95% of suicides can be avoided through psychological intervention or timely rescue

September 10th is the 19th World Suicide Prevention Day. According to statistics from the World Health Organization, more than 800,000 people die from suicide every year, which is equivalent to one person dying from suicide every 40 seconds. There are nearly 30 million people with depression in my country, and most of these patients have suicidal thoughts. Early identification and timely standardized treatment can improve the prognosis of depression to the greatest extent.

A few days ago, a young girl wanted to jump from the 8th floor rooftop due to emotional problems. It was found that she had severe depression. Li, 26, from Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, was suspected of suffering from depression and did not like to communicate with others. Recently, due to work pressure, she bought a bottle of pesticide and drove into the mountains alone, preparing to commit suicide. In recent years, "depression" and "suicide" incidents have occurred from time to time, and many people have even reached the point of being afraid of "depression". So, can people really be depressed to the point of committing suicide? How to help people around you who are depressed?

Depression ≠ Depression

We ourselves, as well as the people around us, often say, "I'm very unhappy lately" or "I feel depressed."... Does being unhappy mean you have depression?

"In life, eight out of ten things go wrong." Life is full of setbacks and failures, big and small, and we will show sadness, pain, and even despair. This series of unhappy emotions is often understood by everyone as depression. In fact, this short-term unhappiness is depression. Depression is a negative emotion that many people have experienced. It is also a normal and natural psychological phenomenon. Depression is not terrible. There will always be some unpleasant things in life. You can't classify occasional low mood as depression.

In fact, depression is fundamentally different from a general "bad mood". It has obvious characteristics of low mood, slow thinking and motor inhibition. Low mood means that you can't be happy, always feel sad, or even pessimistic and desperate; slow thinking means that you feel that your brain is not working well, you can't remember things, and it's difficult to think about problems; motor inhibition means that you don't like to move, feel lazy, walk slowly, and talk less. In severe cases, you may not eat or move, and can't take care of yourself.

Patients with latent depression often do not have typical symptoms such as low mood, but mainly suffer from physical discomfort. Its characteristic is that although there are many symptoms, headaches and insomnia are the main ones, especially the tendency to wake up early. In addition, there is a circadian rhythm of heavier symptoms during the day and lighter symptoms at night, as well as a seasonal pattern of heavier symptoms in spring and autumn and lighter symptoms in summer.

More than half of people with depression have suicidal tendencies

The characteristics of depression are mainly reflected in "three highs and two lows". The three highs are high prevalence, with the prevalence of affective disorders in my country at 6.2%; high recurrence rate, with 90% of patients experiencing a second or third recurrence after their first episode of depression, and about 75%-85% of patients experiencing a recurrence within five years; and high suicide rate, with a lifetime risk of suicide death of depression at around 10%. If approximately 1 in 10 patients with depression do not receive timely and effective treatment, they will be at risk of suicide or death.

In contrast to the "three highs" are low identification and treatment rates. Currently, the identification and treatment rates of depression are less than 10%.

Surveys show that more than half of patients with depression have suicidal thoughts. Most suicides among patients with latent depression occur in spring and autumn.

"Depression is one of the main causes of suicide. 15% of patients with severe depression have attempted suicide." According to statistics from the World Health Organization, the ratio of successful suicides to attempted suicides is approximately 1 to 20. At least 95% of suicides can be avoided through early psychological intervention or timely rescue.

Doctors, relatives and society form a "therapeutic alliance"

Patients with depression do not like to talk about their condition and are very sensitive. So when you get along with them, you should first treat them as ordinary people. You can take them to read books, take a walk, eat, chat, bask in the sun, and participate in some activities that do not involve intense exercise or competition. Because many antidepressants have a sedative effect, they will greatly reduce the patient's physical strength, and competitive activities are easy to make losers feel depressed. If he doesn't want to talk, just accompany him quietly and don't force him to talk.

If a depressed patient is found to have suicidal tendencies, he should be taken to a psychiatrist for help in a timely manner. Early diagnosis and timely treatment can often avoid terrible consequences. When a patient has obvious suicidal tendencies, psychological comfort and persuasion alone are not enough. Active drug treatment is very important.

There is an effective medical treatment system for depression, and 80% of patients with depression can recover through treatment. But what cannot be ignored is that after discharge, the recovery of social functions is another hurdle for patients with depression to return to normal life. When cured patients return to their previous living environment, they need to rebuild their original values, reduce the source of depression, and prevent recurrence in the long run. This requires not only doctors, but also a "treatment alliance" composed of family members and society. Simply put, what is more terrifying than depression is people's ignorance, fear and avoidance of it, and what family members and friends need to do is to refuse discrimination and give them understanding and care.