D'Amore is Now an Approved Treatment Provider for Kaiser
Depression reaches into every corner of the lives it affects. D’Amore Mental Health develops specialized treatment plans to address every facet of our patients’ mental wellbeing. We don’t merely treat the symptoms of depression, but its roots and causes as well. Our customized strategy provides stabilization, a foundation for mental wellness, and the beginning of freedom from depression.
D’Amore Healthcare™ examines your entire medical and psychological history, and our professional and compassionate staff is prepared to provide you with the best possible combination of treatment modalities. As a result, you will acquire new patterns of behavior and thinking, creating healthy habits in the process. At our Southern California Depression Treatment Center in Orange County, our patients learn to live vigorous, independent lives with their diagnoses.
D’Amore Healthcare™ is ready to show you a new way of living. Our well-trained and kind-hearted staff is on call and ready to help you 24 hours a day, year-round, to get you started on a personalized treatment plan of care with therapeutic modalities to ensure your mental wellness. We believe you are worth it, so call us anytime!
D’Amore Healthcare is a mental health treatment center for adult men and women specializing in the intervention, acute stabilization, and residential treatment of depression. Our mental health facility is located in Orange County, California.
It is common to hear people talk about being depressed, but depression should not be confused with mere sadness, depression is overwhelming, and those suffering from it often have difficulty even getting out of bed to face the day.
Clinical Depression, sometimes called Major Depressive Disorder, is a mental health disorder that is characterized by a low mood lasting two weeks or longer. This mood may include anhedonia, or a loss of enjoyment in previously pleasurable activities, low self-esteem, fatigue, and unexplained aches and pains.
An estimated 3% of the world’s population suffered from a depressive episode in one single year. That’s over 200 million people! Furthermore, 2 to 8% of those adults will commit suicide. If you or a loved one is considering the idea of attempting suicide, please look into our Psychiatric Residential Treatment Program for Suicide Prevention.
A doctor or a mental health professional can make a Clinical Depression diagnosis based on a patient’s symptoms. Depression can manifest itself through different symptoms in different people. Typically, patients suffering from depression will suffer from at least one of the following symptoms per day for longer than two weeks.
People with a family history of clinical depression are predisposed to Major Depressive Disorder. The combination of genetic predisposition and environmental stress can trigger Major Depression in an individual. There isn’t a single cause of MDD, but there are some factors that can increase the risk of developing the disorder. Certain medications, particularly ones that contain steroids, can cause a person to experience depression.
Similarly, some medical conditions that affect hormone production like hypothyroidism and cancer can cause symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder. Other conditions like Anxiety and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) put people at risk for developing clinical depression. Drug and Alcohol abuse has also been tied to Major Depressive Disorder. Studies have shown that approximately 60% of people with a history of depression also have a history of substance abuse disorders that requires addiction treatment.
Often, depression is caused by life circumstances or trauma. If a person has a dramatic shift in their life, it can send them into depression. If a person experiences a change in their relationship, profession, location, or financial status, these new life circumstances can lead to a period of intense depression. When someone experiences trauma, especially at a young age, they can be at an increased risk for depression. These instances alter how a person’s brain responds to fear or stressful situations. These behavior shifts and heightened responses can result in a person suffering from depression, even years after the initial instance of trauma occurred.
When a person is depressed, it can be hard for them to get motivated. This is especially troublesome when they need to get motivated to solve their problems with depression. Often someone suffering from depression will find it difficult to reach out and ask for assistance. They may not want to admit that they need help to rise out of their despair. In some cases, a person may not even realize that they are in a prolonged state of depression.
However, even the most severe cases of depression are treatable. D’Amore offers a combination of evidence-based psychotherapy with medication management and holistic treatments to help a person suffering from depression make healthy changes to live a life free from the shackles of depression. At D’Amore, we are committed to finding the right treatment for each individual. We provide a full spectrum of therapeutic modalities so that we can design a treatment plan to fit each of our patient’s unique needs.
It can be heartbreaking to watch a loved one struggle and not know how to help them. When a friend or family member is depressed, the people around them can feel helpless, frustrated, angry, fearful, guilty, and sad. These feelings can become so overwhelming that the person close to the depressed individual can begin to neglect their own health and become almost indistinguishable from the depressed person themselves.
The support of a loved one is crucial to the recovery of a person dealing with Major Depressive Disorder. The best way to help a loved one deal with depression is to learn as much as possible about the disorder. Friends and family members are often the first to notice symptoms of depression, so it is crucial that they know what to look for and be familiar with common treatments for these symptoms.
A loved one’s support is often the catalyst for getting a depressive person into treatment for their disorder. It is important to listen to their feelings and fears and guide them into making positive changes. With the help of a friend or family member, depression can be overcome. A person who has lost the will to live can learn to deal with negative thoughts in a healthy way, regain their motivation, and find joy in life again.
One of the most difficult things to do when a loved one is suffering from depression is to talk to them about what they are going through. Bringing up the topic can make the depressed person defensive or shut down completely. Their mental health disorder may make them think that they are being judged or being yelled at when their loved one is merely trying to help. The following are some helpful ways to begin a discussion about depression.
Clinical depression is a serious condition that negatively affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. In contrast to normal sadness, clinical depression is persistent, often interferes with a person’s ability to experience or anticipate pleasure, and significantly interferes with functioning in daily life. Untreated, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years; and if inadequately treated, depression can lead to significant impairment, other health-related issues, and in rare cases, suicide.
The first step to being diagnosed is to visit a doctor for a medical evaluation. Certain medications, and some medical conditions such as thyroid disorder, can cause similar symptoms as depression. A doctor can rule out these possibilities by conducting a physical examination, interview and lab tests. If the doctor eliminates a medical condition as a cause, he or she can implement treatment or refer the patient to a mental health professional.
Depression is twice as common among women as among men. About 20 percent of women will experience at least one episode of depression across their lifetime. Scientists are examining many potential causes for and contributing factors to women’s increased risk for depression. Biological, life cycle, hormonal and psychosocial factors unique to women may be linked to women’s higher depression rates. Researchers have shown, for example, that hormones affect brain chemistry, impacting emotions and mood.
Before adolescence, girls and boys experience depression at about the same frequency. By adolescence, however, girls become more likely to experience depression than boys. Research points to several possible reasons for this imbalance. The biological and hormonal changes that occur during puberty likely contribute to the sharp increase in rates of depression among adolescent girls. In addition, research has suggested that girls are more likely than boys to continue feeling bad after experiencing difficult situations or events, suggesting they are more prone to depression.
Women are particularly vulnerable to depression after giving birth, when hormonal and physical changes and the new responsibility of caring for a newborn can be overwhelming. Many new mothers experience a brief episode of mild mood changes known as the “baby blues.” These symptoms usually dissipate by the 10th day. PPD lasts much longer than 10 days, and can go on for months following child birth. Acute PPD is a much more serious condition that requires active treatment and emotional support for the new mother. Some studies suggest that women who experience PPD often have had prior depressive episodes.
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is a term used in clinical psychiatry to describe cases of major depressive disorder that do not respond to standard treatments (at least two courses of antidepressant treatments). For many people, antidepressant treatment and/or ‘talk’ therapy (such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) ease symptoms of depression, but with treatment-resistant depression, little to no relief is realized. Treatment-resistant depression symptoms can range from mild to severe and may require trying a number of approaches to identify what helps. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Originally developed as an anesthetic, ketamine and its derivative, esketamine, are known for their rapid antidepressant effects in patients who have not benefited from conventional antidepressants. While the exact mechanism of action remains elusive, current research suggests that these drugs interact with a variety of receptors, rather than solely antagonizing the NMDA receptors. This multi-receptor affinity may trigger a cascade of effects that work synergistically to alleviate symptoms of depression. This broader understanding of their pharmacological activity is driving research towards discovering new therapeutic targets that could offer safer, longer-lasting treatments for depression.
Jamie Mantel is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, with a Psy.D. in psychology. Jamie has worked for non-profits for over 20 years working with agencies, as well as her private practice in Huntington Beach, California.
