Forms of depression
A manic depression or bipolar disorder, on the other hand, is characterized by an alternation of strongly positive and strongly negative moods, which in some patients can follow each other directly. If the affected person is full of energy and optimism in the manic phase, lavish and often also uninhibited, he or she falls into despondency, a depressed mood and emotional apathy in the depressive phase. Other examples are depression that can occur after a successful birth, exhaustion depression after long-term stress (burnout) or the form of depression that occurs more frequently in old age (senile depression).
Last but not least, the severity of depression is also dependent on age and gender. Although children suffer similarly to adults, their inner tension can increasingly turn into irritability and rebellion. They are also more afraid – of monsters under the bed, but also of embarrassing events or being abandoned and the future.
They often do not like to play with others, but prefer to spend their time alone at home in their room. In particular, the proportion of men suffering from depression has long been underestimated and depression has been treated as a “women’s disease”. One reason for this is that women go to the doctor far more often than men (especially with psychological problems), who are often reluctant to admit their weakness.
On the other hand, the symptoms in men are also differently pronounced and therefore more difficult to recognise, as they do not fit into the usual pattern of depression. Even if the basic symptoms, such as depression, listlessness, negative spinning tops and self-underestimation as well as sleep disturbance are comparable, bad mood in men is much more often associated with aggression. Male patients are often irritable, feel uncomfortable and not comfortable in their skin.
Their ability to withstand stress is diminished, they can go off the deep end at the slightest provocation and are often unable to stop these attacks, even if they themselves find them inappropriate. The body also reacts to such attacks with a reddening of the face, increased sweat production, palpitations, shortness of breath and it can lead to trembling and dizziness. In general, it can happen more often in men that depression manifests itself as physical complaints. The abdomen or other parts of the body may hurt without a fall or other causative event having preceded it. If no physical cause can be found, a depression should be considered and this possibility should be clarified.
Tests for the diagnosis of depression
There are numerous tests on the subject of depression. Many of these are carried out by doctors to assess whether depression is present and to what degree. But even for people who are afraid of suffering from depression, there are now questionnaires that can be used to roughly check whether depression is present.
Such a questionnaire is available on various websites, for example. Here nine questions with one of five possible answers each have to be answered, followed by the evaluation of the test. It is not possible to make a definite diagnosis using this test, but it does serve as a rough guide. If the test gives indications of the presence of depression, the treating family doctor should first be consulted to initiate further diagnostic and therapeutic steps.
