Four people's depressions

Irene Oestrich, psychologist

It is important that you discover your depression as early as possible. It is also important that you start your treatment as early as possible. It can be helpful to get an insight into others' treatment, and we therefore present four different people's depressions here.

Jens

Jens has retired. He cannot understand why he feels so tired. Because he no longer needs to do any work each day. Six months ago Jens lost his wife, to whom he had been married for 28 years. She died of cancer. Jens finds it difficult to get on with life. He constantly thinks: "I hate getting old. It feels lousy. Nobody needs me anymore". Jens doesn't know that these are symptoms of depression. He only discovers it when his doctor makes the diagnosis. The doctor also makes sure that he starts his treatment.

Louise

Louise has reported sick. She doesn't dare to go to work. When Louise is at work, she feels inadequate and worthless. She feels that she can't manage anything at all. Just the thought of solving a task gives her a panic attack. After a long period of time, Louise begins contemplating suicide. To her everything is very painful. She always thinks: "It's all hopeless. I'm a failure. It will never get any better".

Erik

Erik has fought against his craving for alcohol for many years. He tries to repair his low self-esteem with the alcohol. It dampens the fear of "not being good enough". When Erik drinks, he feels stronger. He feels that he has more control over things. But when he sobers up, he has feelings of guilt. He gets anxious and his self-esteem gets even lower.

Erik changes jobs at a relatively late age. At the new job, he is scared that he will be caught making mistakes. He constantly believes that his boss will sack him. He also believes that his colleagues are looking for mistakes in him. He believes that they will use them to show him up. He always thinks:

• "I must not make any mistakes".
• "I have to be perfect".
• "They must not discover how bad I am at everything"

Vera

Vera is fighting against anxiety. She has done that all her life. As a child her stepfather abused her sexually. Vera has also gone through two marriages where she was abused and hurt by her violent and alcoholic husbands. Vera gets more depressions and starts to isolate herself.

One day in the supermarket, she becomes overwhelmed with anxiety. She breaks out into a sweat and gets pains in her heart. She is therefore taken to the Accident and Emergency Department. She believes herself that she has a bad heart and is about to die. But the doctors tell her that she isn't going to die. After the experience in the supermarket, Vera doesn't dare to go out into the street. She always thinks: "I am going to die, there is something wrong with my heart".

The depressions are discovered late

Common for Jens, Louise, Erik and Vera is that they discover their depression late. For a long time they feel "inadequate" and not "good enough". Their spirits are low and they are very worried. They also become anxious very easily. The way that they express their feelings reflects the most severe psychological symptoms of depression. They also have physical symptoms such as tiredness, sluggishness and pain.

Through professional help, it occurs to them all that they are suffering from depression. But they find it difficult to believe that they can get treated and that these feelings will stop again. They learn about their thoughts and feelings through cognitive therapy.