Diet for Depression

Depression is an ailment that is highly pervasive in this fast moving and immensely competitive era. Depression is not just a feeling of sadness; rather it is a severe disorder which may be caused by several factors. These factors include:

• Biological factors like hormonal imbalances, genetic factors and imbalances in substances like neurotransmitters.

• Psychological and social factors which generally include personality and attitude related issues.

Depression is an abstract sensation and is generally seen from various angles including the Juvenile angle (depression in kids), Feminine angle (Depression in women), and Masculine angle (Depression in men).

As such, depression is not restricted to any age group or sex and is rampant among people of all groups. The symptoms of depression are loss of appetite and weight, lack of concentration, weakening of memory, changes in the normal sleep cycle, and loss of interest in day-to-day activities.

Anxiety and Depression Diet

A dietary regime for depression must include the following:

• You should consume a lot of fresh and green vegetables like celery, broccoli, spinach and cabbage to relieve depression.

• You must not consume processed and canned food on account of their low nutritive value and the presence of excessive amounts of certain substances like sugar and salt.

• You must also restrict the consumption of poultry foods in your diet.

• An intake of essential fatty acids like Omega-3 is highly recommended for anxiety prone patients and so foods like almond, walnut and flax seeds must be included in their diet.

• The consumption of foods rich in Vitamin C like blueberries, melon, strawberries and orange, and foods rich in Vitamin E like margarine, vegetable oil and wheat germ is recommended for depression prone patients.

• An intake of protein rich foods like cheese, lean beef, beans yogurt, and peas, and low fat cheese is recommended to treat depression.

• The consumption of fruits must be enhanced.

These are some of the alterations in diet to combat depression. You may also try these home remedies to cure depression:

• The consumption of a teaspoon of powdered dry asparagus every day is recommended to cure depression.

• An intake of powdered cardamom seeds in boiled water is also advised to relieve depression.

• Soak your feet in warm water with leaves of rosemary, chlorine, soap in order to alleviate depression.

• The consumption of an apple with honey and milk is another good remedy to assuage the symptoms of depression.

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is used to treat the conditions of anxiety, depression and various other mental disorders. This therapy primarily operates on the principle that belief systems, biases and thoughts influence the emotions that a particular individual experiences as well as the intensity of these emotions. Cognitive behavioral therapy basically involves identifying and changing detrimental reactions and thought patterns. Although the kind of effect, which negative thinking will have on one’s emotions, may seem to be obvious, a lot of individuals do not really understand the impact caused by such thought patterns on their activities. Say for example, an individual encounters a setback in a pursuit or activity. This negative outcome or failure could lead the person to believe they are worthless or that he/she will never be able to gain success. As a result of which, the person may begin to feel depressed and may avoid activities of a similar nature in future.

Cognitive behavioral therapy involves the act of replacing maladaptive and negative, thoughts with realistic and positive ones. Although this treatment sounds simple, it is actually quite the contrary. The treatment is not a simple process that just involves planting positive thoughts into the patient or convincing the patient to think positively. Very often, these negative thought patterns tend to be deeply ingrained within an individual’s psyche. These thoughts can be triggered automatically, and very often, even without the concerned individual being aware of having experienced them.

Bringing about a change in these negative thought patterns, frequently calls for a process, of recognizing the unwanted and undesirable beliefs that the particular individual has about him/her self, as well as others. Once these detrimental thoughts are identified, the concerned individual must then learn to debate or dispute them. Cognitive behavioral therapy can often prove to be a very lengthy treatment. The required change unfortunately does not take place happen overnight. A few patients could experience somewhat satisfactory results after a few months, but on the other hand some may experience the required change after several years. At first, some individuals have a difficulty in dealing with this treatment. This is largely because the symptoms are not immediately relieved. Learning and utilizing the skills required to change the negative thought patterns, could be a bit of a challenge initially. However, with both time as well as application, outcomes of this therapy will definitely be worth the effort.

Depression and Memory Loss

Depression and memory loss are some of the constituent symptoms of dementia, which in itself could be a possible symptom of either Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease. The symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease start with mild dementia that is sometimes mistaken for regular aging. The disease begins with memory loss and the slow loss of cognitive function. The disease progresses with the loss of brain tissue that manifests in the loss of body functions and eventually death comes shortly afterward. Parkinson’s disease is a similar neurodegenerative disease with the loss of motor coordination and function. This disease causes tremors, rigidity, an awkward gait, speech problems, drooling among other motor skill problems. Depression is also a symptom that occurs because the patient sees oneself degenerating slowly as well as because of the lack of dopamine in the brain. Dementia and short-term memory loss, difficulty in language skills and hallucinations are some of the other effects of this disease before the symptoms progress to cause death.

Both of these diseases develop and progress due to the effect of cholinesterase. Cholinesterase is an enzyme that metabolizes the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is responsible for action in a nerve by opening a sodium channel that depolarizes the cell. When there is a high amount of cholinesterase in the brain, the neurotransmitter is not able to ensure that actions take place in the neurons. One of the major treatments of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease is the use of anti-cholinesterase inhibitors. Parkinson’s disease also requires the administration of dopamine that has been identified as one of the reasons for the degradation associated with Parkinson’s disease.

The key to retaining function when suffering either of these two diseases is to continuously keep the brain busy in cognitive functions by indulging is social activities, reading, playing complicated mind games like chess and other activities that exercise cognitive function. Most neurodegenerative diseases have a genetic trail that makes most patients prone to them. Some of the preventative treatments that have been advised are ensuring that all the vitamins in the B group and folic acid intake is kept at its optimal levels. Gingko has also been promoted as a preventative treatment. It is also been observed that people who are bilingual and play some kind of musical instrument can delay or not be susceptible to the disease at all. Avoiding strong magnetic fields is advisable as these have been implicated in the progression of the disease.

Childhood Depression Symptoms

Childhood is usually portrayed as a happy carefree time, free of worries and stresses. For many of us, this may be true. But if we think back carefully to our childhood, we can usually find a few unhappy times. For some children, though, this unhappiness turns into depression for a variety of reasons. Some people are just more prone to being depressed, while for others, a traumatic experience may be too difficult to handle or the child may not be counseled appropriately.
With children, depression becomes harder to diagnose than in adults. This is because children usually don’t know that they’re depressed either, and lack the ability to vocalise their feelings. But it’s important to diagnose it, because it can rob a child of his best years, and seriously affect his or her personality as an adult. If you suspect that your child suffers from depression, here are a few symptoms to look out for.

Symptoms can be divided into four essential categories: Emotional, Cognitive (thinking and learning), physical problems, and behavioral changes.

Emotional Symptoms:

Children suffering from depression may show any of these emotions regularly:

• Sadness – he or she may cry at things that shouldn’t normally affect him this way, and may feel despondent or helpless. Some children will withdraw to hide this.
• Loss of interest – a child may lose interest in activities, like sports or music, that earlier interested him.
• Anxiety – the child may be more anxious or tense than usual, especially in certain situations.
• Turmoil – If your child is chronically worried, irritable, or angry, this may point to depression.

Cognitive Symptoms:

• Difficulty organising thoughts – problems with concentrating in class, remembering or not completing easy tasks.
• Pessimism – Children are not usually negative, and this is an important symptom to watch for.
• Feelings of worthlessness and guilt about problems, and seeing a lot of faults in oneself.
• Isolation – children may become loners, especially if they are being bullied by other children.
• Suicidal thoughts – children, too, have these thoughts, and may sometimes express these. These expressions should be taken very seriously, and not brushed off.

Physical Symptoms:

• Changes in eating habits – as with adults, children too may start eating more or less, and have visible changes in appetite.
• Sleep problems – Children who cannot sleep at night, but have problems staying up at school.
• Sluggishness or agitation – sometimes, children may be slower in most activities than usual, or much more agitated and fidgety.

Behavioral symptoms:

• Withdrawal or avoidance – if your child avoids day to day activities, or withdraws from family and friends.
• Demanding and clinging behavior – a sense of insecurity may make depressed children excessively needy and dependent on some relationships.
• Restlessness – while many children are restless, behaviour like fidgeting, becoming a nuisance in class, recklessness may point to depression.
• Self Harm – harming oneself is a dead giveaway of a deep seated problem like depression.