LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Depression: Patients
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Depression can happen at any age, to anyone, with or without a preceding stressful event. It can set on gradually or erupt dramatically. The earlier it occurs – the more likely it is to recur. This apparently arbitrary and shifting nature of depression only enhances the guilt feelings of the patient. He refuses to accept that the source of his problems is beyond his control (at least as much as his aggression) and could be biological, for instance. The depressive patient always blames himself, or events in his immediate past, or his environment.
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Depression strikes in several forms. When a psychiatrist makes a diagnosis of a patient's depressive illness, he or she may use a number of terms--such as bipolar, clinical, endogenous, major, melancholic, seasonal affective or unipolar--to describe it. These labels confuse many people who don't understand that they can overlap. People with depressive illness may ... receive more than one diagnosis since the illness is often linked with other problems, such as alcoholism or other substance abuses, eating disorders, or anxiety disorders.
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Some people suffer from a type of depression that comes on during the fall or winter, when there is less sunlight. This is called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). This condition is treated with light therapy. In her home, the patient looks into a box with special light bulbs. To avoid injury to her eyes, she looks at the lights indirectly. Typically, the patient does this from 15 minutes to two hours every day.
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Can people living with depression and bipolar disorder make full recoveries? That's the central theme of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance's (DBSA) upcoming conference in San Mateo on Saturday, September 9, at the San Mateo Marriott. The conference is co-sponsored by DBSA California, the national organization's state chapter. Hundreds of mental health consumers, family members and clinical experts are expected to attend the highly-anticipated conference, Living Well: Making Recovery Real. DBSA is the leading national patient-directed organization focusing on the most prevalent mental illnesses -- depression and bipolar disorder.
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[L]ine therapy for depression in adolescents and children is psychotherapy, not pharmacotherapy. Counseling is essential in all age groups but often access is limited. Some counseling can be done in routine office visits but time is a concern. One method of addressing patient concerns is the BATHE technique. This is by no means a substitute for professional counseling but it may be helpful to your patients when other options are limited.
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Some experts recommend only psychotherapy or attention intervention for elderly patients with mild depression. In many older patients, a regular exercise program may be sufficient to improve mood. Ideally, elderly people with more serious depression should be treated with a combination of psychotherapy and antidepressants on an ongoing basis, even after their depressive symptoms are relieved. A 2006 study of patients over age 70 indicated that the best way to prevent relapse is to continue antidepressant drug therapy for at least 2 years after the patient becomes symptom-free.
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