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Support for Depression

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Depression affects everyone differently, if you believe you are suffering from depression, you should seek guidance from your doctor. Here I have outlined what depression is described as, different resources and websites that offer advice on the condition.

The NHS website explains depression as:
“a serious illness. Health professionals use the terms depression, depressive illness or clinical depression to refer to something very different from the common experience of feeling miserable or fed-up for a short period of time.

When you’re depressed, you may have feelings of extreme sadness that can last for a long time. These feelings are severe enough to interfere with your daily life, and can last for weeks or months, rather than days.”

If you would like to learn more about depression or gain independent advice, here are some sites that may help:

Depression.com
This website offers advice, help and support on how to deal with depression; separating the information into stages to tackle depression with. The site explains the different forms of depression, what therapies are available to treat the disease and the day by day approach to supporting yourself out of depression.

Depression.com is a highly comprehensive resource, although the services are only for the USA – there is material to learn more about depression and how to stop it. The services offered to US residents include a contact line for when help is needed, direct links to Glaxo Smith Kline amenities, your questions answered and specific web resources related to depression.

NHS Choices

The UK’s National Health Service provides information, help and advice about the symptoms, causes, treatments, side effects and the prevention of depression. Read about other people’s stories and how therapy helped with their symptoms.

Depression UK
D-UK is a national self help organisation; the mission of Depression UK is to “promote mutual support between individuals affected by or at risk from depression, with the aim of encouraging self help, recovery and personal growth.”
They provide supportive resources to help with depression including group meeting locations and the UK pen friend scheme.

Depression Alliance
The DA is the leading UK charity for people with depression; they work to relieve and to prevent this treatable condition by providing information and support services through their publications, supporter services and network of self help groups.
Get involved with Depression Awareness Week that runs from 20th to 26th, you can help by volunteering or organising your own fundraising event – this is ran by the Depression Alliance, their website provides all the information you require to lend a hand in any way you can.

Here is a list of further resources catering to specific age groups and more general information on the condition:
Mind
Easy Read
Young Minds
Health Talk Online
NICE
BBC Health
Students against depression
The Royal College of Psychiatrists – Improving the lives of people with mental illness – the site provides an extensive amount of information.

**Disclaimer** – We here at 100% People are not health care professionals. We have researched issues such as the one featured in the above article in detail to bring you the best of the information available to us at the time of print. We can not be held responsible for the health of our readers and would always urge someone to contact their G.P or a qualified specialist before making any change to their diet or lifestyle.

How you can help a loved one lose weight

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Charles Platkin, the founder of DietDetective.com and nutrition and public health advocate, provides support to those that are worried about the health of a loved one.

You have wanted to tell someone who you care about that you are worried about the amount of weight they have gained. There are millions of people who care about their relatives or significant others and don’t want to see them at increased risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, sleep apnea or any of the many other problems related to being overweight. What should you do?

“Telling your partner that he or she is overweight could be a big help.”

A study done at the University of Colorado Health Science Center and reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates that for most weight-loss maintainers, success was preceded by a “trigger event or critical incident.” This could be something as simple as a comment from you that acts as a wake-up call.

“This conversation can spark a wide range of reactions, anything from crying to withholding affection to walking out the door,” says Gerard J. Musante. But will it harm a relationship permanently? Not if it’s done right, Musante says.

Here are some tips to help you save your partner’s life while keeping your relationship intact.

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Depression

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

“Get me out of this body!”

Ok so most people have small gripes with their bodies, “my hair’s too flat”, “my nose is too wide”, “I really hate my toes”, you know the sort of thing. But what happens when those small gripes aren’t so small? What happens when they’re not even average, what happens when they are so huge they begin to take over your whole life?!

“All I could do was think about my fat, ugly face! I became so paranoid that everyone was looking and laughing I stopped going out altogether”.

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