Benefits with The Local Choice

Welcome to another episode of our wellness podcast. I'm Mark DeFee and with me, is KC Schroder. We're both licensed therapists who focus on workplace mental health.

We're also pretty good friends so we're gonna have a little bit of fun. Maybe tell some stories but most importantly, we're gonna give you some great information to help you develop both personally and professionally. Does that sound good? All right! Let's dive in!

Hi everybody, welcome to another episode. I'm Mark and joining with me is KC. And today we are talking about depression. And depression isn't something that's just an American thing. It is a worldwide concern and it has only gotten worse during the pandemic so even before the pandemic, 264 million people worldwide had been depressed or diagnosed with depression. And so it's something that continues to get worse during the pandemic. And it's not talked about enough. I know we're starting to get more communication out there on a regular basis which is great. However, we also know it's a serious topic and we want people to want to continue listening so we're going to do it in a little bit of a fun format here. My co-host KC has been kind enough to agree to allow me to pepper her with some true or false questions to help us gain a little bit more understanding on depression and what we might do to either help ourselves or someone else in our life. So, KC how are you?

I'm doing good. I'm excited. I'm kind of like game-quiz ready here.

Game-quiz ready. I like it.

Aha.

With that in mind, let's dive in so these are all true or false statements. So, true or false: There is only one type of depression.

Definitely, false. There are several different types of depression. I mean just off the top of my head I'm thinking… Major depression, postpartum depression. There's kind of situational depression and I don't want to say minor depression but varying levels of depression. And not only are there different types but each person kind of experiences these different types of depression differently.

I agree I would add dysthymia in there, kind of that persistent…

Yeah, yes

…low-level depression but these all have similar characteristics or similar symptoms. Those feelings of overwhelming sadness or a loss of interest and things that normally bring us pleasure or interest us I guess. So, they all kind of tie into each other but you're right there are a number of different types of depression which will dictate the ways to approach addressing those issues and moving beyond them. So, KC there you go. You got the first one right. Number two. True or false: Women are more likely to be depressed than men.

Mmm, I think this is kind of a trick question to be quite honest because yes and no. I think that if you look at the statistics of the research you're going to find that a lot of different sources state that women do experience depression at a higher rate than males. I don't know if that's necessarily true because there's also research that indicates that females are more likely to report that they're feeling depressed and seek out treatment for depression than men are. So, this to me is kind of a true-ish fallacious. It depends on how you read the stats on it.

Yeah. And I like that answer. I agree with it as well it is something that needs to be taken with a grain of salt because even in utilization data we know that women access counseling at a much higher rate than men. And so they're open to disclosing that they're struggling with depression and they're probably also more able to recognize when they're feeling symptoms of depression because again women are usually more open to discussing it and seeking out care for it. So, I don't know if women actually are more depressed but they certainly do a better job of reaching out when they need help it seems like.

Yeah, for physical and mental health

Yeah, okay. So moving on from gender question. Number three. True or false: Your genes play a role in depression.

Oh, for sure true definitely. When I think about it, there are genes there's what I would think like major depression genes. If your parents or somebody in your gene lineage had some sort of behavioral health issue you're likelihood of getting that gene would be would be higher. And with depression, too. There's also physical ailments that are genetic that could make you more predisposed to depression as well. Maybe it's hormonal, maybe it is kind of the endocrine system or something of that nature but there are different physical elements that you are predisposed to genetically that can make you more likely to test.

All right. Are you ready for your fourth question?

I'm ready.

So, true or false. Talk therapy is better than medication to treat depression

Oh gosh, this is it's true-ish false-ish again [laughs]

Yes I agree.

You know what I mean? It's not a clear true, it's not a clear false and this is why I think like we were talking about before. There's different types of depression and people react to depression differently. There are certainly situations where medication is needed to kind of get to a baseline to even be able to have the energy for talk therapy. But there are definitely different situations, different types of people, different types of depression where talk therapy might be more beneficial than medication because of things like side effects and how open somebody is to talk therapy and things of that nature.

Yeah, I agree with all that and I think if someone had said that to me I would respond a lot like you would. I mean for me, talk therapy can hit at the core of issues and help change behaviors to keep people on the right track on a long term basis. But like you said, some people just have so little energy and motivation and desire to change that that medication gives them that boost so they can begin looking at themselves. So, both are needed and it's okay if someone realizes they need medication on top of therapy.

Absolutely.

Okay, so last question here True or false: Depression looks the same in children as it does in adults.

Definitely, false. I think when we think about kids and depression first I think it's important for us especially now where we do see the rates of depression and even despair in kids and teenagers rising. We have to acknowledge that children get depressed. And when kids get depressed it definitely looks a little bit different than it does in adults. A lot of times, they might be a little bit more psychosomatic in nature like they might complain more about physical ailments than because they don't have the words to say that they're not feeling right. They can't tell you that their belly aches but they might not be able to tell you it's because they are sad.

Yeah and talking about it, it takes a different approach, too. We have a almost three-year-old but we already talked to him about when he's feeling angry. "Are there moments where you feel frustrated?". "Yeah", and just helping him understand that it's okay to feel that way and we want him to tell us those things.

Yeah, I mean we have a feelings chart in my house with our small group…

Oh, that's a great idea.

…and it's basically just a magnet on the side of our refrigerator and it's got a smiley face or like a face on it and it's all different types of emojis. And then, they have the word underneath the face and they can simply just point to what they they're feeling.

Because I mean kids can't tell you. Some kids can -I shouldn't be that general- some kids are very articulate and they can connect the dots. But sometimes we have to realize that their feelings come out in very different ways than ours do because they don't have the words behind it.

Yeah, those are all great points. So thank you for allowing me to toss some questions your way today to our listeners. I know we took a lighthearted approach to this episode but this is a serious condition. So if you or someone you know is struggling with depression, please remember that there are resources available whether it's counseling or medication or both. You don't have to suffer with depression alone. We all just need to find the courage to seek out care when we need it. So, thank you everyone take care and be well.