{"id":3275,"date":"2018-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prd-www.mccdn.io\/vitals\/?p=3275"},"modified":"2023-06-29T20:19:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T20:19:05","slug":"top-5-myths-about-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/updates-www.mccdn.io\/vitals\/top-5-myths-about-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 myths about depression debunked","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

If you had a painful and debilitating physical ailment, would you seek treatment for it? Many people would. But too often, that’s not the case when it comes to mental illness.<\/p>\n

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 16 million people in the United States have experienced a major depressive episode, and 350 million are affected globally. Nearly 10 percent of American adults age 65 and older have a diagnosable depressive disorder.<\/p>\n

Yet 50 percent of Americans with major depression don’t seek treatment, and myths and stigma about the condition are still prevalent.<\/p>\n

Because Oct. 11 is National Depression Screening Day, we’ll explore some of the most frequent misconceptions about depression, and what you can do if you think you might be depressed.<\/p>\n

Myth #1: Being depressed is the same as being sad<\/h3>\n

Because we often associate depression with its primary symptom of sadness, many people confuse the two states. As a result, we can neglect depression, a serious condition that usually requires treatment, or overreact to sadness, a normal human emotion that ebbs and flows on its own in response to difficult events.<\/p>\n

Depression is pervasive and ongoing, affecting our thinking, emotions, perceptions and behaviors, and can cause someone to feel sad about everything.<\/p>\n

But depression is much more than just sadness. If someone is truly depressed, they can’t get out of bed, they lie there without sleeping or they sleep too much; they don’t want to eat; and they’re not doing any of their normal daily activities.<\/p>\n

In general, situational depression is triggered by a difficult life event or situation, while chronic depression can arise seemingly out of the blue but still has underlying causes, even if they’re primarily biochemical.<\/p>\n

\n

If you or someone you know is suffering from depression, we can help.<\/p>\n

Learn more about our programs<\/a> and how to reach us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Myth #2: Depression is all in a person’s head<\/h3>\n

Some people underestimate depression, believing that a person can choose to be happy and just snap out of it if they’re depressed. But that’s not the case.<\/p>\n

In fact, sometimes clinical depression is genetic. A\u00a0family history of depression may increase the risk of depression, similar to other illnesses\u00a0like\u00a0diabetes or\u00a0heart disease.<\/p>\n

But just because a family member has depression doesn\u2019t mean you will also suffer from this condition.<\/p>\n

Other times, people become depressed as the result of traumatic life events.<\/p>\n

Other common triggers for depression include separation or divorce, death, aging, multiple losses around the same time or something that shakes someone’s confidence like a nightmare on the job that isn’t their fault, says Eric Lundstrom, Social Worker at MultiCare Behavioral Health.<\/p>\n

“Helplessness is a strong theme in depression, the feeling of being pushed into a corner,\u201d Lundstrom says. \u201cIf you have a predisposition, that’s really likely to push you into depression,” he says.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the underlying cause, depression often takes some time and effort to resolve.<\/p>\n

Myth #3: Being depressed means being weak<\/h3>\n

Older generations don’t always want to seek help. But wanting to figure it out isn’t a weakness; it takes a lot of strength to talk about your emotions and really examine yourself as a person.<\/p>\n

Depression can hit very hard, yet some people are resilient and still able to function.<\/p>\n

Myth #4: The answer is always antidepressants<\/h3>\n

Lundstrom says that medication in combination with talk therapy tends to produce optimal results. But medication isn’t often used right away, because sometimes talk therapy is all that’s needed.<\/p>\n

For example, with childhood abuse, someone who’s been blaming themselves for it their whole life can feel more powerful when they realize that it wasn’t their fault.<\/p>\n

Changing the narrative around painful life events and finding meaning in them is important to getting better, Lundstrom says.<\/p>\n

Myth #5: Depression will go away by itself<\/h3>\n

Keeping quiet about depression and hoping it goes away isn’t usually effective, Lundstrom says.<\/p>\n

“It’s important that people do get help and try to get past the notion of the stigma that they’re crazy or weak,\u201d he says. \u201cThey’ll be joining a league of many other people, very functional people who just needed a little help.”<\/p>\n

Sometimes people don\u2019t want others to know that they’re depressed.<\/p>\n

“But it’s OK\u00a0to go and get help,\u201d Lundstrom says. \u201cIt’s normal. And often it can be resolved.”<\/p>\n

\n

If you or someone you know is suffering from depression, we can help.<\/p>\n

Learn more about our programs<\/a> and how to reach us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For National Depression Screening Day, we explore some of the most frequent misconceptions about depression, and what you can do if you think you might be depressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behavioral-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTop 5 myths about depression debunked - MultiCare Vitals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/updates-www.mccdn.io\/vitals\/top-5-myths-about-depression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top 5 myths about depression debunked - 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