DEPRESSION – FEELINGS
The person may feel that no one really cares for him. He may blame others for his problems. The depression may deepen and self-pity turn to self-blame and guilt.
He feels he is letting down his family, his employer and his friends. He assumes he is worthless and nothing can help him.
Depression may not get deeper but may arrest at any level or persist for many years. Some people are chronically depressed.
Depression may be masked and thus not recognised by doctor or patient. This is more common in those individuals who cannot accept the idea of emotional illness and regard it as a sign of weakness.
This depression may show more in physical symptoms. Pain, particularly chronic pain, may be the means of a person expressing his underlying depression. This pain is real, not imaginary or a form of malingering. The doctor may recognise that the patient is depressed but believe the depression is the result of the chronic pain rather than the cause of it. Treatment of the depression will usually relieve or minimise the associated pain.
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