Can Inpatient Depression Treatment Help Me?

If you are one of the many people suffering from depression, it may be difficult to see through the fog of sadness and hopelessness. But understanding what depression is and how it progresses can ultimately lead to effective treatment and recovery. By gaining a better understanding of your mental health disorder, we hope that you can feel empowered to seek the help you need in an inpatient depression treatment program.

What Is Depression?

While feeling sad from time to time is normal, feeling hopeless all the time is not. Feeling sad for an extended period of time can be normal. This is especially true when the sadness is in response to some sort of life challenge that resolves itself after the person adjusts to the hardship. This is what is known as “situational depression.”

Depression, on the other hand, is a mental illness in which a person experiences a low mood for an extended period. Often, depression develops so gradually that people don’t notice the severity of the disorder until it has taken over their life. Clinical depression, also known as major depression, is altogether different. It needn’t have a specific, discernible cause, and can persist for months or even years at a time. It’s often a debilitating mental illness.

Signs and Symptoms of Depression

If you believe you or someone you love is struggling with depression, it’s important to understand the signs and symptoms of clinical depression to be able to recognize the problem.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association, outlines the symptoms of clinical depression.

For clinical depression to be diagnosed, a person must experience at least five of the following symptoms nearly every day, for a large part of the day over a period of two weeks or longer:

• Persistent sad mood
• Reduced or complete loss of pleasure or interest in activities
• Weight loss, weight gain, or change in appetite
• Changes in sleep such as insomnia or increased sleeping
• Restlessness or slow movement or speech
• Feeling tired and having no energy
• Feelings of worthlessness
• Difficulty making decisions, remembering things, or concentrating
• Suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts

At least one of the clinical depression symptoms must be a loss of interest or pleasure in activities or a depressed mood.

Other common signs of clinical depression include:

• Leaving the house less often than usual
• Reduced motivation at school or work
• Becoming withdrawn from family and friends
• Alcohol abuse
• Loss of confidence
• Experiencing aches and pains
• Feeling hopeless
• Physical problems like heart disease or chronic pain
• No longer taking pride in physical appearance
• Recurrent thoughts of death

If you think you or someone you know may attempt suicide, seek inpatient depression treatment immediately.

Clinical Depression Statistics

According to the American Psychiatric Association, one in fifteen American adults struggle with depression in any given year. Many of these people won’t seek inpatient depression treatment. One reason for this is a lack of knowledge regarding what depression is.

Here are some clinical depression statistics:

• According to the World Health Organization, 280 million people — an estimated 5% of the world’s population — experience depression each year.
• Women are more likely to suffer from depression than men, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
• The prevalence of adults with clinical depression was highest among young people — with those aged 18-25 comprising 17.0% of the total.
• Up to a third of those struggling with depression also receive substance abuse treatment.