The Secret of Postnatal Depression

The Secret of Postnatal Depression

Postnatal depression is commonly referred to a postpartum depression. It affects both men and women, for different reasons, but is more commonly remembered as a condition that many new moms go through. Women usually find the disorder occurs due to a sudden change in hormones while men will find it occurs due to a sudden change in lifestyle.
There are many feelings that will be experienced while a man or woman is going through postnatal depression. Some will have a fear of not being able to care or provide for the infant while others will feel resentment for the baby changing their lives so much. This is commonly the reason why parents do not like talking to each other or their friends about their feelings; they fear that the other parent or the friends will not understand their feelings and will judge them.

Residential Drug Treatments

Residential Drug Treatments

Drug abuse or addiction is a slow process. To begin with, these substances seem to give the user much-needed relief from worries, and unusual pleasure. This is a sort of escapism from real-life challenges. Slowly but steadily, pleasure gives way to craving or desperation. Further, this becomes a permanent state of a person's mind, and by then he would have been completely enslaved by the drug. Lee Bickmore says, "Comfort comes as a guest, lingers to become a host, and stays to enslave."

Drug treatments come in various packages and can be tailored to suit every patient. Most of the drug treatment centers offer the facility of inpatient, outpatient, or residential drug treatment centers. It is up to the patient to choose the most convenient and suitable for him or her.

Childhood Depression

Childhood Depression

Childhood depression is a very real but sometimes elusive illness that affects the young today. We take a look at what it actually means and how unity and support in the family can help fight its hold over a child.
At the recently concluded Asia Pacific Suicide Prevention Convention 2006, we learnt a few startling facts about children and suicide. For example, in a worldwide survey, 7.3% to 38% of the children surveyed demonstrated suicide ideation, which is the idea of wanting to kill themselves. In Singapore, close to 4.7% of children entertain this morbid thought. While the figure may be alarming, there is no need to panic as it is actually not uncommon to think about suicide.

Elderly Care - Aged and Elderly Depression

Elderly Care - Aged and Elderly Depression

Very often depression in the aged is not reported and treated due to the social stigma attached with this condition or due to plain ignorance on part of the family of the elderly person. This not only doesn't help them, but can worsen their condition and make them susceptible to other ailments... including sometimes suicide. Also, elderly depression can occur due to the death of a spouse...which increases lonliness. Also, side-effects from certain medicines or due to certain long-term illnesses like diabetes and arthritis can have a profound effect on depression. The depression must be treated as soon as possible.

Adult Depression and Childhood Abuse

Adult Depression and Childhood Abuse

Depression runs in families. So does abuse. "Studies show that one in four girls and one in eight boys are sexually abused before the age of 18, and one in twenty children are physically abused each year." But sexual and emotional abuse, in particular, is woefully under reported. Most abused children grow up in an atmosphere of denial - denial by the adults around them and, for the most part, denial within themselves as a means of survival. Ultimately it is the secrecy around the abuse that helps to foster the depression. Additionally, neurobiology has expanded our understanding of how emotions affect brain chemistry. Traumatic events - such as any form of childhood abuse (sexual, emotional, physical) or neglect, changes the chemistry of the brain. These events can reshape wiring patterns and reset responses to them so that even a small degree of stress can produce an overabundance of stress hormones that in turn create anxiety and depression.