In recent years, the incidence of depression has increased silently year by year. Due to the high incidence and high risk of depression, the general public is paying more and more attention to this disease, hoping to help themselves or the people around them find it early and actively treat it through their understanding of depression. Nowadays, in addition to Western medicine treatment, some patients also choose Chinese medicine treatment…
Emotion is the root cause of all diseases, and depression is a mental and psychological illness that has plagued humans since ancient times. Generally speaking, depression refers to a heterogeneous mood disorder syndrome with symptoms such as low mood, slow thinking, reduced interest, and even suicidal tendencies.
Whether it’s emotional illness or physical pain, you will definitely get sick while you are alive. Depression is also closely related to the qi and blood of the five internal organs and the non-regulation of yin and yang, and weak viscera is an important internal factor in the onset of depression. But in addition to weak viscera, doctors have gradually discovered from accumulated experience that the onset of depression is also related to personal emotions, and the five emotions of happiness, anger, worry, sadness, and fear are also related to our five viscera and heart. , Liver, spleen, lung, and kidney are closely related and affect each other.
Depression is divided into two categories: endogenous and exogenous. Endogenous depression mainly refers to depression caused by biological factors in the body (such as changes in neurotransmitter concentration, etc.); exogenous depression is Refers to depression caused by social, family events, and psychological factors.
There is also another argument that divides depression into primary and secondary. Primary depression refers to depression caused by the inability to find obvious causes; while secondary depression refers to environmental events ( Depression caused by factors such as unemployment, widowhood, divorce, disability, health problems, etc.).
For depression, although TCM does not have a specific disease name, there are many discussions on its symptoms and symptoms, mainly for depression, lily disease, irritability, epilepsy, insomnia, forgetfulness, etc. .
Depression is the most important factor that causes suicides to end their lives. It can be said that as many as 99% of people who choose to commit suicide are affected by depression, but it is possible that the person concerned chooses to hide all his thoughts and dare not tell others, so No one has noticed, so it is imperative to recognize and wake up to depression.
Risk factors for depression
1. Genetic factors: Although genetic factors cannot be changed, health actually needs to be managed. If you face this situation, you should use your elders as a warning. Don’t use genetic factors as an excuse for unwillingness to face problems. Just change Both thinking and lifestyle can help avoid following in the footsteps.
2. Bad lifestyle habits: Bad lifestyle habits, such as not eating on time, eating unhealthy food indiscriminately, skipping breakfast, blindly struggling with work or studies, inverted daily routines, and not loving sports, are all risk factors for depression.
3. Stressful environment: A stressful environment not only refers to the whole society, work, learning environment and education issues, but also the family growth environment is crucial. Modern families are busy struggling financially and making money, but ignore the hearts of their partners or children. It is actually very important to care about the spiritual development of children and those around them.
4. Yin-yang imbalance: Not paying attention to health preservation and keeping the body healthy is the main factor leading to the imbalance of yin and yang. The internal scripture states that “the law is based on yin and yang”, which means that everyone should follow the changing law of yin and yang in nature and adapt to the transformation of the four seasons. Once the yin and yang disorders occur, they should immediately use drugs, acupuncture or massage to adjust and recover. The coordination function of the body can prevent depression.
5. Hormonal imbalance: The reason why depression is more common in women is mainly related to hormonal and menstrual cycle problems. Women are at a high risk of depression during menstruation, because hormonal imbalances often make people feel restless. At this time, if you take medicine randomly and try to suppress your emotions, it will have adverse effects.
Core symptoms of depression
Traditional Chinese medicine doctors rely on seeing, hearing and inquiring, and mastering the patient’s symptoms through the steps of “asking” is one of the important elements that enable the doctor to judge the condition. Therefore, understanding yourself and expressing the symptoms clearly during the consultation can help the diagnosis, Prescribe the right medicine.
The core symptoms refer to the main symptoms of depression; the peripheral symptoms refer to the physical or biological symptoms that accompany the core symptoms of depression. These symptoms will be different in different patients and will affect each other:
Core symptoms include depressed mood, anxiety, irritability; low interest; decreased or loss of energy; low self-evaluation and lack of self-confidence; forgetfulness and lack of willpower; suicidal ideation or behavior; changes in circadian rhythm; sleep disorders; decreased appetite, Loss of libido.
Peripheral symptoms of depression
Digestive system symptoms: due to decreased secretion of digestive glands and decreased gastrointestinal motility, in addition to decreased appetite, there will be symptoms such as constipation, nausea, diarrhea, pantothenic acid, indigestion and flatulence.
Cardiovascular system symptoms: due to increased blood flow, blood flow to the heart, brain, and lung muscles increases, and atrioventricular conduction accelerates, causing symptoms such as palpitation, palpitations, chest pain, and precordial pain.
Urinary system symptoms: Due to the relaxation of the bladder detrusor and the contraction of the sphincter, the frequency of urination is reduced or the urination is difficult and painful.
Nervous system symptoms: As most of the blood vessels in the body, especially the skin, internal organs vasoconstriction, and coronary artery dilation, symptoms such as headache, dizziness, blurred vision, dizziness and numbness of the hands and feet are caused.
Respiratory system symptoms: Due to decreased lung capacity, chest tightness and suffocation are caused, and patients often show symptoms such as sighs.
Reproductive system symptoms: The decrease or lack of pituitary gonadotropin secretion will lead to the decrease of gonadal secretion of hormones, causing a decrease in libido or a feeling of coldness. Male patients may experience impotence. Female depression patients may have problems such as amenorrhea, menstrual disorder, and menstrual cramps.
Pain in various parts of the body: Pain may occur in any part of the body. The nature of the pain is mostly soreness, swelling, or dullness. There are also patients with hidden pain that is difficult to describe in words, and the location is often not fixed.
How to treat depression
The treatment of depression can be done through a combination of medication, acupuncture, psychological counseling, diet therapy and exercise. As long as the patient does not give up and is willing to cooperate with regular treatment, and the surrounding people also provide support, encouragement and understanding, the chance of curing depression is very high. High. Since depression is a syndrome of deficiency and excess, the treatment process is longer, so the medication should not be too violent to prevent injury. In the treatment process based on evidence-based treatment, attention should be paid to regulating qi and not depleting qi, promoting blood circulation without hurting blood, clearing heat without hurting the spleen and stomach, and expectorating without hurting the body. In the treatment of emotional diseases, ancient physicians emphasized that “the first is to cure the disease”. Psychiatric treatment is very important for depression. Therefore, in addition to drug treatment, Chinese medicine also needs to learn psychology.
Acupuncture and moxibustion treatment is mainly based on syndrome differentiation, and acupuncture points are selected according to different syndromes such as stagnation of liver qi, stagnation of liver and spleen, deficiency of heart and gallbladder qi, damp-heat of liver and gallbladder, depression and sadness, deficiency of heart and spleen, deficiency of both kidney and liver.
In addition to receiving regular treatment, it is also very important to exercise more, especially the exercise that can be carried out together with a group. Everyone can exercise together, have fun together, and laugh, all of which are very helpful for depression.
How to prevent depression
Depression can be prevented, but if you can start educating children from elementary school, let them understand what counseling is, know that they can ask the counselor for help when facing problems, and let their emotions find an outlet, then the children’s future suffering can be greatly reduced. Chance of depression.
For example, when we were frustrated or punished by our parents when we were young, we imagined that there could be a savior to save us. At this time, the tutor actually plays a very important role. If the tutor can correctly guide the child to speak out the inner problem, then the child We will not bury the seeds of resentment and depression in our hearts.
In daily study, work and life, everyone will encounter setbacks, and even face major events, which can lead to various negative emotions such as depression, sadness, anxiety and self-blame. Therefore, it is very important to strengthen internal personal qualities. As long as you can learn to be open-minded, cultivate hobbies, learn to be objective, and be able to correctly evaluate your own abilities, you can effectively prevent depression.
For strengthening psychological quality, you can start to exercise from the following “6S” on weekdays. This “6S” can help yourself to prepare psychologically to meet various setbacks and bad emotions in life:
Sleeping-good quality and adequate sleep
Sport-appropriate leisure sports
Speaking-maintain a good communication willingness, flexible self-expression mode
Slow Down-a gentle, solid and stable attitude and pace of life
Stop-stop bad emotions and thinking patterns appropriately
Stand By——Continuously enrich yourself, prepare for the future and keep a heart of anticipation
