Kapok 959 | author
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Have you ever been to a "mental hospital"?
In the town of S, next door to my hometown, there is a mental health care home.
When I was a child, when my classmates were fighting, they would often say:
Send you to S Town! neuropathy! lunatic!
Hospitalization in S Town is the equivalent of a "madman". This belief, the adults in the family will plant in the minds of the children early on.
If someone says at this time: I have been depressed for more than ten years and want to go to the hospital.
Then she must be "crazy and crazy".
What did she think, what kind of pain she went through, and why did she make such a decision?
Today, One Psychology will talk to you about long-term depression.
I was almost depressed after taking care of him
In the canteen of the hospital, there sat a family of three.
The mother picked up the dumplings and tried to feed them into her son's mouth; but the son just sat, did not open his mouth, and did not speak.
After a stalemate, my mother was a little anxious and stood up: You open my mouth for me! I have to eat it today!"
Hearing this, do you think: This son is 2 years old, and he still has to chase and feed?
However, this "son" looks at least twenty years old and taller than his parents.
When taking medicine, it is also "strong feeding".
The nurse grabbed his arm, shoved the medicine into his mouth, and then poured water, shook, commanded;
He didn't cooperate or resist, he just said: No. medicine...... poisonous. No...... Do not eat.
This patient who refused to eat and take medicine was called Xiao Gao, a Beijing guy who was more than one meter and eight meters.
But in him, the youthful vigor of the young man could not be seen at all.
His daily routine is to hunch his back, move slowly, and live like a centenarian;
Occasionally talking, stuttering, more often silent;
Mom and Dad are always behind them, worried and afraid to speak...
It seems that it has been "scrapped", right?
Who would have thought that such a "wasted man" would have been a high-achieving medical school student and the city's English speech champion?
Depression completely changed his brain and changed his life.
Because of the strike of the neurotransmitters that transport pleasure, Xiao Gao loses his happiness and lacks the motivation to do things[1], and is even "lazy" to the point of depressive rigidity.
A living person, like a puppet, lies in bed from morning to night, not speaking or moving.
Little high is often in this state.
Even, if you take his pillow away and leave his head hanging in the air, he will remain in this position, as if there is an invisible pillow under his head.
It sounds funny, but the person who takes care of him has a headache.
Rice still needs to be eaten, medicine is still to be taken, the body needs to be scrubbed...
All of our easy daily routines become the "work" of caregivers in the case of depressed zombies.
After a long time, no matter how much you love, you will be tired, you will be anxious, and you will feel frustrated.
"I am the leader, I can't say this to the outside world"
Caregivers of chronic depression are so miserable.
Then for the patient himself, long-term depression is no different from chronic delay.
The symptoms at the time of the onset are not the most terrible.
After hesitating for a long time, Lao Wu dialed a phone.
The person on the other end of the phone did not know him, and he had nothing to do with his work life.
Why fight?
Because Lao Wu has always felt that he has depression in the past few years.
The purpose of the phone call was to ask what antidepressants the other person was taking and what the side effects were.
Why not ask the doctor, ask the people around you?
Because he is a leading cadre, "I can't talk about this topic to the outside world."
The man he asked had encountered this several times.
Another official asks "how to treat depression" every time, because "my family has been suffering from depression for several years."
As a result, soon after, the bad news of the official's suicide came from the circle of friends.
It turned out that it was not his family who was depressed, but himself.
To this day, there are still many prejudices and misconceptions about people with depression:
"People with depression are just too vulnerable"
"He can't manage emotions, how can he manage his subordinates?"
"This man is crazy"
……
Because depression, depressed people are strangers to them.
Strangeness breeds fear, and people will label all depressed people as "marked", divided from the general population, far away from themselves, and treated differently.
But the more discriminating, the less people understand the real people with depression; without understanding, the more prejudice and discrimination they will lead to increased prejudice and discrimination.
The patient himself can feel this discrimination, and over time, even he himself will begin to discriminate against himself.
In the long run, this "discrimination" is even more lethal than the symptoms of depression itself.
"I'm not crazy, I just want to live in a mental hospital"
The first two stories are from Ms. Li Lanni's new book "WildLand Aura" (with adaptations).
Li Lanni is the president of the Shenzhen Writers Association and a "senior" depressed patient.
As early as 1986, she was diagnosed with depression, but no one paid attention to it at the time.
In 2003, she had a major depressive episode and climbed to the top of the building. This time, she finally started the treatment.
Struggling with depression for many years, she took antidepressants every day, did electroconvulsive, transcranial magnetic stimulation, tried pet therapy, diet therapy, cognitive therapy, light therapy, reading therapy...
She said in the interview that she especially likes to rely on reading for cognitive therapy, and also recommends that patients read books related to mental illness.
In 2008, in order to let more people understand depression, she wrote her experience into a more intuitive and closer book to the lives of patients: "No One in the Wilderness - A Mental Archive of a Depressed Patient".
Later, she went to various places to give lectures, but was asked at a lecture:
Students who are severely depressed and want to commit suicide, how can they refuse to be hospitalized, what should they do?
So, to be more convincing, she decided to give it a try.
During his hospitalization, someone spread rumors:
Li Lanni was crazy, delirious, and was held in a mental hospital.
But for Li Lanni, hospitalization is just a means of self-help for long-term depression.
You may hardly imagine that hospitalization can be beneficial to high-risk cases of depression.
First, the environment is safe:
Mirrors, ropes, umbrellas, will be taken away by the hospital for safekeeping;
The bowl used is plastic and the spoon is wooden;
Even things that are not suitable for drinking, such as laundry detergent, must be locked daily.
These regulations and measures can protect patients as much as possible and tie a safety rope to people who are suicidal.
Not only that, but in reliable hospitals:
Life is regular. The lights go out at 9:30 p.m., and three meals and hot water are served regularly.
Inspection is convenient. After all, it has always been in the hospital, and it is more convenient to arrange examinations and treatments.
Companionship is sufficient. In the case of Guangzhou Hui'ai Hospital, about two patients share a caregiver, and these nurses have considerable experience.
For the family of a person with long-term depression, the hospitalization of the patient is also a time to let yourself relax.
When flying, flight attendants remind us: please put on your oxygen mask before helping others.
But family members who have been caring for depressed patients for a long time are sometimes like putting a mask on a patient all the time, but they don't find themselves about to suffocate.
Stress is both physical and psychological.
It's not just the anxious and irritable of The Little High Parents. Even sometimes, the family of a person with long-term depression may experience "caregiver depression".
At this time, hospitalization may make patients and families breathe a sigh of relief.
Having depression doesn't mean your life is ruined
If you are also battling depression for a long time, or are caring for a person with long-term depression.
I hope you remember two sentences:
a. Don't give up
The causes of depression are very complex, and genetic physiology, psychological coping, and social environment are all related.
Because of this, it is also more difficult to treat.
Fortunately, at present, a variety of drugs and multiple therapies have been developed clinically.
Many drugs act on neurotransmitters that transport pleasure, so that they are recycled a little slower, and play a little longer, so that patients can have a little more happy emotions and a little more motivation to do things.
So don't worry about drug dependence.
If the effect of a drug or a therapy is not good, you can ask the doctor, and then follow the doctor's instructions to change the medicine and change the therapy.
This may be a long-term process, and there will be detours in the process, and there will even be "going back".
But don't give up, you're not alone on the long-term fight against depression.
b. Don't worry
As mentioned earlier, the treatment of depression is a long-term process;
Even after "cure", there is a high probability of recurrence.
In the face of such a situation, both patients and family members are inevitably anxious and irritable:
How is it not good?
How long, exactly?
No one can say for sure, because this is a disease, and it cannot be "repaired" by will alone.
All we can do is not worry, accept reality, accept patients.
Just like having a chronic disease such as diabetes, take it slowly, take medicine, take medicine, and live life.
After all, even long-term depression doesn't mean life is ruined.
There is a clinical term called "depressive episode", which means that people with depression are slow in thinking, decreased will, and social, occupational, or other important functions are not normal at the time of the attack.
But most patients don't always stay in this state.
In fact, even for severe persistent depressive disorder, there may be a 2-month interval between episodes [3].
Long-term depressed people can also go to school and work normally on days when they do not have seizures, laugh and socialize, socialize, and socialize, and are not "crazy" or "vulnerable".
Like the economist John Nash, who suffered from schizophrenia at the age of 30, was admitted to the hospital many times in his life, often had delusions and hallucinations, and stubbornly refused to take his medicine.
Seeing this, the average person may regret it: his life is over!
Indeed, throughout his life, Nash never escaped the torment of schizophrenia.
But in the company of his wife, he gradually learned to be friends with the illusion.
Not only did he return to academic work, but he also won the Nobel Prize for "Nash Equilibrium".
Ordinary people may not be able to achieve Nash's achievements, but we can treat mental illness like he did:
Actively treat and accept coexistence.
The article begins with a small high, and later was recommended by the doctor for electroconvulsive therapy.
This is when the patient is under anesthesia and relaxation, and an electric current passes through the patient's brain, causing spasms — the equivalent of a seizure the patient has experienced.
This attack can change the state of multiple neurotransmitters in the human brain, thereby alleviating symptoms.
After three treatments, Xiao Gao's sluggish, dark face showed a smile for the first time in nearly a year.
He also asked his family to buy him a guitar and wanted to practice singing.
Although his fingers were still a little stiff, he was focused on practicing.
Just like he once did.
The world and I love you.
bibliography
Guan Xiting, Lin Wenjuan. (2013). An important regulator in the pathogenesis of depression: indoleamine 2,3-bioxygenase. Advances in Psychological Science, 2017, 21(6): 951-957.
[2] APA. (2013). DSM-5.
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About the author: Kapok 959, Master of Psychology of Beishi Division, psychology teacher of primary and secondary schools, excellent respondent to zhihu psychology topic, 2020 new knowledge respondent (ID: kapok 959), other platforms are called "psychological students to see something".