Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn’t worth living.
More than just a bout of the blues, depression isn’t a weakness and you can’t simply “snap out” of it. Depression may require long-term treatment. But don’t get discouraged. Most people with depression feel better with medication, psychological counseling or both.
Symptoms
Although depression may occur only one time during your life, usually people have multiple episodes of depression. During these episodes, symptoms occur most of the day, nearly every day and may include:
- Feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness
- Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters
- Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or sports
- Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much
- Tiredness and lack of energy, so even small tasks take extra effort
- Changes in appetite — often reduced appetite and weight loss, but increased cravings for food and weight gain in some people
- Anxiety, agitation or restlessness
- Slowed thinking, speaking or body movements
- Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixating on past failures or blaming yourself for things that aren’t your responsibility
- Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things
- Frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or suicide
- Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches
For many people with depression, symptoms usually are severe enough to cause noticeable problems in day-to-day activities, such as work, school, social activities or relationships with others. Other people may feel generally miserable or unhappy without really knowing why.
Causes
It’s not known exactly what causes depression. As with many mental disorders, a variety of factors may be involved, such as:
- Biological differences. People with depression appear to have physical changes in their brains. The significance of these changes is still uncertain, but may eventually help pinpoint causes.
- Brain chemistry. Neurotransmitters are naturally occurring brain chemicals that likely play a role in depression. Recent research indicates that changes in the function and effect of these neurotransmitters and how they interact with neurocircuits involved in maintaining mood stability may play a significant role in depression and its treatment.
- Hormones. Changes in the body’s balance of hormones may be involved in causing or triggering depression. Hormone changes can result with pregnancy and during the weeks or months after delivery (postpartum) and from thyroid problems, menopause or a number of other conditions.
- Inherited traits. Depression is more common in people whose blood relatives also have this condition. Researchers are trying to find genes that may be involved in causing depression.
Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/basics/definition/con-20032977
Treatment for Neuropsychiatric and Mental Health Disorders at NCI
An Interdisciplinary Clinical Team Approach
We use a multi-layered treatment approach when treating neuropsychiatric and mental health disorders. Patients are treated by an interdisciplinary team of clinicians that includes: a clinical neuropsychologist, a clinical psychologist or behaviorist, a cognitive rehab/speech language therapist and a neuromodulation clinician.
We provide a comprehensive combination of traditional, complementary, as well as, experimental treatments not typically available at any other clinics. For instance, when treating cognitive disorders we typically treat by combining cognitive rehabilitation, with cognitive enhancers, and one or more forms of neuromodulation superimposed on comprehensive behavioral health plan that utilizes specific nutrition requirements, heart-rate variability training, maximizing sleep and the reduction of stress. Similar combination therapies are used for treating a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions such as OCD, as well as, in the treatment of chronic pain and fatigue.
Some of these treatments and consultation options include:
Neurocognitive Rehabilitation
Patients admitted to the cognitive rehabilitation program enter a module based on their primary type of cognitive impairment, e.g., the Attention, Working Memory and Executive System impairment module. Each patient will receive specific treatments for this type of cognitive disorder using a combination of remedial, adaptive and compensatory interventions that have been developed at the NeuroCognitive Institute for their module.
Neuromodulation
We often combine cognitive and language rehabilitation with neuromodulation. Neuromodulation is evolving as a treatment option for treating the cognitive, behavioral and psychiatric symptoms and deficits resulting from neurodevelopmental disorders.
Techniques include invasive procedures such as deep brain stimulation and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), as well as, non-invasive techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation tDCS, neurofeedback and rTMS.
At NCI, we only use non-invasive neuromodulation intervention combined with other rehabilitation interventions to enhance treatment response.
Speech and Language Therapy
Speech and language therapy focuses on improving speech and abilities to understand and express language.
NCI has speech therapists who can help assess speech delays, restore speech and language skills from young children to adults with neuropsychiatric and mental health disorders.
Behavioral Health Interventions
Behavioral health interventions focus on changing or modifying a patient’s lifestyle such as diet and introducing specific exercise programs to enhance cortical and cognitive functioning.
Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals
We use various medications to treat the cognitive, neurobehavioral and neuropsychiatric deficits and symptoms of neuropsychiatric and mental health disorders.
Contact Us
If you or know anyone who needs help, contact The NeuroCognitive Institute for assessment and treatment. Call (973) 601 0100 or sign up as a new patient and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
