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Lithuania has a fairly limited understanding of what depression is and the best way to overcome it, psychologists Aušra Mockuvienė and Antanas Mockus, 15, who have specialized in helping people with depression for the past 5 years, tell the media. years.
According to them, depression is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, so there is not and cannot be a single clear answer as to why it affects people. Nor do we have a single recipe to overcome it, but we know that the active participation of a person suffering from depression in the process of overcoming it is necessary to achieve sustainable and long-term results.
The founders of the Depression Coping Center explained why the diagnostic label is not in a hurry and why the signs of depression can signify not only an illness, but also a natural reaction to life’s difficulties.
– Has your approach to depression and its treatment changed over the years?
Dawn: Depression can be understood as a disease with clear symptoms and treatments. And the treatment of depression, as a specialist-patient relationship, where the first responsibility is to cure, and the person suffering from depression is the recipient of that treatment. We started working at the center a little more than now, relying on this medical concept.
Today, however, we are no longer talking about treating depression, but about overcoming it, because first the person suffering from depression is trying to overcome it and, based on research and experience, we can guide them along that path by providing information, understanding the individual. causes of depression and ways to help yourself.
In other words, it is our responsibility to share knowledge, be fair, be fully informed, and be there, and we believe that the person seeking help is able to decide which coping options to choose. Seen this way, there is no room for disproportion of power, when one side may feel powerless and irresponsible for its health, and the other may be almost omnipotent.
The medical system has adopted certain symptoms that last for an agreed period of time, called depression. These agreements are important so that we can standardize, evaluate, organize aid and your payment system. However, this is just one way of looking at the human experience. The same signs can have completely different meanings. For example, depressive symptoms are often the expression of a person’s unmet natural needs: a person works hard, sleeps a little, eats irregularly, has no days off, and in this case, the body begins to send signals such as If I asked for a lifestyle change .
In addition, it is very likely that people experiencing signs of depression have experienced a variety of injuries that still require attention. So we say that depression is a normal reaction to abnormal life circumstances. It would be a mistake to ignore or suppress these signals.
Of course, in the short term, it is important to find ways to cope with anxiety, panic attacks, psychosomatic ailments, other difficult conditions, but without lifestyle changes, painful experiences, treatment and review of responsibilities, depression can continue and go back to year. after the year.
Antanas: In the long run, I became convinced that to help a person cope with depression, it is very important to take into account their subjective experience: to carefully study how we experience what we have agreed to call depression, and not to thwart that. experience with diagnostics. For a depressed person, in my opinion, it is very important to get help to be with žmogisku typeTherefore, by taking into account human desires, I try to show confidence, I seek to inspire awareness, responsibility for my health.
– CodemeI am so important “noforrmelying“ žHuman experience? Probably associated with health problemsorrmes žmogus just hopes to be exact forvardinta diagnozme and I told him that I specifyCThis medicine canmets padmeyou.
Dawn: The expectation that one can know exactly what is happening is really an illusion. After all, depression is not a bacteria that can be overcome with antibiotics. There is no single cause for depression, and no single recipe for overcoming it. Of course, there are people who want clear answers and quick solutions; they generally hope to continue living as they have. Therefore, drugs are seen as a salvation for everyone and from all conditions. However, practice shows that this is not the case: we have people who have been taking medication for many years and still have to look for other ways to help themselves.
As depressive episodes recur, people begin to see that simple passive solutions don’t work. Sometimes people choose to remain passive and suffer more, sometimes they are more motivated to start searching for the roots of their depression and addressing existing problems and taking responsibility.
It is true that I do not intend to instill one’s attitude, one is free to choose and live a life with the consequences of their choices. Still, the very idea that someone can solve everything like a wand with a magic wand reminds me of a parable of an elephant, with one person fingering a stem, another grabbing a leg, and a third grabbing an ear, and all telling what elephant is, knowing only that part.
Similarly, the topic we are talking about is very difficult to cover the whole “elephant”; To do this, they must be open to the experience of others and study it very carefully. Meanwhile, the desire to frame and stick the diagnostic label greatly simplifies everything and can prevent the search for the roots of the problems experienced and the person taking responsibility for their own life.
Antanas: It is understandable that some people are afraid to hear that a person suffering from depression has to be an active participant in the coping process, but I can say from experience that By actively participating, a person can do much more for their own health. And the results will be more sustainable.
Man is free to choose and live life with the consequences of his choices.
– Kokie žmonis forrepresentations of depressionto Are you still surprised?
Antanas: When it comes to not only depression, but also mental health in general, it amazes me that people still have a great lack of emotional literacy, do not know the possibilities of self-help, have not heard anything about mindfulness. . full attention) does not use elementary relaxation exercises. Although it should be as common as washing or head washing. But so far few are interested in it and generally suffer in silence without even realizing how much they could help themselves. By the way, such negligence and inability to care for yourself is also characteristic of physical health. You still think about the extremes: while you can, go away, and when you can’t, go to bed and stay in the hospital.
TOsout of: The very materialistic relationship of people with themselves still amazes me. It manifests itself in the idea that you can control your feelings, if necessary, to catch up and feel only what the employer or colleagues want, for example, that you always smile and be in a good mood, even if there are many of the more difficult emotions inside.
But the man pushes them all, crushes them and tries to live like a robot to whom tasks are sent to be done without asking for anything. However, we must understand that when we treat ourselves as an object that has no feelings, no needs, no life, everything in us opposes itself and the body can send all kinds of signals that show that it does not agree with such a position.
Thus, in the life of a person who denies himself, a lot of suffering and various complex states can occur: tensions, panic attacks, signs of depression, psychosomatic pain, stomach ulcers. And again, the question arises: is it a disease or just a symptom? Is it a condition that needs to be treated with medication, or is it a triggered internal alarm informing us that it can no longer continue like this?
It is very gratifying that more and more people are emerging for whom this alarm is becoming a reflection of an affective relationship with themselves as living beings. Others, meanwhile, are pushed by traumatic processes to finally distance themselves from themselves and their pain. When a person can no longer bear the painful experiences of life, one way to overcome them is by hardening the heart, turning into a stone. But then you live like a stone, having no living connection to yourself or anyone else.
The pandemic reminded us that hardship and suffering are an integral part of life.
– We’ve been huge for a whiles trauminmes experience – pandemics – in the face. What do you see during the consultation? The crisis has helped us to be more responsive.use yourself, or just more we petrify?
Antanas: We have all had to painfully face their limitations, very exhausted by the uncertainty, the background of insecurity in which we live. Many have found that they lack strong supports and life skills to deal with increased stress, and this has led them to seek help from psychologists or other ways to help themselves. Certainly, many people have rediscovered the benefits and joys of a slower lifestyle, spending time with family. However, it must be recognized that as psychologists, we only see those people who have chosen to look more closely and try to resolve their concerns, and those who have immersed themselves in ourselves, many times we do not see them.
123RF.com nuotr./Depresija
TOshra: The pandemic has prompted many to seek self-help opportunities, with more initiatives from psychologists on the Internet. For example, the No Depression program is designed to introduce you to a wide variety of self-help methods. People trying to overcome depression can go online anywhere in the world, an important opportunity for those who live far from big cities or do not have the financial means to visit a psychologist in private. In Lithuania, this exclusion is strongly expressed and the Internet is increasingly becoming an aid to reduce it.
Antanas: The pandemic reminded us that hardship and suffering are an integral part of life and a constant companion. Perhaps it is unpleasant to hear, because our society has the expectation that a person should be happy all the time, and suffer and it is better to get rid of the pain. On the other hand, it is very important to learn to face unpleasant feelings, not to be afraid of our inner world, otherwise, in the face of any greater difficulty, we will feel powerless. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare for difficulties: a deeper self-knowledge helps a lot. Having learned to be in the uncertainty of life, we experience its true taste.
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