How to stop using the Emergency Room as a Doctor's Visit

People find it to be a habit to use the ER as a M.D. Appointment in during off hours. The truth is urgent care centers give you the same treatment you can get in the ER. They can do the stitches and other services an ER can provide.

Depression Defined

Depression can be categorized by many different names. However, no matter what “type” of depression a person has, the symptoms and complications are all the same. You can have major depressive disorder, manic depression, postpartum depression, seasonal effective disorder, or a variety of others. Each type of depression has its own underlying causes, but each exhibits very similar symptoms.

Depression is a very serious medical condition. It can have a very negative impact on how a person feels. They may think negatively and they may withdraw from everyone in their life. People that have clinical depression do not have the ability to function and live their lives as they used to. They no longer enjoy activities that they have always found enjoyable. They may have very long periods of sadness or hopelessness.

Clinical depression is far different than have feelings of sadness or depression for a couple days and then finding your feeling better. Depression can have serious effects on body, mind, thoughts, and the way people behave. Eating patterns, feelings and thoughts, ability to study or work, and interactions with other people can all be affected by depression. The majority of people that are suffering from clinical depression say that they no longer feel like themselves.

Suffering from clinical depression is not a sign of personal weakness or a medical condition that can just be wished away. If a person is truly clinically depressed, they do not have the ability to get themselves together and get over the feelings and condition. Clinical depression can quite often interfere with the ability of a person to seek or want to get help. Clinical depression is a very serious medical condition that lasts for a period of weeks, months, and often even years. It can cause suffers to think about or try to commit suicide.

Depression does not discriminate in regards to its sufferers. People that have depression can be any age, any gender, ethnicity, culture, or religious affiliation. Every year more than 17 million Americans, both men and women, are affected by depression. Clinical depression is a very common medical disorder. However, it is quite often not recognized or goes untreated or undiagnosed.

There are many different types and levels of depression. Depression is diagnosed and treated by psychiatrists and mental health counselors who are trained for this. People that have depression can feel better and get back to their normal lives within a few months if they receive the right treatments. The majority of sufferers start feeling better within a matter of weeks.

Most often, treatment for depression can be done on an outpatient basis. Treatment can include a combination of medications and therapy or counseling. In some severe cases, sufferers may require inpatient treatment. They may need to spend some time in the hospital where they can be closely monitored and watched. One of the most common reasons for inpatient treatment or hospitalization in relation to depression is due to thoughts or attempts of suicide. Close monitoring and medication and intensive therapy are often needed in these situations. Most inpatients are feeling better and able to function outside of the hospital within a few weeks time.

Alcohol Abuse And Depression

Research has shown that up to ten percent of depressed people also abuse alcohol. Many people abuse alcohol when depressed because it makes the sad feelings go away. However this is only a temporary “fix”.  People abusing alcohol think they are treating their depression when in fact large amounts of alcohol can actually worsen the illness.

Depressed people do not realize that the more times they drink alcohol, the more they are increasing their tolerance levels to alcohol. This then requires even more alcohol to induce the same feelings of relative happiness that the first few drinks used to achieve. This is how alcohol can become addictive and gets to the abuse stage.



Unfortunately both depression and alcohol abuse are more common than ever before. While 10% of depressed people also abuse alcohol, up to 40% of alcohol abusers show signs of depression. These numbers are growing every day. These numbers keep growing as more and more people become addicted to alcohol and/ or become depressed due to the increasing levels of stress in today’s’ world.

Often the symptoms of alcohol abuse and depression can be interchanged. Both illnesses show changes in behavior such as becoming increasingly impulsive, increasing acts of violence and aggression, increasing isolating tendencies, and impaired judgment.

Both illnesses can lead to problems in the marriage and result in the breakdown of the family. One must also be concerned with the fact that depressed people are more likely to cause accidents within the home. There is also an increased link between alcohol abuse, depression and suicide. This is really a cause for concern for these individuals.

Research also indicates that the abuse of alcohol can be genetic. Children of alcoholic parents are much more likely to suffer from alcoholism themselves. Their alcohol tolerance levels are much higher than the average child the same age.

The same research indicates that alcohol abuse affects chemicals in the brain. These chemicals affect the way the brain processes information. Depression is also immediately inherited from parents to child, as well as from relatives.   

Trying to determine if an individual is depressed, abusing alcohol or both is difficult. Many of the symptoms are the same for each illness. Insomnia, waking up frequently, poor appetite, sleepiness, and feelings of disorientation are symptoms of both illnesses.

To complicate the situation, many people who abuse alcohol become depressed over time. Doctors will first treat the alcoholism and see if the person’s mood improves; if it does not then they will treat the depression.
Alcohol is in a set of drugs known as sedative hypnotics. Other drugs in this category are tranquilizers.

Many depressed people, especially young adults, abuse other drugs as well as alcohol. Some of the antidepressant medications on the market today also contain a sedative. Thus if combined with alcohol, the person becomes severely sedated and can even stop breathing.

The danger of combining alcohol with drug treatment for depression is one doctors know well. This is why they tend to treat the alcoholism before the depression.