| A. First thing I remember was really uncomfortable feeling about performing some task near the blackboard in front of the class. Despite the fact that some of my classmates were also nervous about performing at the front of the class, they never got physically sick about having to do it even when they didn’t prepare the homework at all. Even after getting very low score they seemingly were absolutely cool about it half an hour later. In contrary, I was deeply affected the rest of the day even if I’ve got an A. As I understand now it was the first red flag that needed to pay attention at. I used to worry a lot about my parents getting into car accident and dying. Seven PM was the usual time when my mother appeared at home after her part time in a Law Firm. If she wasn’t home at 7:05 my anxiety started to elevate. No arguments, such as bad traffic or an extra legal paper she supposed to take care of didn’t really work for me. When I talked to my girlfriend about it, she would say that she never gave sings of that sort a thought. At that age, children usually feel immortal and hardly ever think about death and dying. When I was 14, a next-door neighbor died of stroke. I worried constantly that I would die from something like that. I was always concerned about myself. It like I’ve always been in unbreakable loop of constant worry about something. Q. Can you give couple of anxiety examples from your adult life? A. Well, the fear of flying, this is first one what is on top of my head, and also the perfect example of “hidden anxiety”. I think that almost everyone is experiencing some kind of mental discomfort boarding a plane. The difference between everyone and me was that I was deeply effected the rest of the day and even the day after the flight. This is the nature of anxiety disorder, the basic definition of it, to speak more plainly: fear, which doesn’t go away even when the source of it has been gone. Second example is constant anxiety going to public events. I’ve always felt uncomfortable to be in a group of people, pretending participation in a conversation. Very often my nervousness obstructed me from formulating my idea clearly. I looked ridiculous all the time or at least I felt that way. Q. You dedicated the entire chapter to how inner circle of the patient should react to minimize his discomfort and to expedite healing. A. Because it is an extremely important component in the whole effort of concurring depression. Every one should realize it. Q. From your personal and professional experience to what extent do you think can one overcome his depression? A. If I’ll say that everyone can get rid of it completely it probably wouldn’t be true. About 60-65% of all patients perhaps can say that their depression is completely gone. Another 30% is having huge improvements. It doesn’t mean that they are invincible in a future. My experience points out that in many cases depression is returning back. Sometimes it could be a very small, insignificant negative event that could trigger such regression. But it also means that he should double and triple his effort toward concurring depression. There is also small group of people who seemingly don’t respond to any antidepressant medication. But, in my opinion they simply expecting a drastic change, a complete upturn over one night, which we all know is not going to happen. They also don’t want to understand importance of other treatment options; basically they are looking for a magic pill. |
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This is not about Prozac My journey back to life or What is indeed True and What is False in Depression Treatment Nowadays by Dana Kutkayte |
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| Interview |