Atypical Depression: Symptoms Of Invisible Disorder
The atypical depression is a subtype of depression. It is not easy to diagnose, because its symptoms are related to conditions that can be confused with other problems, such as simple fatigue, stress and even metabolic diseases.
When we talk about this mood disorder, we cannot forget that people with atypical depression are not always fully aware of what is happening to them.
Family doctors are undoubtedly the first to have to pay attention to this symptomatology which, at times, is disguised by weight gain and sleepiness.
It is not easy. Talking about atypical depression means talking about a disease that many people can suffer from today without knowing it.
Today we want to talk to you about this condition and highlight the characteristics that must activate an alarm bell.
Atypical depression: when the body suffers because the soul is crying
Doctors have a basic protocol to identify a depressive picture. Recurring negative thoughts, a sense of helplessness, insomnia and suicidal instincts are among the most common symptoms.
From this we start to make a diagnosis and establish the type of pathology and the pharmacological treatment to follow.
However, when we talk about atypical depression, the disease is not clear until the person shows suicidal tendencies, a wake-up call that prompts the patient and family to seek help.
Well, before reaching this stage, however, the person feels changes that negatively affect his quality of life.
Let’s now see the fundamental characteristics of this pathology.
Physical symptoms that are confused with other medical conditions
People with atypical depression gain weight without understanding why. You don’t just feel more hungry or anxious than usual: the metabolism changes and there is a huge tendency to accumulate fat.
- Another usual symptom is fatigue and physical pain especially in the arms and legs: you notice them heavy, so much so that there are some hours in which you feel a certain difficulty in moving.
- This fatigue leads to exclusion from social activities because one gradually feels with little or no desire to do them.
Hypersomnia
If in the other forms of depression it is difficult to reconcile sleep, in the atypical one you have extreme sleep.
You can sleep up to 10 hours straight, which causes you to plunge into a state of continuous tiredness and weakness and which makes you see reality as a dream in which you do not feel part of.
Hypersensitivity
This mood disorder is linked to bad mood, irritability and the inability to get infected with positive emotions.
Good news, moments of fun, laughter and celebration seen from afar are annoying or even incomprehensible. Those affected cannot be “infected” by those emotions associated with happiness.
As if that weren’t enough, it’s pretty common to have catastrophic thoughts. You think that anything will go wrong, that it is not worth reacting because you have no control over anything.
Period of great anxiety
Elevated anxiety is also linked to this type of depression.
People suffering from atypical depression are aware of their defenseless state and suffer from it. Because of this, they can come to feel aversion towards themselves, which causes even more anxiety.
For these people, it is very common to go through periods of calm and sleepiness and months when nerves, stress and anxiety grip the mind, body and every area of life. It is a condition that has a serious impact on a social and occupational level.
What triggers atypical depression?
Atypical depression harms men and women alike. However, as always happens with this type of disease, it is women who are most likely to ask for help, to manage the moment more easily and to allow themselves an emotional outlet.
It must be said that there is no single and exclusive cause that determines atypical depression. In fact, it is a condition that depends on many factors.
Let’s see in detail the possible triggers, bearing in mind that many times the cause is mainly genetic.
Genetic inheritance and environmental factors
If our parents have suffered from this disease, we have a better chance of suffering from it if, for example, we are faced with a loss, a separation, a trauma, etc.
- Experts explain that it usually develops due to the combination of two factors: trauma and a genetic predisposition to depression.
- Other times it is, instead, the accumulation of many small factors that together trigger this state: family problems, personal dissatisfaction, daily stress and the dynamics learned to manage our emotional world.
Finally, as far as treatment is concerned, as often happens, it is multidimensional: drugs, psychological therapy and social support.
Atypical depression appears and disappears within two years.
However, it is only a subtype of classic depression and, as a result, we are faced with a serious condition. The family in these situations must always be close and on alert.
