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**PSYCHWORDS (1/??)**
I& #39;m gonna create a little series on psychiatric/psychological language because the general public uses words that often get borrowed from psychological words, but then unfortunately distorts their meaning, leading to some confusion.
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I& #39;m gonna create a little series on psychiatric/psychological language because the general public uses words that often get borrowed from psychological words, but then unfortunately distorts their meaning, leading to some confusion.
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Today, I& #39;m going to focus on the word "depressed." It& #39;s very common for someone to say they are depressed in a common sense ("I& #39;m so depressed the Vancouver Canucks didn& #39;t win") to mean "sad," or "down."
(note: the Vancouver Canucks never win the Cup, please be realistic)
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(note: the Vancouver Canucks never win the Cup, please be realistic)
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Of course, when used in this way the context is clear - the person is sad. It can be used to describe a funk, a temporary sadness, or even an actual mood state ("I& #39;ve been depressed ever since Julie left.") or ("The ending to Green Mile makes me so depressed")
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Professionals, however, call the state of mood a "-thymia" or "-phoria." In the case of "low mood, sadness, negative mood state," we call it:
DYSphoria or DYSthymia
"diss-FOR-eeya" / "diss-THY-meea"
What can I say? We psych types love Greek!
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DYSphoria or DYSthymia
"diss-FOR-eeya" / "diss-THY-meea"
What can I say? We psych types love Greek!
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So while I might ask a patient what makes them feel sad or depressed when they bring the mood up, when communicating with other professionals I use their terminology on quotes, but "they were dysphoric for 5 days" to another professional.
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Why the distinction? Because mood states are simply moments in time, and they can and regularly occur in the context of normal human events. I was really dysphoric when my mother recently passed, or when COVID-19 I watched ravaged across the world.
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I can even be dysphoric in a moment - like when I get a bit of bad news or someone is rude to me online (never!) and makes me feel lower.
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But to professionals (I thought, though this week has made me question this), "depression" has a specific meaning. It is not simple sadness, or another emotion like love or joy or anger.
"Depression" is a significantly *impairing* amount of a *number of symptoms*.
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"Depression" is a significantly *impairing* amount of a *number of symptoms*.
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Typically, the main symptoms of depression are an episode of
DYSPHORIA (as we discussed) OR Anhedonia (lack of finding pleasure in things)
That& #39;s right! You don& #39;t even need to be sad to have a clinical depression. Not having expected joy in things as important.
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DYSPHORIA (as we discussed) OR Anhedonia (lack of finding pleasure in things)
That& #39;s right! You don& #39;t even need to be sad to have a clinical depression. Not having expected joy in things as important.
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There are cognitive symptoms of a depression (increased guilt, challenges thinking clearly, feeling hopeless or suicidal) and physical symptoms of a depression (slow movements, fatigue, increased pain, changes to appetite).
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We do NOT see "sadness" as a reason for treatment (either psychologists or psychiatrists), though of course we care about it and can help people with sad feelings through conversations and context.
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We advocate for treatment (medications work for many, therapy works for many, both can be helpful, and there are lots of approaches when mild/moderate) when the symptoms of depression are LONG ENOUGH and SEVERE ENOUGH to cause significant impairments in how one functions.
/fin
/fin
