You might not know it but your cold, flu, joint aches, headaches and even chronic illness could be covering up deeper health issues. What you might consider body aches and pains associated with a physical illness may be masking depression without you even realising it. Learn how to recognise masked depression; its risks and causes.
Is it physical or psychological?
When your body aches and you feel like you’re in constant pain, the last thing you want to be told is that it’s all in your head. Unfortunately with masked depression, the problem may not really lie in your physical ailments at all.
The symptoms begin as physical problems; many of them common illnesses such as stomach aches, back pain and headaches, because of these common health issues, depression may go unnoticed and untreated for years.
Potential depression risks
Depression left untreated can cause a downward spiral in a person’s life. Health issues that mask depression can often cause confusion among doctors who are trying to treat the problems as a medical ailment and not a physiological one. Left untreated, depression can become so severe that a person is completely unable to function, resulting in clinical depression or in worst case scenario suicide.
Most depressions can be treated with talk therapy and antidepressants but until a proper diagnosis is made, your physician could be treating the physical symptoms and not the real problem.
Serotonin: a hidden cause of common health issues
Drops in serotonin levels can have a number of effects on your mind as well as your body. You already know that serotonin helps control your moods but are you aware that it also regulates pain?
A drop in serotonin can leave you feeling sad, dejected and blue but it can also cause areas of your body to experience physical pain thus resulting in a number of common health issues. People who experience a drop in serotonin levels and experience any number of combined health problems without any real cause for the ailments, are often dismissed as being a hypochondriac.
Depression is often difficult to treat and diagnose. It’s important to speak to your doctor not only about your physical wellbeing but your mental state as well. If an authentic cause cannot be found for your physical ailments, discuss with your doctor the possibility that your common health issues are masking depression. Discovering and treating depression early on can help you live a more fulfilling and pain free life.
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