48-year-old singer Coco Lee passed away. Why are women more prone to depression than men? Check yourself for depression with these three symptoms

On July 5, Hong Kong singer Coco Lee's sister Li Silin posted a message saying that Coco Lee unfortunately suffered from depression a few years ago and committed suicide at home on July 2. After the hospital team's efforts to rescue and treat her, she was eventually unable to recover and passed away on July 5.

On July 2, the day Coco Lee committed suicide, she left a 40-second voice message to her fans saying, "I feel everyone's love and support for me, and you are my backer, I will do my best. During this time, I hope you are healthy and happy. I miss you all very much, I will work harder, miss you and love you."

The news of Coco Lee's death came too suddenly. Many fans and netizens expressed their unwillingness to believe it on social media platforms: "She loved to laugh so much, why did she suffer from depression?"

At least 3 out of 100 people suffer from depression.

According to CCTV reports, depression is becoming the second largest "killer" of humans after cancer, with an estimated 350 million people suffering from the disease worldwide.

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There are about 54 million patients in China, which means at least 3 out of 100 people suffer from depression, but only 2%-5% of them receive treatment. With the rapid development of economy and society, the pace of life has obviously accelerated, and mental disorders such as depression have become more common.

Jiang Tao, chief physician of the psychiatry department of Beijing Anding Hospital, said that the pathogenesis of depression is still difficult to grasp. It is generally believed that it is caused by social, biological and psychological factors. Sleep disorders, emotional loss, broken love, divorce, and widowhood are all huge causes of depression. Despite this, don't be afraid or resist. Be sure to receive treatment in time to control the condition.

What is "smiling depression"?

"Smiling depression" is not a clinical diagnosis, but a popular term. It refers to when a person with depression hides his or her depressed side, wearing a mask of smile, making people think that he or she is living a happy life, making the depressive symptoms more difficult to detect. Because most people have a stereotype about depression, they think that people with depression are depressed and have no interest in life. But in fact, these are just one of the symptoms of depression, not every depressed patient is pessimistic.

Women are more likely to suffer from depression than men

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Women are more likely to suffer from depression than men. Epidemiological data show that the proportion of women suffering from depression is higher than that of men, about 2:1. Middle-aged housewives aged 30-50, especially full-time housewives without jobs, are a high-risk group. Their marriages are more likely to have problems and their social circles are small.

On the one hand, it is because women are more delicate psychologically, prone to lack of self-confidence and sentimentality; on the other hand, physiologically, problems such as menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause can also bring greater psychological pressure to women.

Therefore, women need to be more vigilant about depression.

How do you know if you have depression?

The core symptoms of depression are:

(1) Depressed mood lasting for more than 2 weeks: feeling sad, pessimistic and hopeless, feeling that life is meaningless, depressed, and unable to extricate oneself from painful emotions. Symptoms such as anxiety, irritability and nervousness may also occur;

(2) Lack of interest: To put it simply, things that were previously considered interesting are now considered boring. You have no interest in doing them and don’t want to do them. This often manifests itself in alienating yourself from friends and family and avoiding socializing.

(3) Loss of pleasure: This is the inability to experience pleasure in life. This is mainly manifested in the emotional aspect. First, the inability to express emotions. Simply put, one is not happy when one should be happy, nor sad when one should be sad. The second is the inability to express emotions. One is the ability to experience emotions, but is unable to express them through words or actions.

The above three symptoms may occur together and cause each other, but they may also occur to varying degrees.

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Depression may also have some additional symptoms:

(1) Psychological symptoms: anxiety (tension, difficulty concentrating, poor memory, sensitivity, chest tightness, breathing difficulties, headache, tremors, etc.), excessive self-blame, hallucinations or delusions, suicidal thoughts, slow thinking, and lack of clear awareness of one's current state;

(2) Physical symptoms: difficulty falling asleep or waking up early (one or two hours earlier), decreased appetite (weight loss of 5% in a month), decreased libido, persistent fatigue, deeper depression in the morning, etc.

Even self-testing tools that have been scientifically tested and proven can only assess the severity of symptoms and cannot be used for diagnosis. Diagnosis must be made by a doctor. Therefore, if you find yourself with a tendency to depression, you should go to a regular hospital for diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

What are the current methods for coping with and treating depression?

There are three main treatments for depression, and the most important one is medication, namely antidepressant medication. Li Zhanjiang, deputy director of Beijing Anding Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, said that at present, antidepressant medication is developing very fast, and there are many effective and less side-effect drugs for depression treatment. Therefore, medication is a very important means of treating depression.

According to big data statistics, the overall cure rate for the first treatment with antidepressants is around 60%-70%.

In addition, there are auxiliary treatments, including psychotherapy, physical therapy, music therapy, electrical stimulation therapy, light therapy, etc. The treatment of depression is determined by genetic characteristics. Mild depression does not require medication and can be recovered through psychotherapy and physical exercise. Depression above moderate must be treated with medication and receive systematic treatment.