"Alcohol including wine, beer, and hard liquoror street drugs may reduce the effectiveness of antidepressants and should be avoided."

"As with other serious illnesses, such as HIV, heart disease, or stroke, cancer can be accompanied by depression, which can affect mind, mood, body and behavior."

Co Occurrence of Depression with Other Illnesses


Depression can coexist with other illnesses. In such cases, it is important that the depression and each co occurring illness be appropriately diagnosed and treated.

Research has shown that anxiety disorderswhich include post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, and generalized anxiety disordercommonly accompany depression. Depression is especially prevalent among people with PTSD, a debilitating condition that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that can trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults such as rape or mugging, natural disasters, accidents, terrorism, and military combat. PTSD symptoms include: re experiencing the traumatic event in the form of flashback episodes, memories, or nightmares; emotional numbness; sleep disturbances; irritability; outbursts of anger; intense guilt; and avoidance of any reminders or thoughts of the ordeal. In one NIMH supported study, more than 40 percent of people with PTSD also had depression when evaluated at one month and four months following the traumatic event.

Substance use disorders (abuse or dependence) also frequently co occur with depressive disorders.5,6 Research has revealed that people with alcoholism are almost twice as likely as those without alcoholism to also suffer from major depression.6 In addition, more than half of people with bipolar disorder type I (with severe mania) have a co occurring substance use disorder.

Depression has been found to occur at a higher rate among people who have other serious illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, HIV, diabetes, and Parkinsons. Symptoms of depression are sometimes mistaken for inevitable accompaniments to these other illnesses. However, research has shown that the co occurring depression can and should be treated, and that in many cases treating the depression can also improve the outcome of the other illness.

"Cognitive/behavioral therapists help patients change the negative styles of thinking and behaving often associated with depression."

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"Sometimes the doctor will try a variety of antidepressants before finding the most effective medication or combination of medications."

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"Some clinicians treating men with antidepressant associated sexual dysfunction report improvement with the addition of bupropion (Wellbutrin) or sildenafil (Viagra) to ongoing treatment."

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"Depressive disorders make one feel exhausted, worthless, helpless, and hopeless and it is important to realize that these negative views are part of the depression and typically do not accurately reflect the actual circumstances."

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"While there is no evidence to support a causal role for depression in cancer, depression may impact the course of the disease and a person's ability to participate in treatment."

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"The doctor should check regularly the dosage of each medicine and its effectiveness."