Eating disorder health problems and complications are more common, and more deadly, than many people think. Both anorexia and bulimia can cause serious eating disorder health problems including heart failure and rupturing of the intestinal area, either of which can result in death.

Unfortunately, because eating disorders are constantly glamorized by society, many aren't even aware of the internal and external eating disorder health problems that inevitably occur from these mental illnesses. Hopefully, this list of eating disorder health problems will help you, or someone you know, see why it's important to get help for an eating disorder as soon as possible.

Eating Disorder Health Problems From Anorexia

Eating disorder complications exist in all parts of the body of an anorexic. These eating disorder health problems can be life-long and possibly lethal.

Anorexia and the Heart

• Bradycardia: Slow/irregular heartbeat
• Dysrhythmia: Heart out of rhythm; an extremely serious eating disorder complication; can cause sudden death
• Decreased cardiac muscle, mass chamber size, and output: Often leading to cardiac arrest

Anorexia and the Blood

• Anemia: Insufficient iron in the blood; causes fatigue and frequent bruising
• Acidosis: Blood becomes too acidic; can cause internal damage
• Hypocalcaemia: Low blood glucose levels from low weight and malnutrition; can cause seizures
• Hypokalemia: Deficiency of potassium; can result in diminished reflexes, fatigue, and cardiac arrhythmias

Anorexia and Digestion

• Dental erosion: From calcium depletion
• Delayed gastric emptying (gastroparesis): Stomach takes too long to empty its contents due to weakened stomach and intestine muscles; can cause bacterial overgrowth or obstruction in the stomach
• Diarrhea: From delayed gastric emptying or laxative abuse
• Dehydration
• Ulcers
• Urinary tract infections: Also bladder infections; caused by decreased fluid intake

Anorexia and the Body as a Whole

• Thermoregulatory problems: Due to the decrease in body fat or electrolyte imbalance
• Decreased eye movement
• Insomnia: Mostly due to electrolytic and hormonal imbalances
• Osteoporosis: Bones weakened due to lack of calcium; make bones susceptible to damage
• Edema: Water retention imbalance causing feet and hands to swell
• Amenorrhea: Menstruation stops or does not start
• Lanugo: Soft downy hair/fur, mostly found on chest and arms, produced by the body in an attempt to trap heat; due to lack of body fat
• Dry skin
• Brittle nails
• Hair that is weak or falls out

Take the anorexia test and how to get treatment for anorexia.

Eating Disorder Health Problems From Bulimia

Eating disorder complications from bulimia can run the gamut from dental troubles to life-threatening, even fatal, medical conditions if these eating disorder health problems get out of hand.

Bulimia and Digestion

• Dental erosion: Intestinal acid that digests our food is vomited along with stomach contents, wearing away the enamel of the teeth; causes cavities and decay
• Paratoid swelling: Glands in the throat and mouth become irritated and swell
• Esophageal tears: Vomiting thins and weakens stomach lining eventually resulting in tears; can cause hemorrhaging or rupturing of the esophagus
• Delayed gastric emptying (gastroparesis): Stomach takes too long to empty its contents due to weakened stomach and intestine muscles; can cause bacterial overgrowth or obstruction in the stomach
• Chronic diarrhea and/or constipation: Can be permanent; in severe cases, all control over bowels is lost
• Ulcers
• Hypocalcaemia: Low blood glucose levels from low weight and malnutrition; can cause seizures Urinary tract infections: Also bladder infections; caused by decreased fluid intake
• Chronic sore throat
• Dehydration

Bulimia and the Blood

• Anemia: Insufficient iron in the blood; causes fatigue and frequent bruising
• Ruptured blood vessels in the eyes
• Amenorrhea: Menstruation stops or does not start
• Hypokalemia: Deficiency of potassium; can result in diminished reflexes, fatigue, and cardiac arrhythmias

Bulimia and the Body as a Whole

• Thermoregulatory problems: Due to electrolytic imbalances
• Insomnia: Mostly due to electrolytic and hormonal imbalances
• Acidosis: Blood becomes too acidic; can cause internal damage
• Osteoporosis : Bones weakened due to lack of calcium; make bones susceptible to damage Bradycardia: Slow/irregular heartbeat
• Edema: Water retention imbalance causing feet and hands to swell
• Dry skin
• Brittle nails
• Dysrhythmia: Heart out of rhythm; an extremely serious eating disorder complication; can cause sudden death

Take the bulimia test and how to get treatment for bulimia.

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Dissociative fugue is a rare condition that is thought to affect 0.2% of the general population. Dissociative fugue is a part of the dissociative amnesia diagnosis in that both involve the inability to remember important personal information and/or events. A dissociative fugue, however, is differentiated as it occurs specifically when a person takes leave of his or her normal surroundings and goes on a journey of some kind.

Define Dissociative Fugue

Dissociative fugue used to be its own diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) but is now seen as part of dissociative amnesia. Dissociative amnesia is a blocking of critical information about the self, events, other people or specific times such that it cannot be explained by general forgetfulness.

Dissociative amnesia is generally centered around a trauma.

The dissociative fugue is, essentially, the active state of amnesia wherein a person is doing things he or she will later forget. A person in a dissociative fugue will suddenly, and uncharacteristically, travel from the home or work with a purpose in mind but without memory of some or of all of one's past. The definition of a dissociative fugue indicates the person is not confused or dazed, but rather he or she seems to be running away from something from which they are not aware. Another symptom of a dissociative fugue is confusion over one's identity or, possibly, even taking on a new identity. A person in a dissociative fugue may be violent and homicidal but is not generally suicidal.

Dissociative Fugue Cases

Dr. Neel Burton has written about a possible dissociative fugue case experienced by the famous author, Agatha Christie. According to Dr. Burton,

"The celebrated mystery writer, Agatha Christie, disappeared from her home in Berkshire, England, on the evening of December 3, 1926. Her mother, to whom she had been close, had died some months earlier, and her husband, Colonel Archibald Christie (Archie), was having an affair with one Nancy Neele. Archie made little effort to disguise this affair."

"Before vanishing, Agatha had written several confused notes to Archie and others: in one, she wrote that she was simply going on holiday to Yorkshire, but in another that she feared for her life. The following morning, her abandoned car was discovered with headlights on and bonnet up in Surrey, not far from a lake called Silent Pool in which she had drowned one of her fictional characters. Inside the green Morris Cowley, she had left her fur coat, a suitcase with her belongings, and an expired driver's license."

". . . In fact, Agatha had checked into a health spa in Harrogate, Yorkshire, not under her own name but –significantly – under that of 'Teresa Neele'. Her disappearance soon made the national headlines; several people at the spa thought to have recognised her, but she kept to her story of being a bereaved mother from Cape Town. "Only when, on December 14, the police brought Archie up to Harrogate could she be reliably and conclusively identified. As Archie entered the spa, Agatha simply said, 'Fancy, my brother has just arrived.'"

In a first-person account of a dissociative fugue case, Ms. Hannah Emily Upp talks about "waking up" after a dissociative fugue state:

"I went from going for a run to being in the ambulance . . . It was like 10 minutes had passed. But it was almost three weeks."

 In the case of Ms. Upp, she was rescued from the waters off the southern tip of Manhattan, floating face down in the water after being missing for 19 days. Ms. Upp still remembers nothing from those 19 days but she was caught on the security feeds in Starbucks, in an Apple store, and at a gym. Ms. Upp even logged into her email while at the Apple store but there is no record of emails being sent or read during that time. Doctors think she did it on muscle memory alone and then didn't recognize the person everyone was writing to and, so, logged out. In the Apple store, she also spoke to a fellow university student who asked her if she was the missing woman and she replied "no."

Dissociative Fugue Treatment

The treatment for dissociative fugue is the same as it is for other types of dissociative states: therapy and medication and, likely, hospitalization if the person doesn't know who he or she is. Psychotherapy aims to unlock details about the person's history and identity while medication may help ameliorate some of the symptoms of dissociation.

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Anorexia and bulimia are very complicated disorders, and different people can develop different types of eating disorders for different reasons. That is, while many individuals with eating disorders think and act in very similar ways, the reasons they have these thoughts and actions can be quite different.

Although many people view these behaviors as self-destructive acts, most individuals who develop eating disorders do not usually perceive their behaviors as self-harmful. Actually, most patients feel that they began the behaviors to try to fix other problems. The most common reason therapists hear from people about why they began self-starvation, bingeing or purging is that at some point they felt terribly out of control -- whether because of something they were feeling inside themselves or something that was happening to them from their outside environment.

Following are some of the most common causes of eating disorders.

Major life transitions. Many patients with eating disorders have difficulty with change. Anorexics, in particular, typically prefer that things are predictable, orderly and familiar. Consequently, transitions such as the onset of puberty, entering high school or college, or major illness or death of someone close to them can overwhelm these individuals and cause them to feel a loss of control.

In many girls with eating disorders, the lowering of body weight and body fat levels from self-starvation can arrest the menstrual cycle and delay other body changes that come with puberty. Girls who lose their period essentially return to a more childlike state, both physically and psychologically. They neither feel nor look like an adolescent or young adult women, and, therefore, can postpone making the transition to adolescence or young adulthood.

Family patterns and problems. The National Eating Disorders Association cites troubled family relationships as a possible contributing factor to eating disorders. Some, but not all individuals with eating disorders, come from disordered families where there are poor boundaries between the parents and the child. In addition, many who suffer from eating disorders experience a tremendous fear of losing control or "not being in control." For a significant number of these individuals, anorexia is a misguided, but understandable, attempt at differentiating themselves from their parents. Put another way, some anorexics feel their control over their eating is the first thing in their lives that they have done that was truly "their own idea."

Eating patterns and the way food is looked at within the family may also lead to the development of eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. Children of parents who diet frequently are more likely to worry about their weight, judge their appearance negatively, and begin dieting themselves. Studies show that in adolescents who develop eating disorders, those who were labeled as "severe dieters" had an 18 times greater chance of developing an eating disorder; with moderate dieting, 5 times greater; non-dieters a 1:500 chance of developing an eating disorder.

Social problems. Most people who develop eating disorders report having painfully low self-esteem before the onset of their eating problems. Many patients describe going through a painful experience such as being teased about their appearance, being shunned, or going through a difficult break-up of a romantic relationship. They begin to believe that these things happened because they were fat, and that if they become thin, it would protect them from similar experiences.

Failure at school, work or competitive events. Eating disorder patients can be perfectionists with very high achievement expectations. If their self-esteem is disproportionately tied to success, then any failure can produce devastating feelings of shame, guilt or self-worthlessness. For these individuals, losing weight through self-starvation can be seen as the first step to improving themselves. Alternatively, binge eating and purging can serve the purpose of proving their worthlessness, or it can provide an escape from these feelings.

A traumatic event. Evidence continues to accumulate that between one- third and two-thirds of patients who go to treatment centers for eating disorders have histories of sexual or physical abuse. It appears that the prevalence of sexual abuse in people with eating disorders is actually about the same as that for other psychiatric disorders. There is, however, a subgroup of patients whose eating disordered symptoms are a direct consequence of or an attempt to cope with their sexual or physical abuse. Such individuals may try to consciously or unconsciously avoid further sexual attention by losing enough weight to lose their secondary sexual characteristics (for instance, breasts). Similarly, the consistency or type of some foods can directly trigger flashbacks of abuse, resulting in an individual avoiding certain foods altogether.

Major illness or injury can also result in an individual feeling extremely vulnerable or out of control. Anorexia and bulimia can be attempts to control or distract themselves from such trauma.

Other psychiatric illnesses. Researchers have found that some people develop eating disorders in response to other psychiatric symptoms that occurred first. These other psychiatric symptoms typically appear to be triggered biologically, and may or may not be related to events that were occurring in the individual's environment. In such cases, then, the eating disorder may be a psychological reaction to a biological problem.

Between one-third and one-half of patients report having struggled with significant depression or anxiety before their eating disorder began. These problems were severe enough that the individuals felt extremely out of control and feared they were falling apart, and may have turned to restrictive eating, excessive exercise, and/or binge-purge behavior to contain or manage the depression and anxiety.

Furthermore, about one-third of eating disorder patients report having had obsessive-compulsive symptoms before they developed their eating disorder. For these people, an obsessional fear of fat and compulsive behaviors to control this fear may simply be the expression of a more central problem of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Some information in this article was written by Craig Johnson, Ph.D.
Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital, Tulsa, OK

When a person is diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID), they may seek out real dissociative identity disorder stories and videos. This is a way of connecting with others who are going through similar circumstances and can be a healthy part of healing. Take some time to see these dissociative identity disorder videos and read these DID stories and see if you can spot your own experience in any of them.

The Experience of Dissociative Identity Disorder – Stories and Videos

The specific symptoms suffered by each person with dissociative identity disorder differs. Melissa W. talks about her symptoms that she was able to hide for years:

"I "lost time" which is the symptom you read so much about, but I also had other symptoms like reading letters an alter had written to people close to me and not understanding it or remembering writing it. I was told all the time about conversations I had with other people that I did not remember. Well, I almost remembered them. They seemed vaguely familiar to me, more like I had overheard them a year before. I was clever at pretending to know what everyone was talking about. I learned ways of picking up on cues from other people to make it seem like I was aware of everything that was going on. And when that did not work I just claimed to be "spacey" and blamed it on my blonde hair."

Jess is a young woman who lives five distinct identities - five different people, all in the same body. Four of them are male. What’s more, any of them could appear at any time - even when she and her husband were at their most intimate. So how does it all work? Melissa Doyle was invited to spend a week with Jess and her extended family.

In this two-part video, a woman tells her real dissociative disorder story of her early traumatized life and how it eventually developed into dissociative identity disorder (read about causes of DID):

Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder Stories

Treatment of dissociative identity disorder is typically psychotherapeutic in nature, sometimes with medications also being prescribed. Here is one success story of dissociative identity disorder treatment by a 25-year-old, G.L.

"I was sexually abused from the age of 3 until I was 11. This caused my personality to split into at least 6 different other people. Most people do not believe I have multiple personalities, and sometimes I don't believe it myself. My other personalities are all female, except for one that is named Greg. We call ourselves "The Camp" and have learned how to exist together peacefully. Therapy has been a lifesaver, teaching us new skills on how to function and schedule our time. I can't speak to two of the others, but they speak in therapy and to the others in The Camp. I spent most of my life thinking I was crazy and wanting to die. Now I understand, and most of the time, I even feel blessed. There are times when sharing a body with 6 other people is almost painful and, at those times, I feel lucky to have such a great therapist."

See more dissociative identity disorder videos in the Understanding Dissociative Identity Disorder Alters article.

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Depression help is available because depression is such a difficult illness to live with. It’s all-encompassing, affecting someone completely—the way they think, the emotions they feel (or don’t feel), what they can and cannot do, and how they interact with others, including loved ones. Depression can zap interests and desires. Sometimes, major depression robs someone of their will to live. This illness can be disabling, but it doesn’t have to be permanent. With depression help, you can treat your depression symptoms and heal every part of you that depression has hurt.

Because it’s so overwhelming and exhausting, depression can make it really hard to find help.  
The following lists of depression help and depression resources provides a variety of reputable sources for your healing journey.

Sources of Depression Help

Working with a therapist is an effective way to overcome depression. Check with your doctor, local hospital, religious leaders, and community centers. Many times, they have pamphlets with information about mental health professionals so you can contact one or more. There are also therapy finders online with large national databases of therapists and their contact information. Try these to get depression help now:

• American Psychiatric Association Find a Psychiatrist   
• American Psychological Association: Find the Right Psychologist for You
• Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA): Find a Therapist Directory
• The Association of Black Psychologists: Therapist Resource Directory                        
• Good Therapy: Find a Therapist
• HealthyPlace: Free Mental Health Services and How to Find Them    
• Healthy Place: Mental Help: Where to Find Mental Health Help  
• HealthyPlace: Types of Mental Health Doctors and How to Find One
• Mental Health America: Finding Support
• National Register of Health Service Psychologists   
• Psychology Today: Find a Therapist

Depression Resources

There are numerous resources, both in communities and online, that provide information and support to people in need of help for depression.

Crisis lines exist for anyone driven to such despair by depression that they can’t stop thinking of death, suicide, and self-harm.

• American Psychiatric Association Help with Depression
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  (1-800-273-8225)
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Helpline (1-800-662-HELP (4357)

Other depression resources aren’t designed for immediate crises but offer a wealth of information and support to anyone living with depression or other mental health challenges. Many of these organizations have resource centers in cities throughout the United States. Many offer resources such as classes and depression support groups.  The websites offer informational articles about all aspects of depression and living with the illness.

• American Psychiatric Association: Help with Depression      
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)
• Mental Health America (MHA) Depression Information and Support
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)   
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Depression can be tough to manage. Thankfully, you don’t have to do it alone. Find informative and helpful organizations, locate a therapist through the therapist finders above, and take back your life. Depression help and depression resources are there to assist you every step of the way.

Depression poems offer solace when you can find no comfort, human connection when all human connection seems lost, compassion when self-compassion isn’t one of your top emotions, and gentleness when all the world seems harsh. Even depression poetry that seems severe to an outsider is often tender to someone who feels adrift in the murky sea of depression.

Depression poetry is a healing art form. It’s a powerful form of treatment for a debilitating illness that robs people of the quality life they want to live and absolutely deserve. Poetry and all other creative endeavors are a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). These mental health treatment approaches are actions taken and things experienced in addition to or instead of traditional healing approaches like therapy and psychiatric medication. Frequently, people use poetry as part of their work with a mental health therapist, as a way to process roiling emotions that often remain trapped inside, deepening depression because they can’t escape. Other times, people write poetry on their own for the same reason.

Whether you read the works of others or write your own (or both), poetry can help you feel understood, that you’re not alone. Others experience, have experienced, the complex feelings of depression that can sometimes only be described abstractly. Depression poems help you understand, feel understood, and at the same time know that your experience is unique to you, similar to but different from what’s expressed through poetry.

These excerpts from works of poetry about depression show the depth of the style and the illness.

Excerpts from Touching Poems About Depression

From “Tulips,” by Sylvia Plath.

“The tulips are too red in the first place, they hurt me.
Even through the gift paper I could hear them breathe   
Lightly, through their white swaddlings, like an awful baby.   
Their redness talks to my wound, it corresponds.
They are subtle: they seem to float, though they weigh me down,   
Upsetting me with their sudden tongues and their color,   
A dozen red lead sinkers round my neck.

Nobody watched me before, now I am watched.   
The tulips turn to me, and the window behind me
Where once a day the light slowly widens and slowly thins,   
And I see myself, flat, ridiculous, a cut-paper shadow   
Between the eye of the sun and the eyes of the tulips,   
And I have no face, I have wanted to efface myself.   
The vivid tulips eat my oxygen.”

From “It was not Death, for I stood up,” by Emily Dickinson

“As if my life were shaven,
And fitted to a frame,
And could not breathe without a key,
And ’twas like Midnight, some –
When everything that ticked—has stopped—
And Space stares—all around—
Or Grisly frosts—first Autumn morns,
Repeal the Beating Ground—
But, most, like Chaos—Stopless—cool—
Without a Chance, or Spar—
Or even a Report of Land—
To justify—Despair.”

“Aperture,” by John Sibley Williams

I know the hinges give me away. To be this open
requires doors. Night-sealed, dead-bolted, rusted,
shedding blood-colored dust. Roughly the size of
the world, the world that enters is sweet as a head
of foam scraped off a teacup, unforgiving as an Old
Testament story. The god I used to think I was loved
pain. Distance. & starlings. He’d dare his bike faster
down unpaved paths & relish the fall. Show the scars
off to everyone at school. Invent entire mythologies
to explain the stars, where they go in winter. Where
my mother went. Silent house. & frostbite. The rest
was just a parable. A paraffin river. Holy. It’s simple
enough: where there is no memory, nothing happened.
So nothing that happened hurt. I’m not sure what
changed, but these days the doorframe shudders &
yields in certain weathers. The fence posts I had
hammered down remain a bit longer in place. Then
they give too. An empty house testifies to everything
it once held. Held or holding? Both in- or egress.

“A Lesson” by Lang Leav

There’s a girl who smiles all the time
    to show the world that she is fine.

A boy, who surrounds himself with friends,
    wishes that his life would end.

For those who say they never knew,
    the saddest leave the least of clues.

Depression poetry can be moving and oddly uplifting. When you know that this illness isn’t a personal flaw but is an experience lived by millions of people in all ages of history and corners of the globe, you can, as Emily Dickinson inspires, stand up.

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Depression treatment centers exist to help people reclaim themselves and their lives from depression. Depression interferes in living. It hurts mentally and physically. Often, people with depression have difficulties in their relationships because depression is a heavy third wheel. People might lose their jobs, and they also might lose interest in nearly everything they once enjoyed (not that they have the energy to do those things anymore). A big risk of depression is loss of hope. Fortunately, there is treatment for depression that will help someone regain hope and so much more. Sometimes people go to depression treatment centers for help.

Occasionally, someone’s depression treatment no longer works and symptoms recur. When that happens, all hope is not lost. An option when depression stops responding to what you’ve been doing is to go to a depression treatment center.  There are different types, and they help in different ways.

Types of Depression Treatment Centers

While, of course, treatment centers vary in what they offer and how they operate, they can be categorized into two broad types:

• Inpatient hospitals
• Residential treatment centers

From time to time, you might hear someone refer to a depression hospital. Technically, there isn’t a hospital exclusively dedicated to depression; however, depression is common in people who go to inpatient mental health hospitals.

An inpatient hospital’s purpose is to help people in crisis or who are undergoing a big change in medication and need to be monitored full-time for a while. A crisis can occur when depression symptoms become so severe that you are:

• Unable to care for yourself or loved ones (particularly children)
• Experiencing psychosis (like hallucinations or delusions)
• Having thoughts of harming yourself or others
• Thinking often about death and suicide

Hospitals provide immediate and intensive care for someone in crisis. Their purpose is to stabilize that person so they can resume treatment out of the hospital. People commonly stay in such a hospital for about four or five days.

Residential depression treatment centers are very different from depression hospitals. Even though they’re not for people in crisis or at risk of harming themselves or others, these treatment centers, sometimes called depression rehab or residential rehab, involve longer stays than inpatient hospitals. While each individual treatment center varies, a typical length of stay is 60 days or longer. That’s because this type of treatment center is drastically different from a hospital.

Most residential treatment centers are for substance abuse, but there are some whose purpose is to provide depression help. Depression treatment centers are characterized by staffing for round-the-clock care and service, a comfortable home-like environment, serene and natural surroundings, and minimal stressors. This is designed to give people a chance to reset and deeply benefit from the help and support provided.

The depression programs offer healing activities such as:

• Therapy (individual, group, and sometimes family)
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (a therapy that helps people recover mental health that was suppressed by past experiences)
• Equine therapy (working closely with horses can help depression)
• Art and other creative therapies
• Yoga
• Guided meditation
• Acupuncture
• Adventure therapy (activities in nature designed to promote healing)
• Exercise
• Nutrition

Hospitals and residential treatment centers differ in what they do, but both help people with depression.

How Depression Treatment Centers and Hospitals Help

Hospitals keep people safe when their depression puts them in immediate danger to themselves or others. They also quickly prepare people for discharge so they can get back on their feet. To do this, a combination of doctors, psychiatric nurses, social workers, psychologists, or therapists creates an individualized treatment plan for the patient. The depression treatment plan is used in the hospital and upon discharge so the patient knows what to do to remain out of crisis.

In the days that someone is in the hospital, they participate in both individual and group therapy to address thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and life circumstances. Also, they receive different medications or different doses of their existing medication to help stabilize the brain.

Depression treatment in a residential setting is also tailored to each individual. The focus here, though, is on the total person and healing the mind, body, and spirit. Promoting wellness is emphasized over managing the illness. Participants help create their own treatment plans so they can address and treat their unique challenges and needs.

The goal of depression treatment centers and hospitals is to help people recover. Because their purpose is different—holistic healing versus crisis management—their atmosphere, approach, and activities differ. Whatever you need to help overcome depression, being in the right setting is what will be most helpful.

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"The thoughts of self injury returned, and I once again felt on the edge of panic. I longed for injury or death so I could rest." ~ Michelle, age 45

My Depression Story

Mental health issues were not new to me. My husband was suffering from Asperger's Syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. In a grueling five year effort to get him stabilized and find the right medications to control his ultra-rapid cycling BP, I found myself increasingly frustrated, lonely and despairing of the situation we were facing. Nothing seemed to help, and no one understood what we were going through. All the efforts in treatment were applied to my husband's needs, but my needs went unmet as I daily dealt with nearly homicidal rages, catatonia, and perfectionist compulsions that made our lives a nightmare.

My Own Depression

I became aware that my own mood and ability to function in this hostile environment was declining about three years ago. At that time, I saw an employer-sponsored psychologist, who told me I was suffering from mild depressive symptoms and recommended antidepressant medication for my depression. His counseling sessions were less than helpful and he seemed pre-occupied with other things during therapy. I opted at that time to continue to battle the challenges I was facing on my own, reasoning that "at least I cared about my own problems." I felt that I would somehow be able to climb back out of the depressive pit into which I was sliding when my situation improved. But I could not.

I was forced to ask my husband to get his own place for a time for my own sanity, but my depression had already driven me to impulses of self-injury and suicide. I resisted, but these thoughts frightened me so much that I finally concluded I needed help. I contacted my husband's therapist, who had always worked with me concerning my husband's issues. I saw her for several months, but without antidepressant medication, I was worsening as time passed.

After six months, I began to experience panic attacks and was in such a state of hyper-vigilance that I could not sleep or relax. I, at last, was humbled enough to accept the help of medication. I made an appointment with the psychiatrist and was prescribed an antidepressant for major depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). He also prescribed an anti-anxiety medication for the panic attacks. (read about the relationship between depression and anxiety)

Even though I saw tremendous improvement in my depression and anxiety on these medications, I continued to have a lot of high-stress situations and I pushed myself to exhaustion, working 12-hour shifts for weeks on end without any days off. My feet hurt at that time, but I felt it was the long shifts I spent at work. The thoughts of self-injury returned, and I once again felt on the edge of panic, despite the medication. I longed for injury or death so I could rest.

A Depression Medication That Worked

About a year ago, I caught what I thought was a cold. I had no energy, I hurt everywhere. I was off work for about four months while the doctors tried to find out what was wrong with me. I was depressed, but this was something more. Test after test revealed no abnormalities except an elevated sedimentation rate in the blood; a sign of some sort of inflammatory process in my body. At last, I was sent to a rheumatologist who diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition that affects the soft body tissues. While it is not life-threatening, nor degenerative, there is presently no cure.

I plunged into deeper depression as I faced the demands of my employer to return to work. I could hardly walk due to the pain. I was put on a regimen of mild opioid pain killers, muscle relaxers and told to exercise! Nothing worked. Months passed. I missed a lot of work and got further behind on bills.

Finally my psychiatrist recommended another antidepressant. I had my doubts that anything would help. I had tried many different medications already. But I was put on a high dosage and finally the pain in my feet subsided and I could walk again.

I am learning to live within my energy limits, take care of myself, and I am free from depression for the first time in about 4 years.

While I still do not have the energy and stamina that I had before my illness and I will continue to face many challenges with my husband due to his bipolar disorder and other problems, I am better equipped to face those problems with the counsel I have received, the prayers of friends and the right medication for depression. It gave me back much of my life.

Thanks for letting me share my depression story. I hope it helps someone to get medication and treatment before things get worse.

Dissociative disorder treatment is often required when severe dissociative disorder symptoms, such as amnesia or alternate personalities, are present. Treatment for dissociative disorders may include hospitalization, psychotherapy and medication. But the good news is, the prognosis for those with a dissociative disorder is positive when expert treatment is obtained.

Hospitalization for Dissociative Disorder Treatment

Not all those with dissociative disorders require hospitalization, but for those who are a clear and present danger to themselves, show suicidal ideation, do not yet have a firm diagnosis or for whom medication effects must be evaluated, hospitalization can be helpful.

The benefits of hospitalization in dissociative disorder treatment include:

• Allowing a person to separate from everyday stimuli and any ongoing traumas or stressors that may be present
• Protecting people during a time in their lives when they may not know who they are or what is going on around them
• Keeping people from doing harm to themselves

Treatment for Dissociative Disorders

Psychotherapy is the most common treatment for all types of dissociative disorders. Psychotherapy, sometimes known as "talk" therapy, will allow people to be guided through the process of identifying their dissociative symptoms and developing coping skills that will reduce the perceived needs for dissociation, particularly during times of stress. It will also allow a person to more fully understand why dissociation is occurring in the first place (often times due to an early, possibly unremembered, trauma).

Hypnosis or a drug-facilitated interview may be used to augment the process of psychotherapy. This is done in the context of a consenting contract and guided by the therapist or with self-hypnosis techniques.

According to Medscape, hypnosis "has been viewed as a controlled form of dissociation; therefore, clinicians assume that the mental content and images that emerge are also controlled and that the patient can control the pace of the therapy."

While hypnosis may be helpful for some dissociative disorder treatment, it is not required to recover repressed memories or to reintegrate any newly-discovered memories.

Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) may also be useful during treatment for dissociative disorders. This therapy aims to reprocess past traumas in a safe way.

Medication for Dissociative Disorders

While there are no Food and Drug Administration approved medications for the treatment of dissociative disorders, medications may help relieve some of the symptoms while therapy takes place. There are three types of medication used in the treatment of dissociative disorders. Medication for dissociative disorders includes:

• Atypical antipsychotics (also known as neuroleptics) such as aripiprazole (Abilify), olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel) and ziprasidone (Geodon); generally taken at night due to the sedating side effects
• Newer-generation anticonvulsants (anti-seizure medication sometimes known as mood stabilizers) such as levetiracetam (Keppra) and lamotrigine (Lamictal); dosages are typically much lower than they would be for seizure disorders
• Antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as escitalopram (Lexapro) and paroxetine (Paxil) or serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) like duloxetine (Cymbalta) and venlafaxine (Effexor); may reduce the anxiety and apprehension involved in dissociation

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"I started having sleep problems, panic attacks, seeing nothing good and losing hope." ~ Matthew, age 34

I suppose you could say I caught depression. My girlfriend suffered from depression. She was going through a hell of a lot of stress and she cracked! First time was a bit of a shock as she lost a lot of weight, suddenly became irritable, negative, cold and basically discharged everything on me! I didn't know what was going so I took all her criticism to heart. She eventually came out of her first episode after about five months and everything seemed to be on the right track. Then after around nine months, she seemed to be slipping back into it. This time, I spoke to a friend who suffered from depression and she told me that's what my girlfriend could be dealing with.

After reading a few books about depression everything seemed to fit; the libido was down the drain, lack of sleep, negativity and all that. I tried to convince her to see someone. I spent seven months trying until I finally couldn't handle it anymore and had to get out. It was the best of two horrible choices, staying in and getting my self esteem trampled on or getting out! She kept on saying how she didn't have any feelings anymore. Apparently emotional numbness is normal.

At the end, I was exhausted but holding on. Then I started having real sleep problems. I was already at 6 hours of sleep (not enough) but went down to about 3 and woke up with panic attacks, seeing nothing good and losing hope. I had read enough to know what was happening so I went to see a psychiatrist who prescribed antidepressants ... and boy was I glad I did. I think I got mine early (still wish I'd gone earlier!)

A week later my sleep was better. After 2-3 weeks, I started smiling at comedy shows again. After around 6 weeks, I was back to being pretty much me; still heartbroken but able to see the sunny side of life too.

I stayed on the antidepressants for 6 months, then stopped and had a shaky spell. I restarted for another two months. Now I try to control my stress rather than let it control me. And, so far, so good. I will keep an eye on myself, however, as I don't want to go back to the depression and those panic attacks!

All I can say is that if you suspect that you might be depressed, DO SOMETHING. You don't have to continue suffering and the distress you can cause to those you love and who love you can be devastating.

Read more about men and depression here, women and depression here.