Are you Feeling Anxious and Depressed?
Symptoms of anxiety and depression
- Persistent sad, anxious or “empty” mood
- Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
- Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
- Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities, including sex
- Decreased energy, fatigue, feeling “slowed down”
- Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
- Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping
- Low appetite and weight loss or overeating and weight gain
- Thoughts of death or suicide, suicide attempts
- irritability (1)
- Worrying a lot
- Feeling restless
- Avoiding Social Situations
Physical symptoms of depression:
Persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as headaches, digestive disorders, and pain for which no other cause.
Mental depression in women:
Certain types of depression are unique to women.
Pregnancy, the postpartum period, perimenopause, and the menstrual cycle are all associated with dramatic physical and hormonal changes that affect mood.
Screening for Depression
If you suspect that you might suffer from depression, answer the questions below, and share them on your visit with me.
Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?
| Not at all | Several days | More than half the days | Nearly every day | |
| 1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things | ||||
| 2. Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless | ||||
| 3. Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much | ||||
| 4. Feeling tired or having little energy | ||||
| 5. Poor appetite or overeating | ||||
| 6. Feeling bad about yourself—or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down | ||||
| 7. Trouble concentrating on things such as reading the newspaper or watching television | ||||
| 8. Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite—being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual | ||||
| 9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way |
If you clicked on any problems above, how difficult have they made it for you to do your work, take care of things at home, or get along with other people?
Not difficult at all Somewhat difficult Very difficult Extremely difficult
Reference
Based on Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) Developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke, and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc.
what causes depression and anxiety
As we are in the winter season, you might notice that your mood is going down.
If you are feeling depressed or down, you may increase the good bacteria in your gut. According to a review of research published in January 2016 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, a complicated relationship between the brain, the central nervous system, and the “good” bacteria in your gut exists. Enhancing good bacteria in your gut may play a role in managing your depressive symptoms. For this reason, taking probiotics may help with your depressive symptoms.
Vitamin D also acts like a hormone in the body and affects brain function. A deficiency in vitamin D can lead to an increased risk for mood disorders, including depression. B12 injections can also help you with energy, memory, mood, and depressive symptoms if you are deficient in this vitamin.
How to deal with anxiety and depression
What we eat affects both our bodies and our minds.
A supportive diet maintains the physical body as well as our mental health.
Your diet impacts our moods through our blood sugar levels. Eating a sugary or high-carbohydrate meal feels briefly energizing but is followed by a drop in blood sugar level. This sudden drop in blood sugar levels lowers your energy and moods and causes headaches, fatigue, and dizziness.
A dietary treatment plan for depression and anxiety:
- Eat local fresh and whole foods
- Limit sugary foods with high glycemic indices and glycemic loads (click here for an explanation and list of foods low on the glycemic index).
- Eat more fish, especially cold-water fishes
- Consider reducing or eliminating your caffeine intake
- Eat mindfully; pay attention to the act of eating- from a greater enjoyment of the food to smoother digestion and better absorption of nutrients. Hanh’s book Savor or John Kabat-Zinn’s mindfulness exercises are a few examples of resources that are available to help you develop a habit of eating mindfully.
- Start by doing nothing else while you eat. Clear your desk or table and sit, putting away your phone and closing your emails. Try to pay attention to all of your senses- how does the food smell? How does it look? How does it sound as your utensil clinks against the plate? How does it feel in your mouth, and as you swallow? And of course, how does it taste? Breathe deeply, chew slowly, and finish swallowing a mouthful before you reach for another bite. Start this practice with one meal a day and observe how it affects your enjoyment of eating and your digestion afterward. If sharing your meal with someone, develop a practice of spending the first few minutes eating mindfully together, then be social for the rest of the meal. You’ll be surprised how the habit can even help you to be mindful of things in your life even when not eating.
- Mangoes contain bioactive magnesium that calms the nerves and can potentially help with anxiety.
- Lavender is useful for treating anxiety, depression, and hair loss. (All of which is supported by research)
- Quitting smoking: Smoking is associated with an increased risk of developing an anxiety disorder.
Book your free consultation and see how we can help you with your anxiety and depression symptoms.
