SPOTTING DEPRESSION
Remembering an acronym can help in recognizing the signs
Dr. Robert E. Hales, professor and medical director of Mental Health Services for Sacramento County, CA, along with his colleagues, uses the acronym D, SIG, E, CAPS to capture the array of symptoms that they look for when determining whether a person is depressed. The list includes what may be new terms, but it will help you learn just how mental health professionals regard symptoms.
Her are those those symptoms:
D-Disphoria or a sad or depressed affect (the impression a person makes) along with anhedonia or lack of interest or joy in what once would have been pleasurable-such as a visit from grandchildren; crying or tearfulness for no apparent reason; sadness itself.
S-Sleep disturbance or lack of Sexual desire.
I-Lack of Interest in activities.
G-Guilt, in excess, or feelings of worthlessness or of being no good; highly self-critical, especially in regard to activities that one was once good at-such as cooking or golf; excessive rumination or mulling over of things from the past.
E-lack of Energy.
C-loss or lack of Concentration; inability to read or focus on activities.
A-loss of Appetite; significant weight loss.
P-Psychomotor retardation or agitation. Depressed patients can have "leaden paralysis" or profound fatigue of a sort that one sees in patients with Parkinson's Disease or they can become agitated, angry or even hostile.
S-Suicidal thoughts or plans. The person may say, "I wish I were dead. I am a burden." Or, if asked, "Do you think of dying? Have you wished you were dead?" may reveal that, in fact, they do think of taking their own lives, or about being dead.