Physical Symptoms Of Clinical Depression, Depression and weight loss/gain
Q.Why cant I get through to anyone. The discussion about weight gain as a typical or not typical symptom was of the broad category of "Clinical depression". Because one symptom is typical or atypical of one or two particular sub categories does not mean the same can be said about the broad category which contains many forms of depression.
A.You missed out on a major part of this discussion. The fact that people have experienced a given symptom of an illness says nothing about how common that symptom is. I posted before about how when I was a teenager I had some problems with two fingernails and was diagnosed with psoriasis. Now suppose that someone had posted here that psoriasis on the nails is an unusual presentation of the disease. On the basis solely of my experience, you would have me argue that that's not true. As it turns out, psoriasis on the nails afflicts only around 10% of psoriasis sufferers and my experience would have been, of course, meaningless as an indication of how common that symptom is in psoriasis patients in general. I can think of dozens of examples along the same lines. Well, not quite the same, is it? If you have a symptom that you know affects only 10% of the people who have the same condition, then I would agree with you that that particular symptom is not a very guide indication that the condition exists. But in the case of clinical depression and weight gain, no source has said that it is present in a small percentage of cases. Several respected sources (and Barbaras DSM is *the* psychiatric sourcebook; nothing else carries anything like its weight as a psychiatric authority. Its numbered categories of mental illness are the standard used by every mental health agency that deals with Blue Cross or any other major insurance company) have listed weight gain or weight loss as a symptom of major depressive illness without warning that weight loss is not often seen. I understand your point about wanting doctors to not disregard weight gain as a possible symptom, but really, Maggie, if it were truly *atypical* of depression I doubt very much that it would be mentioned at all. Has anyone here reported weight loss as a symptom of clinical depression? I suffered weight loss as a result of depression, but it was related to an unhappy event, not clinical depression at all. I think weight loss in reaction to some personal catastrophe (as distinct from genuine clinical depression) is much more common than it is in real depression. I literally could not eat, I was so saddened. But I got over it with time, no treatment necessary, so it was clearly situational. I must admit,that most clinically depressed people I've had contact with and I'd number them in the thousands, gain weight unless they become anorexic or bulimic which is a whole different ball game. And the bulimics that I know, gain enourmous amounts of weight when they stop vomiting or taking laxatives. Ive also known people who have lost a lot of weight who are diagnosed with one form or another of clinically depression. I just dont run into them that often. Ive never met someone with Major Depressive Disorder because by and large they keep to themselves and/or are hospitalized. But I do know they dont have any interest in eating and do lose weight.
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