Is acute depression a symptom of a mental illness or is depression the illness?

Question

Would the treatments be the same?

Answer 1

Depression is the illness, although it can be a co symptom with other mental illnesses. The treatment is the same, therapy, and with chronic depression, rather than acute(which means sudden onset not "fine honed!" (where something specific has happened to cause the mood disturbance e/g a death in the family or job loss is acute depression,) meds are almost always used to replace the chemical in the brain that are out of balance. It takes time to find the right ones or combination, but it should help alleviate the sadness and hopelessness that occurs. Best of luck.And meds are perfectly fine to use, you wouldn't expect a diabetic to listen to mood music and do yoga to replace what is missing in their bodies, so don't think that those type of things alone will help much.

Answer 2

That all depends. It could be a primary mood disorder or a component of another mental or physical disorder. Only a doctor can determine that. The depressive symptoms are usually similar but if the depression is secondary to another mental disorder or a physical illness there are usually additional symptoms that are atypical for a primary major depression. If it's a primary depression then it's usually treated with medication, psychotherapy, light therapy, ECT or a combination of these. If it's secondary to a medical condition, such as hypothyroidism, then treatment of that should resolve the depressive symptoms.

Answer 3

Depression is mental illness period...

Acute just means its fine honed... You're confusing yourself in the details.

Depression is depression. Which is a mental illness severe or not.

The treatment is usually always drugs because doctors have neither the time or resources to babysit anymore... Too much red tape. Pills are just easier and more convenient.

Answer 4

Depression is an illness bought on by ill health, stress, changes in hormones, a lot of people don't recognize the stages of depression it can start with just a simple cold that lowers your immune level, then stress because you are feeling ill and can't do what you normally do, then the stress becomes more pronounced if other people expect more from you in this time, after that you feel so down and ill and that's when depression can set in.

Answer 5

Depression is an illness in itself. However there are people who suffer from depression brought on by other issues in their lives, such as trauma, a fatal illness, etc.

The treatment can be somewhat the same. Medication can help both types of depression, but any therapy would be different.

I suffer from depression and it has been determined that it is caused by a chemical imbalance. So I take medication and it does seem to be helping.

Answer 6

depression is an illness