Psychotic Depression

Psychotic Depression

Depression does not only let you feel sorry for yourself, but also it can make you see, hear things, and think illogically. They are not losing their minds, but rather they are what you call people with psychotic depression. Approximately over 20 % of people who are admitted to the hospital for depression state suffer from what is called psychotic depression. On top of the depressive symptoms of depression, psychotic depression also include some psychosis features such as hallucinations, seeing and hearing things that aren’t present or delusions, irrational thoughts and fears, which most patients with mental condition are suffering from.

The difference between psychotic depression and other mental condition, such as schizophrenia, is that although they are experiencing the same symptoms, which are the hallucination and delusion, the ones with psychotic depression usually know that the thoughts they’re having aren’t exactly real. In other words, they may suffer from these symptoms, but also they are well aware that those are not true. The main reason why this type of depression is difficult to diagnose is because sufferers of this condition maybe ashamed or embarrassed about what they are going through and therefore would choose to hide them instead.

Having a single occurrence of psychotic depression can increase your risk of bipolar depression, recurring episodes of psychotic depression, and worse – suicide. That is why you should be aware of possible symptoms of this type of depression. Here are some of the symptoms of psychotic depression that anyone may experience:

§ Anxiety
§ Agitation
§ Psychosis
§ Physical immobility
§ Constipation
§ Intellectual impairment
§ Insomnia, and more

Since there are worst scenarios of how things will turn out with psychotic depression, immediate attention and treatment should be given to the patient. The treatment for this type of depression may take a longer stay in the hospital and close follow up by a mental health professional to keep track of the recovery progress. Anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medications have been known to effectively alleviate the symptoms and are still widely used, but natural remedies can also be taken into consideration to help speed up the recovery. The natural remedies I am referring to include proper diet, which requires eating anti-depression food, daily intake of multivitamins and anti-depressant vitamins, such as B vitamins; exercise; avoid foods that can aggravate your condition, like coffee and sweets.

Treatment is very effective for people with psychotic depression condition. Usually within a year, one can recover from this sickness, but needs to continue medical follow-ups. Also, be aware that if symptoms of psychotic depression has been experienced and determined, proper treatment must be established as in other major depressive illnesses; otherwise, risk of suicide is great.