Depression...don't let it win!

If a person has a never had a history of clinical depression or have close people to them that suffer with it, most people will end up dealing with some sort of depression after diagnosed with cancer. However, what is depression, some people confuse depression and sadness and they are totally different. People often say "I'm depressed and what they mean they are really sad".Clinical depression caused distress and impairs functioning. You can you also help to raise your serotonin levels as well. Being my career background was psychology, let's look at signs of clinical depression:

Ongoing sadness, hopelessness
Lost of interest in activities
Weight loss (without trying) or weight gain
Restless or agitated that is obvious to others
Loss of energy or often tired (fatigue)
Trouble sleeping (insomnia, waking too early, or not able to sleep)
Trouble focusing, making decisions, remembering
Feeling guilty, worthlessness, helplessness
Suicidal thoughts, plans, or attempts

A person must meet at least 5 of these criteria for up to 2 weeks or more in order to be diagnosed with clinical depression and they need to seek help. The signs are often exacerbated by dealing with the journey of cancer...dealing with chemo, radiation, transplants, surgeries, and life time medication therapy. You may not see your quality of life the same anymore, you may not feel that you can talk to anyone in your family or friends as they mostly can empathize but not sympathize with you. Understand that clinical depression can be treated through medication or therapy or a combination of both. You never want to suppress these feelings.

Serotonin may be decreased by chemotherapy drugs. However, there are things that you can do to help increase your serotonin such as exercise...Look at the chart below.

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