Depression, either situational or clinical, is a diagnosable condition. There are a few simple steps to the diagnosis. The first is to decide why you think you are depressed. Do you no longer enjoy your hobbies? Do you find it hard to get out of bed in the morning, or to leave the house? Other symptoms include being tired all of the time, loss of appetite, crying for no reason and an inability to focus.

If these symptoms are present, then the next step is to take the Beck Depression Inventory. This simple exam is a series of statements that you rate from a scale of 1-5. It gives you a final score that then rates you from no depression to severe clinical depression. While this test is not perfect and should not be the sole element used in diagnosis, it can lead to one.

Depression is diagnosed according to the signs or symptoms exhibited by a sufferer. If you feel you are depressed, make sure you go straight away to the specialist get it diagnosed thoroughly. Diagnosis is the only possible way to identify the type of depression you are suffering from by looking at the symptoms. There is no other available method that can identify depression without proper symptoms or signs. The signs and symptoms that are monitored by specialists while diagnosing are, your medical history, medical history of your parents etc.

Diagnostic Criteria For Depression

* For the diagnostic criteria of depression, a person has to exhibit five to six of the following symptoms for more than two weeks.
* Sadness, irritation, or anger whole day, you feel disturbed all the time.
* You might put on or loose significant amount of weight in only a few days.
* Your diet gets hugely affected; you might suffer from eating disorders as well.
* Loss of interest in all sorts of activities that gave you pleasure in the past. You would not even like to talk about your favorite activities.
* It has been noticed that people suffering from depression get easily retarded almost everyday. As a result of which sufferer is not able to perform daily duties, life gets completely slowed down.

Depression can also be expressed as apathy, or an inability to feel anything. Depression gets in the way of dieting, exercising, and even taking the medicines that can control diabetes. Depression is a chronic disorder and it has long term affects on a person life feelings associated with depression are not just over a specific event but are persistent and the person suffering from depression cannot just take over their feelings as they wish or like and get better.

Depression Symptoms

Major depression can occur once, as a result of a significant psychological trauma, respond to treatment, and never occur again within your lifetime. This would be a single episode depression. Some people tend to have recurring depression, with episodes of depression followed by periods of several years without depression, followed by another episode, usually in response to another trauma.

Depression is a state of mind where the person withdraws in to a shell, shuns the normal routine ways of life, gets irritated at every small things, refuses to face people and continues to remain alone and aloof. Depression is often caused by frequent failures in life, either small or large. Depression causes jealousy, sense of failure, dejection, a tendency for putting the blame on oneself, sleeplessness, unnecessary and unjustified fear, loss of confidence and many more symptoms.

The person may have feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and sadness. Feel exhausted a lot of the time with no energy. The last symptom is the person’s no response or reaction to the treatments given by the doctor Depressive disorders come in different forms. There are several different diagnoses for depression.

Diagnosis

Depression can simply be a reaction to monotony or a lack of control. Financial problems can also lead to depression, and so can moving or a loved one’s death. However, some people have genetic predispositions for depression. Chemical imbalances in the brain can lead to chronic depressed moods of varying degrees. Some hormonal changes can trigger depression, while other individuals’ depressive moods can be caused by seasonal cycles. It has been found that some physical illnesses can also lead to feelings of depression.

Proper diagnosis of depression or any other illness is the key to effective treatment and cure. If you suspect that you may be suffering from depression, just ask yourself two simple questions and answer them carefully and objectively.

1. In the last month, have you been lost interest or pleasure in doing things which you previously loved to do?

2. In the last month, have you been feeling down, depressed or hopeless?

Cause and risk factors

Scientists have not found a definitive cause for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and the onset of the disease has been linked to several factors, including: a virus; exposure to neurotoxins or heavy metals; DNA defects; immune system abnormalities; and enzyme abnormalities. Surgeries involving the spinal cord have also been thought to play a role in the onset of ALS due to the disruption of nerve fibers. There is a known hereditary factor in familial ALS (FALS); however, there is no known hereditary component in the 90-95% cases diagnosed as sporadic ALS.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating disorder of the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord and the motor cranial nuclei that leads to progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. Although major recent advances have shed light on its etiology, the key mechanisms in both familial and sporadic ALS remain unknown.

Symptoms

The onset of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis may be so subtle that the symptoms are frequently overlooked. The earliest symptoms may include twitching, cramping, or stiffness of muscles; muscle weakness affecting an arm or a leg; slurred and nasal speech; or difficulty chewing or swallowing. These general complaints then develop into more obvious weakness or atrophy that may cause a physician to suspect ALS.

The disease frequently begins in your hands, feet or limbs, and then spreads to other parts of your body. It eventually affects chewing, swallowing, speaking and breathing — which are known as bulbar functions after the bulb-shaped part of the brainstem that houses nerve cells controlling these functions. Less commonly, ALS begins with these bulbar symptoms. As the disease advances, your muscles become progressively weaker until they’re paralyzed.

Treatment

Treatment measures in patients with motor neuron diseases are largely supportive, treating the complications, such as infections and general health. The treatment of ALS is also directed toward suppressing the immune inflammation felt to play a role in the degeneration of the nervous system of these patients.

There is as yet no cure for ALS. Treatments are designed to relieve the symptoms and improve the quality of life for people with the disorder. Medications can help reduce fatigue, ease muscle cramps, and lessen pain. There is also a specific medication for ALS, called Rilutek (riluzole). It does not repair the damage already done to the body, but appears to be modestly effective in prolonging the survival of people with ALS. Through physical therapy, special equipment, and speech therapy, people with ALS can remain mobile and able to communicate.

Causes

Although the exact cause of Chiari malformation is unknown, it is thought that a problem during fetal development may cause the abnormal brain formation. Chiari malformation may be caused by exposure to harmful substances during fetal development or associated with genetic problems or syndromes that may have a tendency to run in families.

Symptoms

The brainstem, cranial nerves, and the lower portion of the cerebellum may be stretched or compressed. Therefore, any of the functions controlled by these areas may be affected. The blockage of Cerebro-Spinal Fluid (CSF) flow may also cause a syrinx to form, eventually leading to syringomyelia. Chiari is often associated with major headaches, sometimes mistaken for migraines. Chiari headaches usually include intense throbbing in the back of the head. Chiari also includes extreme muscle soreness and low energy levels. It also can cause a hoarseness in the voice.

Signs and symptoms usually start during infancy, although they can begin in adolescence or adulthood. Even when they’re less serious, as in the more common types I and II, signs and symptoms still can be problematic and life disrupting. Headaches, often severe, are the classic symptom of Chiari malformation. They are typically precipitated with sudden coughing, sneezing or straining.

Treatment

Surgical procedures to enlarge the posterior fossa are considered a treatment option for patients with the Chiari I Malformation. Techniques are quite diversified amongst neurosurgeons, and patient responses vary greatly. A successful surgery will alleviate pressure on the neural elements and may result in an improvement of symptoms. The decision to treat a Chiari Malformation surgically requires careful consultation between patient and physician. Factors to be considered are the patient’s current neurological condition and progression of symptoms over a period of time.

Most persons with Chiari should never have surgery, because in most instances symptoms remain minor and manageable. Surgical treatment is suboccipital decompression — this means removal of bone from the back of the skull to make more room for the brain. This treatment is best deferred until symptoms are significant.

Prognosis

The prognosis for Chiari malformation different depending on which type of malformation is present. Many people with Type I CMs are asymptomatic and don’t know about  the condition. Many patients with the more severe types of CMs  require  surgery  to  a reduce the  symptoms and expanded periods of relative constancy. Children with Type I malformation has corrective surgery which is highly effective to reduce symptoms related to compression of the brain, such as vision problems; headaches; difficulties with balance, coordination, and swallowing.

It is not clear what causes Oppositional Defiant Disorder. There are currently two theories. The developmental theory suggests that the persistent is really a result of incomplete development. For some reason, these children never complete the developmental tasks that normal children master during the toddler years. They get stuck in the 2-3 year old stage of child defiance and never really grow out of it.

No one knows for certain. The usual pattern is for problems to begin between ages 1-3. If you think about it, a lot of these behaviors are normal at age 2, but in this disorder they never go away. It does run in families. If a parent is alcoholic and has been in trouble with the law, their children are almost three times as likely to have ODD. That is, 18% of children will have ODD if the parents are alcoholic and the father has been in trouble with the law.

Symptoms

Diagnosis depends on symptoms lasting for at least six months. Oppositional Defiant Disorder is a pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior lasting at least six months, during which four (or more) of the following are present:

1. Often deliberately annoys people.
2. Often loses temper.
3. Is often touchy or easily annoyed by others.
4. Often argues with adults.

Diagnosis

As with adults, mental illnesses in children are diagnosed based on signs and symptoms that suggest a particular illness. If symptoms are present, the doctor will begin an evaluation by performing a complete medical history and physical examination. Although there are no laboratory tests to specifically diagnose ODD, the doctor may use various tests — such as X-rays and blood tests — to rule out physical illness or medication side effects as the cause of the symptoms. The doctor also will look for signs of other conditions that often occur along with ODD, such as ADHD and depression.

Treatment

There have been some recent studies that have examined the effects of certain medications on Oppositional Defiant Disorder. All the research is preliminary and just suggests that certain treatments may help. One study examined the use of Ritalin to treat children with both ADHD and ODD. This study found that 90% of the children treated with Ritalin no longer had the ODD by the end of the study.

There are a variety of approaches to the treatment of Oppositional Defiant Disorder, including parent training programs, individual psychotherapy, family therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and social skills training. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, treatments for ODD are tailored specifically to the individual child, and different treatments are used for pre-schoolers and adolescents.

Causes

There have been many theories to try to explain schizophrenia. The cause is not known, but certain factors have been found to be different in people who develop schizophrenia. Some of the possible factors are outlined below. The brain structure of people with schizophrenia may be abnormal.

Symptoms

A person with schizophrenia may not have any outward appearance of being ill. In other cases, the illness may be more apparent, causing bizarre behaviors. For example, a person with schizophrenia may wear aluminum foil in the belief that it will stop one’s thoughts from being broadcasted and protect against malicious waves entering the brain.

Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM, 1968) defines schizophrenia as a severe emotional disorder of psychotic depth, characteristically marked by a retreat from reality, delusion, hallucination, emotional disharmony and regressive behavior.

Treatment

Antipsychotic medication shortens the duration of psychosis in Schizophrenia, and prevents recurrences (but psychotic relapses can still occur under stress). Usually it takes years before individuals can accept that they have Schizophrenia and need medication. When individuals stop their antipsychotic medication, it may take months (or even years) before they suffer a psychotic relapse. Most, however, relapse within weeks. After each psychotic relapse there is increased intellectual impairment.

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a childhood neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and phonic (vocal) tics. It is often associated with behavior disorders, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These behavior disorders often accompany the tics and may dominate the clinical picture in some patients.

Causes

The exact cause of Tourette’s is unknown, but it is well established that both genetic and environmental factors are involved. Genetic studies have shown that the overwhelming majority of cases of Tourette’s are inherited, although the exact mode of inheritance is not yet known, and no gene has been identified. In some cases, tics may not be inherited; these cases are identified as “sporadic” Tourette syndrome (also known as tourettism) because a genetic link is missing.

Symptoms

Tourette’s Syndrome symptoms typically appear before the age of 18 and the condition occurs in all ethnic groups with males affected 3 to 4 times more often than females. Although the symptoms of TS vary from person to person and range from very mild to severe, the majority of cases fall into the mild category. Associated conditions can include attentional problems, impulsiveness and learning disabilities.

The general symptoms of Tourette Syndrome can be divided into motor, vocal, and behavioral manifestations. Though the behavioral manifestations are not essentially listed in the DSM as diagnostic criteria, there are those that believe behaviors like ADHD and OCD are common enough to be considered a co-morbid condition to Tourette Syndrome. The DSM does make note of this

Treatment

There is no cure for Tourette syndrome. Treatment involves the control of symptoms through educational and psychological interventions and/or medications. The treatment and management of Tourette syndrome varies from patient to patient and should focus on the alleviation of the symptoms that are most bothersome to the patient or that cause the most interference with daily functioning.

Prognosis

Although TS can be a chronic condition with symptoms lasting a lifetime, most people with the condition experience their worst symptoms in their early teens, with improvement occurring in the late teens and continuing into adulthood.  As a result, some individuals may actually become symptom free or no longer need medication for tic suppression.

Some anxiety is normal. Chronic, exaggerated worry is not. Everyone experiences some anxiety even on a daily basis. People with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) experience constant anxiety which often has no apparent cause. Learn more about GAD and what you can do about it. From your About Guide.

Causes

It is not yet known what causes GAD. Because Generalized Anxiety Disorder tends to run in families, it is possible that there is a genetic component, but it could also be that it is a learned response within a family. Modern brain scan technology may eventually help determine if there is a particular area of the brain that is the site of Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Symptoms

Excessive anxiety and worry (apprehensive expectation), occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, about a number of events or activities (such as work or school performance). The person finds it difficult to control the worry. The anxiety and worry are associated with three (or more) of the following six symptoms (with at least some symptoms present for more days than not for the past 6 months; children don’t need to meet as many criteria).

GAD sufferers may often feel light-headed or out of breath. They may also feel nauseated or have to go to the bathroom frequently. Generalized anxiety is constant and can cause anxiety / panic attacks during the day and night. Night time anxiety and panic attacks are especially disturbing and can often wake the sufferer from deep sleep feeling particularly frightened. Night time anxiety can be minimized with some practical steps which minimize the impact of such things as blood sugar level fluctuations during sleep.

Treatment

Psychotherapy, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is a key component of treatment for generalized anxiety disorder. Medication can also be used for generalized anxiety disorder treatment, either on its own or in combination with psychotherapy.

Behavioral therapy: Behavioral therapy focuses on using specific relaxation techniques to change anxiety-causing behaviors. For example, one technique trains patients in a special breathing exercise involving slow, deep breaths to reduce anxiety. This is necessary because people who are anxious often hyperventilate, taking rapid, shallow breaths that can trigger rapid heartbeat, lightheadedness, and other symptoms. Another technique—exposure therapy—gradually exposes patients to what frightens them and helps them cope with their fears.

Anyone can develop depression. But, treatment is effective in about 80% of identified cases, when treatment is provided. Psychotherapy and medication are the two primary treatment approaches. Antidepressant medications can make psychotherapy more effective, for some people. Someone who is too depressed to talk, for instance, can’t get much benefit from psychotherapy or counseling; but often, the right medication will improve symptoms so that the person can respond better.

Antidepressants are a relatively safe treatment option in otherwise healthy individuals being treated for depression. Like most prescribed (and some over-the-counter medications), antidepressants may cause mild, and usually temporary side effects in some people. Most of the time, side effects are mild, manageable and disappear over time. Common side effects include nausea, loose stools or constipation, dizziness, drowsiness, nervousness, sleep changes, dry mouth, headache and blurred vision.

Major types of antidepressants include:

* Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) are some of the first antidepressants used to treat depression. They primarily affect the levels of two chemical messengers (neurotransmitters), norepinephrine and serotonin, in the brain. Although these drugs are effective in treating depression, they have more side effects, so they usually aren’t the first drugs used.

* Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) There are three types of MAOIs, phenelzine,(Nardil) isocarboxazid and tranylcypromine, ( Parnate) and moclobemide. More information on MAOI

* Lexapro Oral: Escitalopram is an antidepressant (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor-SSRI) used to treat depression and anxiety. It works by restoring the balance of certain natural substances (neurotransmitters such as serotonin) in the brain. Escitalopram may improve your feelings of well-being and energy level and decrease nervousness.

* Celexa Oral: Citalopram is an antidepressant (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor-SSRI) used to treat depression. It works by restoring the balance of certain natural substances (neurotransmitters such as serotonin) in the brain. Citalopram may improve your feelings of well-being and energy level.

Medication vs. Therapy

While antidepressants may improve mood by boosting the “feel-good” chemicals in your brain, they don’t treat the actual cause of the depression. Because of this, relapse rates are high once drug treatment is stopped. In contrast, the emotional insights and coping skills acquired during therapy can have a more lasting effect on depression. A University of Pennsylvania study backs up this claim. It found that cognitive therapy works just as well as antidepressants and is more effective than medication in preventing relapse once treatment ends.

Causes

Cerebral palsy is a condition caused through lack of oxygen to the brain during pregnancy, during the delivery, or after the birth. One in four hundred babies is affected and the condition is not curable, but the difficulties experienced can be overcome in many cases.

Cerebral palsy may cause a number of symptoms, including seizures, spasms, visual and hearing problems, hyperactivity, and learning disorders. There is not a cure, however several therapies are available for the treatment of cerebral palsy. Although living with cerebral palsy can be difficult, it is certainly possible to be successful while coping with the disorder.

Symptoms

All types of CP are characterised by abnormal muscle tone, posture (i.e. slouching over while sitting), reflexes, or motor development and coordination. There can be joint and bone deformities and contractures (permanently fixed, tight muscles and joints). The classical symptoms are spasticity, spasms, other involuntary movements (e.g. facial gestures), unsteady gait, problems with balance, and/or soft tissue findings consisting largely of decreased muscle mass. Scissor walking (where the knees come in and cross) and toe walking are common among people with CP who are able to walk, but taken on the whole, CP symptomatology is very diverse.

Treatment

Cerebral palsy can’t be cured, but treatment will often improve a child’s capabilities.   Many children go on to enjoy near-normal adult lives if their disabilities are properly managed. In general, the earlier treatment begins the better chance children have of overcoming developmental disabilities or learning new ways to accomplish the tasks that challenge them.   Treatment may include physical and occupational therapy, speech therapy, drugs to control seizures, relax muscle spasms, and alleviate pain; surgery to correct anatomical abnormalities or release tight muscles; braces and other orthotic devices; wheelchairs and rolling walkers; and communication aids such as computers with attached voice synthesizers.