1% of adults) in the U.S. had at least one major depressive episode.
- More females (8.7%) were affected than males (5.3%).
- The prevalence of adults with a major depressive episode was highest among those aged 18 – 25 (13.1%).
- 35% of adults with a major depressive episode received no treatment, 15% received treatment from a health professional only, 44% received treatment from a health professional and medication, and 6% received medication only.
Treatment At A Depression Wellness Center
We understand that many individuals struggle with depression for a long time without finding relief from therapy and/or medications. If that describes your situation, then it’s time to schedule an appointment with an Aspen Valley Wellness depression counselor in Orem, Utah. We go beyond traditional therapies and medications by offering alternative treatments that have proven very successful for many of our clients.
After meeting with you, your depression counselor selects from traditional and nontraditional therapies to create an individualized treatment plan that is best for you. We are unique in the mental health community because of the wide range of therapies we offer to help alleviate our clients’ symptoms of depression.
We provide traditional talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), medication, neurofeedback and audio-visual entrainment (AVE) to our clients with depression. Our alternative therapies have also had success:
- Neurofeedback was proven effective in relieving symptoms by correcting the brain wave abnormalities that are often found in people with depression. It is also an effective antidepressant augmentation strategy.
- Audio-visual entrainment (AVE) effectively relieves low mood by quickly dissociating and stabilizing brain waves, increasing cerebral blood flow and boosting the brain’s levels of serotonin and norepinephrine.
