Get help at the first sign of depression

Expert explains how to recognize depression early: Get help at the first sign of depression

31.08.2013

Four million people in Germany suffer from depression. Many of them do not see the danger of the disease. An expert explains how to recognize depression.

Every fifth citizen affected
According to the German Depressionshilfe Foundation, every fifth German citizen is diagnosed with depression once in a lifetime. Some of them do not survive the disease because they commit suicide. Depression is one of the major diseases worldwide, but it is still largely underestimated. In a dpa interview, the chairman of the German Depression Aid Foundation, Prof. Ulrich Hegerl from the University of Leipzig, explained how to recognize the problem and help those affected.

Very high level of suffering
To recognize depression, it is important to know that several symptoms come together. Not only the mood is depressed, but actually the whole life structure is changed. Those affected could not enjoy anything and positive things would not reach you any more. Doing even small things would cause trouble for a permanent feeling of exhaustion. Hegerl explained: „You can not sleep at night, lying in bed thinking. This is a situation that is unbearable, and second, I think I'll never get out of it. That means: Hopelessness is also part of it. This is a state of very high suffering.“

Quick test to diagnose depression
The Max Planck Institute has also been involved in the detection of depression, and it has recently become known that a research team at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin has developed a rapid diagnostic test for depression that should help general practitioners recognize it. The presented decision tree should enable a recognition of depressive moods based on a few, simple yes-no questions. The clear advantage of the decision tree is the speed of a possible first classification. General practitioners can use his help to determine immediately if the referral to a specialist is required.

Relatives should motivate
Relatives who notice that the partner withdraws, no longer laughs, and perhaps can not even cry, should be alarmed. Even with heavy depression, even the tears dry up and it is important that those affected were motivated by their relatives to seek help. It is not easy for the patients to recognize that it is a depression. For example, such would be interpreted as overwork at work or as a result of conflicts in the family.

Do not always prevent depression
According to Prof. Hegerl, it is more difficult to prevent depression than one imagines. So he said to dpa: „But if you reduce stress, you can not always prevent it if you have a predisposition. This often happens when you go on vacation or in retirement, when you actually have no manifest stress. And people who work in high performance areas do not get more depressed than people who do not. People with part-time jobs seem to be more depressed by statistics than people who work full-time.“

Good treatment options
The expert also stated that there are good treatment options for depression. For one, there are antidepressants that would neither addict nor change the personality. However, you often have to wait about two weeks to notice the positive effects. On the other hand, there are psychotherapies and in the opinion of the professor, in particular the procedure of cognitive behavioral therapy has sufficiently proven its effectiveness in good studies. It is about the here and now, for example about the daily structuring.

Congress in Leipzig
When asked how high the risk of relapse was, Hegerl explained: „If you have depression, it means that you probably have a predisposition to it. If you have the predisposition, you have an increased risk of becoming depressed again later. That is why it is important to learn as much as possible after the first episode: that you recognize early signs, that you know what you can do about it.“ The German Depressionshilfe Foundation, in cooperation with the German Alliance for Depression and the German Depression League, is organizing the 2nd German Patients' Congress Depression next Sunday in Leipzig to help those affected and raise public awareness. 1,500 participants are expected. (Ad)

Image: Petra Bork