Does depression also effect your short term memory?!
Question: I have depression (I think) and it's got to the point where I'm beginning to forget simple tasks at home and work. Coincedence? I'm only 33 years old.
Answers:
Depression can so preoccupy your mind, there isn't much room left to store simple data.
Memory issues are also a symptom of fibromyalgia- as is depression. If you also suffer from body pain, that would be worth looking in to.
Other Answers:
Yes it does,I don't think their is any bodily function that depression does not interfere with.
It is a relatively common symptom. You should be asking these questions to proffesionals who can help you make judgements about your condition. I wouldn't trust all, or even most, of the medical or psychiatric advise I see on this services. There are some well meaning people. It's just not that easy to find them amongst the blizzard of questions and answers.
Yes it absolutely does. Short term memory is dependent on the will, so if there's a "sickness of the will", it follows that anything dependent on that won't be of service. Plus from a clinical point of view, the lack of energy caused by depression affects the "CPU-hungry" functions like short-term memory.
This will sound stupid to you, but the time I suffered a period of horrendous depression was cured by eating mango (and other fruits) for several days, plus sleeping. I am totally convinced that depression is more than 80% physiological and it can be greatly helped by a fruit diet.
Depression is not something that happens.
Depression is something you create.
You are the one controling your emotions.
I often found myself "cured" from depression by thinking positive thoughs. If I was put down (work, social, whatever) I would think of it as a minor setback and think about the times I was praised, and the people that praised me are of more value to me.
In other words: Positive is greater then negative.
We all have different methods of coping with our depressions, that's just mine.
If you have a chronic depression (divorce, etc) you might need to seek help because often there is nothing you can get from divorce, only loose.
Here's a dictionary definition of depression:
"A psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, anhedonia, feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death. Also called clinical depression."
That's from the Houghton Mifflin dictionary on Yahoo.
("anhedonia" is a fancy word for absence of pleasure or an inability to feel it).
Depression is NOT an illness that pounces on you.
The root cause is being connected to someone who opposes your survival or someone who reminds you of another who used to oppose it. By going into agreement with their opposition, we tend to neglect the things which make us happy (opposite of depressed).
The cliche of "happiness is a journey not a destination" is, unfortunately, gruesomely true. We set goals or have dreams and someone opposes them or
makes nothing of them. You quickly or gradually agree that the goal is not worthwhile, impossible or whatever and the next thing you know you have no destination and so no journey. It almost always is then followed by a neglect of health in not sleeping eating or exercising enough to maintain health and all too frequently leading to substance abuse. Under "substance abuse" you would be wise to include psychotropic medicines given because you have "an imbalance of chemicals in your brain". An imbalance would be caused by the neglects or abuses already mentioned. Brain chemical balance changes constantly. As your body obviously consists of what you ingest and do not eliminate; eating, sleep and exercise obviously regulate your brain chemicals.
Memory is affected by both a poor state of mind and neglect of the health factors mentioned.
Imbalanced brain chemicals, like unhappiness or depression are eventual symptoms of denying your goals (and thus your journey) by going into agreement with those who oppose them openly or subtly. These can be "friends" who do it "for your own good" -- if you are artistic you will frequently be a magnet for this type of person.
Source(s):
Life observation.
When individuals are depressed, then the body releases stress hormones. These hormones (when released over a long period of time) often have a deleterious effect on the hypothalamus, which is the short-term memory center in the brain. Indeed, there is even such thing as "pseudodementia," which presents similarly to Alzheimer's disease, but clears up when the individual enters counseling or starts on antidepressants.
If you believe you may be depressed, I encourage you to ask your primary care physician for a referral to a psychologist. Therapy has been shown to be effective in treating depression. If you are in need of quicker remission of symptoms, then consult a psychiatrist (not your primary care physician) about starting on antidepressants. Psychiatrists are much more knowledgeable and up-to-date on the latest research regarding these medications. However, only therapy can lead to long-term remission of symptoms. Antidepressants only work so long as you are on them.
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