Depression or sadness

On many occasions people who enter a period of their life in which circumstances, which in most cases are absolutely external to them, begin to feel fragile before the adversity or the fact they need to overcome.

When they are faced with certain emotional situations, they tend to "jump" their tears easily. These manifestations that we clinically call "emotional lability" usually correspond to the onset of a reactive depression. The importance of early detection will prevent further treatments of greater magnitude, while avoiding the suffering it entails.

There is no exemption from suffering of the ages of human life, existence involves changes and confrontations to adversities that can alter our normal way of being. How many times have we seen sad and dejected teenagers, not wanting to get out of bed and not enjoying their own youth? How many times have we seen a person who has worked his whole life actively and happily and in the face of work pressures or job losses, starts with depressive symptoms and eventually develops an authentic depression? Emotional losses due to grief, divorce and emotional loneliness are not exempt from the same criteria.

All these depressions considered of reactive origin, through a cognitive-behavioral psychological treatment and guidelines of orientation , usually have successful results and, only occasionally, and through adequate psychodiagnosis, we will require medication as a companion of psychological treatment.

The "biological" depressions, major depressions or bipolar disorders, will always require pharmacology, but in this case the psychological treatment will require cognitive-psychopedagogical techniques, maintaining continuous psychologist-patient-family-psychiatrist interrelation and from our experience we know that they obtain tangible improvements that are recognizable for both the patient and the family.

Therefore, parallel treatment is always recommended. In our clinical experience of more than twenty years, we have seen the evolution of these patients and how their adaptation and integration to work and emotional life has been resolved favorably as the treatment progresses.

Aaron T. Beck, a US psychiatrist, already in the 80s, conducted research that showed that psychopharmacological treatments in depressed patients performed jointly or in parallel with psychological therapy, obtained better results, even enhancing the effects of medication. From these investigations, cognitive-behavioral psychological treatments were integrated in the care services of depressive patients.

Therefore, there is no doubt, ask for psychological support in depressions is recommended and before the first symptoms do not hesitate to ask for professional advice.