What is depression? Am I clinically depressed?
Depression is when someone is feeling sadness, hopeless, helpless or worthless for an extended period of time—days, weeks or months. It negatively affects how you feel, how you think, how you act and prevents you from functioning normally. It’s one of the most common mental disorders in the United States and affects roughly 16 million people, including a growing number of teenagers and children.
Depression symptoms include:
- Feeling of deep sadness or hopelessness
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Lacking interest in activities or hobbies you once enjoyed
- Changes in appetite or weight
- Changes in sleep patterns
- Feeling of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
- Persistent irritability or anger
- Thoughts of death or suicide
Fortunately, depression is one of the most treatable mental disorders. Although, the exact cause of depression is not known, the prevailing theory is that it’s often caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Medication can help manage the symptoms for many people. However, not everyone benefits from taking standard antidepressant medication. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Therapy is one of the treatment options that can help those individuals break free from depression.
Questions to ask yourself:
If your answer is YES to any of these questions that means TMS might be right for you.
- 1. Are you on more than one anti-depressant medication?
- 2. Has your current depression medication treatment been ineffective?
- 3. Are you experiencing discomforting side effects from your current medication?
- 4. Has depression increased your doctor visits for other healthcare conditions?
- 5. Is depression affecting your work?
- 6. Does depression still have too much control over your life?