"bringing back the brightness"

read this article in the Readers' Digest that Ravind passed to me.. hope to share with the rest of u guys..

"Some 80 000 Australians suffer from depression at any one time. Of these, nearly half don't receive the care they deserve. These extraordinary figures were uncovered by the most recent National Mental Health survey – and they’re truly tragic, given that each of us has a significant chance of becoming depressed at some point in our lives, and that there’s a range of treatments that work.

When you’re feeling unhappy, it can be hard to judge if things are bad and you need help. Ironically, it can be eaier when the depression is severe. People with severe depression say it’s the blackest feeling they’ve ever had- they’re unable to move, find motivation, or feel hope or anything positive about themselves. It can be difficult to explain this feeling to family or friends because, outwardly, their lives seem good. And if there is no obvious reason for being depressed, that can lead to incredible guilt.

But if your feelings aren’t that bad, how do you know if you need help? Luckily, there are ways to assess yourself. And taking that step can, in itself, be therapeutic. Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra have shown that just understanding depression helps alleviate its symptoms.

Here’s one set of questions you can ask yourself.
For at least the last 2 weeks, have you:
- been feeling unusually sad?
- Lost interest in things you used to enjoy?
- Felt tired and had less energy?
- Lost self-confidence and don’t feel good about yourself?
- Felt unnecessary guilty?
- Been eating more or less and therefore either putting on or losing weight?
- Sleeping too little or too much?
- Not been moving around much or been feeling anxious or restless?
- Wished you were dead?
- Found it difficult to concentrate?

You don’t have to have everything on this ten-point list. Far from it. Very roughtly, if you’ve experiencing most of these things for the past two weeks you do have depression that’s probably severe and requires attention from a professional. Just over half is moderate depression, while just under half is characterized as a case of mild depression.

Anxiety, by the way, is a common traveling companion to depression- agitation builds alongside the blackness. Having said that, there is no evidence that tranquillizers do much to help depression-or indeed anxiety. However, help for depression often relieves anxiety.”

Treatments that are recommended are:

-Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). It’s a pyschologicla technique that aims to adjust how you think. Trials suggest it is at least as good as medication. If you suffer from depression and think everything’s hopeless, that you’re a terrible person, and life’s never going to be any better, then CBT teaches you how to develop a more realistic attitude.

-Interpersonal Therapy: working through answers to your problems with another person.

-moderately intensive and progeressive exercise.

Check these pages out guys…

CBT self help site: http://moodgym.anu.edu.au

Blue Pages: http://bluepages.anu.edu.au