The internet can also help with depression

Inwardly as dead: A forum as a first stop in depression

03.10.2012

People who suffer from depression are often ridiculed by their environment. Those who do not suffer from the mental illness can hardly feel in the patient's position. „There is no reason to be sad“, is often said to many sufferers by friends, parents or partners. Because the inner emptiness can not simply be put off, depressives are stigmatized and finally socially isolated. In contrast, the number of patients increases from year to year.

„You are dead inside“, reported the chairman Thomas Müller-Rörich (58) of the "German Depression League". Müller-Rörich knows what he is talking about, because more than six years ago, the entrepreneur himself suffered from a severe depression. The illness was manifested in such a way, that in the professional life nothing more went and also the relationship to his wife and the children was necessarily disturbed over time. Everything was „too exhausting“ and everything „generated fears“, he reports on Tuesday in Stuttgart. Even reading and the subsequent cognitive comprehension of texts is becoming increasingly difficult. „I was not able to read.“ In technical terms, the described phenomenon also „Pseudodemenz“ and is relatively common as a concomitant during depression.

Internet forum for Depressive was the first lifeline
Often patients are ashamed of their illness. „For example, I was always ashamed of how expensive my hospital stay is“, reports Müller-Rörich. After a while he felt isolated. On the Internet, the 58-year-old bumped into a web forum for depression patients. The exchange with likewise affected ones became fast the bright spot. „It's like being stranded on a lonely island and just having contact to an internet forum“, he says. In the exchange forum, Müller-Rörich dealt with his illness and noticed that he was not alone with his problem.

Four million people in Germany affected by depression
According to current estimates, around four million Germans suffer from severe or moderate depression. The World Health Organization WHO estimates that depression by 2020 „Common disease number two“ just behind the cardiovascular diseases in the western industrialized nations. According to the Barmer GEK health insurances, they spend 17 million euros annually on inpatient therapies for depressive patients alone in the southwest of the republic. Thus, spending in the past five years by 50 percent (2006: 11 million euros) have increased. Accordingly, the number of patients at Barmer Kasse increased by 27 percent, from 55,000 to 70,000.

More and more stress and faster time
What are the causes? The founder of the forum, dr. Nico Niedermeier, a specialist in psychotherapeutic medicine, sees the increasing stress in professional life and everyday life as a cause. The world of work is becoming increasingly dense, life is accelerating and burdens are rising. „To believe that we just put it this way is utopian“. People increasingly go into dependencies that cause them anxiety. In doing so, they increasingly go beyond their own limits, until „At some point you will not feel yourself anymore.“ However, the patient increase is also due to an increased diagnosis rate. Many physicians can diagnose the disease faster, and today patients are much more open to depression than they did ten years ago.

The self-help forum has made a lot of help so that people can talk more openly about their illness. After all, the forum is that „largest German-language self-help portal with around 14,000 active forum participants“. Since the first online version in the year 2000 about 360.000 contributions were written by the users. The possibility to enter something is extra very low threshold. The portal not only brings those affected together, but also provides contacts and information. In addition to patients also relatives use the forum, since „many suffer greatly from the disease symptoms of the partner“.

Forums can not replace therapy
The psychiatrist Niedermeier emphasizes that the forum does not replace any therapy, but can be a way to deal with my own depression and to liberate myself a little from the disease-related isolation.“ To the best of his knowledge, there have been no suicides in the last 12 years, but some suicide attempts have been prevented. Whenever a participant says they are taking their own lives, the police would be turned on to prevent it. So be sure that the forum no „Suicide Forum“ is.

Today Müller-Rörich helps other depressives. For a few years he has his own illness relatively well under control. Since then he has been taking medicines called antidepressants. About two years ago he wanted to sell her. But during a trip to New York came the relapse. As a result, Müller-Rörich suffered from sleep disorders and crying. „I felt totally confused in the big city.“ Since that experience he has come to terms with the remedies. After all, diabetics would also need to take medication, he says.

First signs of depression
The symptoms of depression can be very diverse. It can sometimes take years for patients or doctors to recognize them. The most noticeable is the change in mood. Affected people lose the ability to joy or sadness and also the partner is no longer able to affect mood by encouraging mood. „I feel empty and lonely“, is the most common saying of depressive patients. If there is a severe depression, some feel a complete futility of life. This painful condition also leads to suicidal thoughts and acute suicidality. Other complaints include drive inhibition, inner restlessness, inhibition of thinking ability, helplessness, heart neurosis, chronic fatigue, pondering, loss of appetite, irritability and anxiety. Depression is a serious condition and requires medical and therapeutic support. (Sb)

Read about:
Depression promotes chronic diseases
New training program against depression
Blood test for the diagnosis of depression
Overtime favor depression
For depression, no holiday helps

Picture: Günter Havlena