Is mild depression normal?

Written by Pang Ji Cheng
Psychiatry and Psychology
Updated on September 01, 2024
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Patients with mild depression, although also experiencing symptoms such as low mood, decreased interest, reduced motivation, slow thinking, and reduced volition, may have difficulty falling asleep and frequently wake up during sleep, among other related symptoms. However, patients often retain most of their social functions, causing some disturbance to daily life and work. Through self-adjustment, standardized psychotherapy, and medication, patients often achieve good treatment outcomes. Sometimes, the symptoms of some patients are relatively mild, and they may appear normal outwardly, but their inner experience is indeed pathological. Therefore, it is still necessary to undertake standardized, systematic, and scientific treatment to achieve clinical recovery.

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Written by Pang Ji Cheng
Psychiatry and Psychology
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What department do you see for depression?

Depression can be treated clinically by visiting either a psychiatric or psychological department. The main clinical manifestation is a persistent low mood, characterized by an inability to feel joy, gloominess, and typically significant mood variations. Cognitive processes tend to slow down, resulting in sluggish thinking, slow reactions, reduced volitional activities, a passive and listless approach to life, and a lack of hope for the future. Additionally, cognitive impairments such as decreased attention, diminished abstract thinking, learning, and judgment abilities may occur. Some patients may also exhibit physical symptoms, including sleep disturbances, decreased appetite, weight loss, physical pain, and anxiety-related disorders.

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Written by Pang Ji Cheng
Psychiatry and Psychology
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Will depression get better?

Patients with depression can achieve clinical recovery. Large-scale survey studies have found that about 85% of patients can reach clinical recovery as long as they undergo systematic and standardized treatment. At the same time, systematic and standardized psychotherapy and physical therapy should also be conducted. This can uphold the recurrence rate or relapse rate of the patients. Studies have found that about 20% relapse within six months after the initial treatment, and the relapse rate reaches 50% within two years. For older patients, their relapse rate may be even higher. Therefore, depression is a highly curable disease, but also a highly recurrent disease. Systematic, standardized, and scientifically reasonable treatment is still a very important means to achieve good recovery rates and reduce relapses in depression.

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Written by Zhou Yan
Geriatrics
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Is elderly depression easy to treat?

Depression in the elderly is difficult to treat because compared to younger patients, depression in the elderly tends to last longer with an average duration often exceeding one year, and episodes occur more frequently, often becoming chronic. Additionally, the prognosis for elderly depression is worse compared to other age groups, primarily due to the coexistence of cerebrovascular diseases and other physical comorbidities, recent acute illnesses, long-term ongoing diseases, as well as the presence of delusions and a lack of social support systems. Thus, depression in the elderly is quite challenging to treat.

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Written by Pang Ji Cheng
Psychiatry and Psychology
48sec home-news-image

Is mild depression normal?

Patients with mild depression, although also experiencing symptoms such as low mood, decreased interest, reduced motivation, slow thinking, and reduced volition, may have difficulty falling asleep and frequently wake up during sleep, among other related symptoms. However, patients often retain most of their social functions, causing some disturbance to daily life and work. Through self-adjustment, standardized psychotherapy, and medication, patients often achieve good treatment outcomes. Sometimes, the symptoms of some patients are relatively mild, and they may appear normal outwardly, but their inner experience is indeed pathological. Therefore, it is still necessary to undertake standardized, systematic, and scientific treatment to achieve clinical recovery.

doctor image
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Written by Pang Ji Cheng
Psychiatry and Psychology
56sec home-news-image

Is moderate depression serious?

Patients with moderate depression are quite serious. The core manifestations in clinical practice include low mood, inability to feel happy, reduced energy, and predominantly negative thinking. These symptoms often lead to a decline in the patient's social and occupational functioning, affecting their work, study, life, social interactions, and family life. Patients typically present with a lack of desire to groom themselves or pay attention to their attire, and they often have a dull gaze and an unpleasant emotional experience. There is generally a lack of energy and interest. In terms of cognitive thinking, they often exhibit feelings of worthlessness, pessimism, guilt, uselessness, or despair. Behaviorally, they often show psychomotor retardation, meaning they walk and act slowly, think sluggishly, cannot relax, and sometimes exhibit symptoms of restlessness.