Depression, Illness and Injury

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Depression, Illness and Injury

• Rethink Health

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About

• Feeling unusually low in mood or depressed is not
  uncommon following critical illness or injury.
  For instance, up to 30 patients experience low
  mood in the months that follow a heart attack
  (Baumeister et al., 2011) or an intensive care
  admission (Wade et al., 2012).
• Patients often describe a sense of irony that
  in the weeks that follow discharge from hospital,
  once they are safely home and surrounded by
  relieved family and friends, that distressing
  psychological reactions such as low mood should
  then start to occur.

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• The first thing to emphasise is that feeling low
  after a hospital admission is common and people
  often recover independently within a month of
  being home.
• Ensuring good sleep hygiene, taking regular
  exercise, following a healthy diet and (if
  relevant) smoking cessation are all
  well-established first-line strategies for
  improving mood.
• For some people, low mood can persist, despite
  implementation of these basic self-care
  strategies. In these circumstances, we recommend
  patients meet with a clinical psychologist or
  discuss with their GP.

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Symptoms of Depression

• The main symptoms of depression are a loss of
  pleasure in activities that were once enjoyable.
  A person with depression may also feel tearful,
  irritable or tired most of the time, and have
  problems with sleep, concentration and memory.
• Mild to moderate depression is when a person has
  symptoms that make life more difficult than
  usual, while severe depression is when a person
  has many symptoms, which can make life extremely
  difficult.

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• For mild-moderate depression, anti-depressant
  medication is not recommended in the UK. Instead,
  National Guidelines (NICE 2009) recommend that
  patients receive Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy
  (CBT) with a psychologist.
• CBT refers to a collection of psychological
  treatments that are based on the theory that
  thoughts, feelings, behaviour and our
  physiological responses are all connected. If we
  change one of these, we can alter the others.
• For moderate-severe depression, antidepressant
  medication is recommended alongside a
  psychological treatment.

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About Rethink Health

• Rethink Health specialises in providing
  psychological treatments for adults who are
  experiencing low mood or depression.
• We work online with people from all over the
  country. Research evidence is clear that online
  sessions achieve similar outcomes to in-person
  sessions and are equally or more effective.
• For more information about Medical Psychologist
  visit Rethink Health https//www.rethinkhealth-on
  line.com

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Rethink Health
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