Depression: the response to a Loss

Approximately 15% of the population has in his life, at least one episode of major depression. Major depression ranks fifth among the ten leading causes of illness, and in some age groups is the fourth leading cause of death.

In 2001 WHO (World Health Organization) published a statement warning of the participation of depression in the etiology of a number of organic diseases. He points out that depression is a precursor of many organic diseases such as cancer, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, etc..

Depression is characterized by a psychologically deeply painful mood, loss of interest in the outside world and the ability to love, inhibition of all ego functions (anorexia, insomnia ...) and lower self-esteem . This decrease results in self-reproaches and accusations continued directs the patient himself.

Always occurs against a loss of object. The loss may be of a loved one or an ideal and is characteristic that is unconscious: the depressed do not know what has been lost, or if it is a person that does not know what she has lost, ie what that person meant to him. However, not every object loss is followed by a depression, the normal reaction to loss is grief.

The greatest risk of being depressed, suicidal tendencies is with these patients, and that makes this an important health problem. 15% of patients with untreated depression commit suicide. Suicide is responsible for more deaths annually than those produced annually by the set of all conflicts that plague the planet.

A depressed patient has other means of suicide than commonly known, as he jumped or taking pills, and so on. It has a higher risk of life-threatening physical illnesses (eg cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction or hypertension). Would be what we might call hidden suicides.

On the other hand, when a person is depressed, stop caring. Sometimes many kilos fat, stop exercising, smoking, having sex risk of reckless driving or failing to meet medical treatments, these are also ways to go slowly committing suicide.

Issues, all of them, possible to modify an analytical process