Depression? Denial?

[dharmaBum]

I took a depression inventory today at the request of my counselor and was completely shocked that the result was well within the range for moderate to severe depression. I'm literally one of the last people who I would describe as being depressive. I'm a very "up" person- look on the bright side, etc.

But I had been wondering because I've been having a hard time giving my full concentration to the dynamo of humanity that my child is, if there wasn't something more going on there that I was perhaps not aware of or in denial about.

I feel like some of the questions that caused me to score high, like suicidal ideation, lack of interest in everyday activities, trouble sleeping, etc. are primarily PTSD symptoms and will go away when the exposure therapy has resolved the major PTSD problems. But I also think I may be a candidate for some more aggressive/integrated treatment anyway as much of my trauma is from prenatal to throughout childhood chronic child abuse and neglect.

Unfortunately, I can only now currently afford to treat trauma symptoms related to a criminal case in which I was a victim.

Do other co-morbid people feel that they have to treat depression symptoms separately from PTSD or that it's kind of a one-stop therapy? I'm way not interested in taking any more medication of any kind. I currently take a daily allergy med, beta-blocker for anxiety, nightmares, and migraines, and an herbal sleep aid for insomnia and nightmares. They are pretty much working, but I have trouble telling when I'm "me" vs a reaction to these very innocuous meds.

 

[JohnnyM53]

Your post reminded me of the question "What came first first - the chicken or the egg?"

In my experience, the root of depression (ie. was it caused due to a traumatic event, a brain deficiency (unipolar depression, bipolar depression etc.), a reactive depression due to non-traumatic life events, such as grief, loss of job, spouse, etc), has to be identified and addressed.

You may need medication on a short term, long term or lifelong basis to relieve the symptoms, depending on its root cause.

While I needed and still need meds to allow me to function properly, or at times just to survive, I found I got much better by exploring why I was depressed. And it can sometimes take time if there is a history of trauma, abuse, neglect, major disappointment, denial, etc.

I learned that I am my own specialist. No one can or will ever know me better than I do, so it's good to ask ourselves questions.

A therapist can be quite helpful because sometimes we are in denial, or simply unaware of important issues.

Case in point. Each time I read a self-help book and it talked about anger, I'd pretty much skip that chapter because I thought "I never get mad".

Some 28 years later, I learned that anger (deep seated and extremely inhibited anger - which is a symtopm of C-PTSD) was actually a central issue to all my other issues.

So if you do explore areas of your life for the root of depression, you might want to keep an eye on issues you believe are irrelevant, if you can't solve the mystery after a while.

I hope this helps some and good luck.

 

[dharmaBum]

thx Johnny- I think maybe the relevance of the depression score is at least to help me look at things from another perspective- introduce therapeutic elements and see if they don't help.

I appreciate your comments ;)

 

[Deleted member 541]

Depression is part and parcel with PTSD IMO. I don't think you can have one(ptsd) without the other(depression) on some level. Even after you do the work, face your trauma, depression will always visit for awhile.

At least this is how it has been for me....

 

[pianogirl]

For the most part, I always thought PTSD and depression were separate diagnoses. However, now I believe that if you have PTSD, you have a bigger chance of having depression, or the depression is a symptom of PTSD. However, having depression doesn't necessarily mean one has PTSD.

I had episodes of depression off and on since I was 11. I NEVER thought I would have PTSD until the symptoms came about in my late 20s. Now, in my fifth year of a very stubborn depression, I'm beginning to believe it involves both--especially since my PTSD was not treated properly by myself and my old therapist. This depression definitely is influenced or exacerbated by my PTSD symptoms, and my PTSD symptoms are exacerbated by my depression symptoms.

Although depression and PTSD are their own separate diagnoses, I don't think they are separate. I think treatment involves figuring out how to balance the symptoms with or without meds. Also, some meds can actually treat both arenas of symptoms at the same time.

I hope this helps a little.

pianogirl