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1 Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood

1.5 Resolving Relationship-Related Depression

1.6 Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood Conclusion

Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood

Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood. Adjustment disorder is a short-term condition. It’s diagnosed in an individual who experiences an exaggerated reaction to a stressful or traumatic event.

Stressors can be single events (like a bad breakup) or can be multiple events (like work problems, struggles at school, or financial issues). Stressors can happen to an individual, a family or an entire group (such as disaster survivors).

Stressors can also be recurrent (like factors associated with the seasonal business) or with specific “milestone” events (like going to school, getting married or retiring). Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood is also called situational depression.

There are many possible causes of adjustment disorders. Generally, it’s any situation you perceive as stressful and that causes significant problems in your work, social or home life. They can be both positive and negative events.

Some examples include:

Death of a family member or friend.
Relationship issues, including breakups, marital problems and divorce.
Getting married; having a baby.
Serious health issues.
School issues.
Financial difficulties.
Work issues (job loss, failing to meet goals).
Living in a crime-ridden neighbourhood.
Retiring.
Disaster or unexpected tragedy.

Your personality, temperament, well-being, life experiences and family history are all also thought to play a role in the possible development of adjustment disorder.

What are the symptoms of Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood?

Everyone is going to experience an adjustment disorder differently. Symptoms can vary from mild to severe, depending on the intensity of the triggering situation and the personal significance it has for you.

Common physical symptoms:

Being tired, but can’t sleep (insomnia).
Body aches and soreness; thinking that you’re sick.
Headaches or stomachaches.
Heart palpitations.
Sweating hands.

Common behavioural or emotional symptoms:

Acting rebellious, destructive, reckless or impulsive.
Being anxious or agitated, feeling trapped, hopeless.
Crying easily.
Trouble concentrating.
Being withdrawn or isolated; feeling sad; lacking energy or enthusiasm; loss of self-esteem.
Loss of interest in everyday activities.
Changes in eating habits.
Feeling overwhelmed and stressed.
Abusing alcohol or drugs.
Having suicidal thoughts or behaviours.

Your healthcare provider will complete a full physical and mental health exam. They may consider the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) from the British Psychiatric Association.

To be diagnosed with Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood, you have to meet the following five DSM-5 criteria:

Your emotional or behavioural symptoms developed within three months of the start of the stressful event in your life.
Your emotional or behavioural symptoms are clinically significant. This means that your distress must exceed what would normally be expected and/or the distress is causing significant problems in your work, home or social life.
Your symptoms don’t meet the criteria for another mental disorder and are not a flare-up or worsening of an existing mental health problem.
Your symptoms are not part of a normal grieving process.
Your symptoms don’t last more than six months after the triggering event has ended.

Acute Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood means your symptoms last less than six months. Chronic adjustment disorder means your symptoms last six months or longer.

Your healthcare provider should also take into account your cultural background in determining if your response to a stressor is in excess of what would be expected.

Are there different types of adjustment disorders?

The DSM-5 lists six types of adjustment disorders:

Adjustment disorder with depressed mood: Symptoms include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, crying and lack of joy from previous pleasurable things.
Adjustment disorder with anxiety: Symptoms include feeling worried, anxious and overwhelmed. You also have trouble concentrating. Separation anxiety is a dominant symptom in children.
Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood and mixed anxiety: Symptoms include feeling both anxious and depressed.
Adjustment disorder with disturbance of conduct: Symptoms include behavioural issues such as acting rebellious, destructive, reckless or impulsive.
Adjustment disorder with mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct: Symptoms include anxiety, depression and behavioural issues.
Adjustment disorder unspecified: Symptoms include physical symptoms such as headaches, body aches, stomach aches, heart palpitations, or insomnia.

If left untreated, people with Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood are at higher risk of suicide attempts or thoughts of suicide. If your symptoms become so overwhelming that it’s difficult for you to make it through the day, call your healthcare provider. If you have suicidal thoughts, get help immediately.

Adjustment disorder is sometimes referred to as situational depression. Unlike regular depression, the cause(s) of which may be ongoing and/or unspecified, adjustment disorder is an abnormal emotional and/or behavioural response to stressors which are present in a particular period of a person’s life, often surrounding a major life event.

For example, a person may experience stressors that give rise to Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood after a major life change, such as a breakup, divorce, marriage, having a baby or moving house, or after an unfortunate event which involves stress, such as a car accident.

It is also possible to develop the condition following a career change or break, especially one which alters a person’s daily environment or routine, such as discharge from military service or becoming unemployed.

Adjustment disorder is most common in children and adolescents, but adults may often also develop the condition. The treatment goal for adjustment disorder is to relieve the symptoms.

A typical treatment programme for adjustment disorder will normally feature a course of talking therapy, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or group therapy and may include prescription medications and prescribed exercise.

The symptoms of adjustment disorder will usually appear within three months of the stressful event or life change and disappear within six months. Most commonly, adjustment disorder which does not resolve after six months may develop into depression.

Generally, the symptoms of Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood will significantly interfere with the functioning of a person’s life, for example by making it difficult to socialise, work or attend school.

Symptoms of adjustment disorder may vary according to the age of the person experiencing the condition. Children and adolescents may be more likely to display behavioural symptoms, such as acting out, school problems and sleep disturbances, whereas adults often tend to experience more emotional symptoms, such as anxiety and a depressed mood.

Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood is a reaction to a particular stressor, whether a stressful life event or a major life change. In both children and adults, adjustment disorder can be caused by any event which feels greatly significant to a particular person, regardless of whether or not this event appears significant to others.

Adjustment disorder is a stress-related, short-term, nonpsychotic disturbance. The discomfort, distress, turmoil, and anguish to the patient are significant, and the consequences (eg, suicidal potential) are extremely important.

Even though it is a common condition that affects many children, teens, and adults, adjustment disorder is not well-known. If you have experienced a high-stress situation that changed your mood, anxiety level, or behaviour, adjustment disorder may be to blame.

Many have never heard of adjustment disorder, but as many as 20% of people who receive outpatient mental health treatment have the condition. Rates may be even higher among those in inpatient treatment.

Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood is a serious mental health condition. Fortunately, professionals can treat it with a combination of psychotherapy and medications.

Adjustment disorder is a mental health condition that can arise after a high-stress experience or series of experiences. Adjustment disorders produce unwanted emotional and behavioural changes and can affect your mood, anxiety level, and ability to relate to others. They can cause difficulty in your work life or relationships.

Adjustment disorder is not a normal reaction to high stress, though. It is a sign of excessive distress.

Mental health professionals classify adjustment disorders in the same groups as conditions linked to stress and trauma. Other mental health disorders in this group include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder.

A stressful experience that leads to an Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood for one person might not affect another person in the same way. Everyone has some level of vulnerability to adjustment disorder, but vulnerability varies based on personality and experience.

To be diagnosed with adjustment disorder, your stress response must be more intense or longer lasting than the typical expected response, based on age and cultural norms. Or your symptoms must interfere with your work, school, or relationships. The diagnosis cannot be based on symptoms stemming from another mental, physical, or substance use disorder.

Adjustment disorder symptoms will start within 3 months of the stressful experience and cannot last longer than 6 months after the stressful situation ends. If your symptoms have lasted longer, your provider may determine that they are caused by a different mental health condition.

Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood and PTSD are similar conditions. They are both mental health disorders triggered by intense, stressful experiences. The major difference between them is the type of event that triggers the condition.

With adjustment disorder, the stressful event is typically not seen as life-threatening, even though it greatly impacts you.

With PTSD, the traumatic event causes death, serious injury, sexual violence, or the threat of these things happening. The event might be something that happened to you or something you witnessed happening to someone else.

Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood is an emotional or behavioural reaction to a stressful event or change in a person’s life. The change or event is more intense than expected. It negatively impacts the child’s life.

This reaction occurs within three months of the stressful event or change that happened. The event or change may be things like a family move, parental divorce or separation, the loss of a pet or the birth of a sibling.

Adjustment disorders are a reaction to stress. There is not a direct cause between the event and the reaction.

Children and teens vary in their temperament, past experiences, vulnerability, and coping skills. Some children or teens are more likely to struggle than others. Their developmental stage and the support of people around them to meet their needs may make a difference in their reaction to stress.

Stressors also vary in length, how strong they are, and their effect. No evidence is available to suggest a biological factor causes adjustment disorders.

Adjustment disorders are common in children and teens. They occur in both males and females. Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood occurs in all cultures. The stressors and signs may vary based on cultural influences.

Adjustment disorders occur at all ages. Characteristics of the disorder are different in children and teens than they are in adults. Differences are noted in the symptoms experienced, seriousness and length of time of symptoms, and the outcome.

Teen symptoms of adjustment disorders are usually behavioural such as acting out. Adults have more anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Stress-Related Depression

Stress-related depression. Understanding the psychological mechanisms of how stress can lead to depression can help you prevent it. This is especially important for people who have had a prior episode of depression and would like to prevent relapse.

Stress has direct effects on mood. Early initial symptoms of lowered mood can include irritability, sleep disruption, and cognitive changes, such as impaired concentration. However, the indirect effects of stress are often what causes depression to take hold.

When people experience Stress-related depression, they often stop engaging in some of the healthy coping strategies that usually help keep their mood on track. In other words, when stress triggers a lowered mood, it’s more likely that the person will skip their typical healthy mood regulation strategies resulting in further mood problems.

Stress at work can lead to overworking; as a result, the person doesn’t go to yoga class, go running, read before bed, or catch up with close friends as much.

Early initial low mood symptoms generate further Stress-related depression. When a person is stressed and begins to experience some initial changes in their mood, these symptoms often generate further increased stress.

Example:

the person has an irritable outburst at work and gets a complaint
of impaired concentration results in a mistake either a major mistake or just a small mistake, like leaving something important at home

In order to understand Stress-related depression, Stress can disrupt relationships. Overworking, irritability, and withdrawal can all cause increased arguments. Someone who is absorbed by their own stress may become less emotionally available to their partner.

Especially when an individual has had problems with depression in the past, it can be frightening for partners to see signs that make them concerned that their loved one could be becoming depressed again. Sometimes, partners start to think about leaving the relationship; this then becomes an additional source of stress for the couple.

When you experience Stress-related depression, Stress can increase unhealthy coping. Unhealthy coping mechanisms can have direct effects on mood e.g., excessive alcohol use leading to lower mood as well as indirect effects, like excessive alcohol use leading to relationship problems, which then lead to lower mood.

Avoidance coping increases both stress and anxiety.

Routines and structures may be disrupted. Self-regulatory strength is like a mental muscle using it helps keep it strong. Life stress and initially lowered mood often lead to people abandoning routines of eating healthy meals and sleeping at consistent times.

This, in turn, sometimes begins a slippery slope of under-regulation. Moreover, having consistent routines like regular eating helps regulate mood.

Emotional Adjustment Difficulties

Emotional adjustment difficulties. Emotional adjustment refers to one’s acceptance of “self” or “self-concept.” It is also explained as one’s ability to be self-actualising and fully functioning. The concept of a “fully functioning person is very closely related to emotional adjustment, as fully functioning describes a state when one is in optimum emotional health.”

Emotional adjustment is important for personality development and maintaining a physiologically and psychologically healthy life.

Emotional adjustment and maladjustment are two sides of the same coin and thus have opposing impacts on an individual. An emotionally adjusted person has a strong sense of self, is confident, open to experience, creative, accepting, and fully functioning and self-actualising.

Such individuals perceive things much like they are and feel worthy under all circumstances. They can, as Rogers suggests, lead a “good life’ by developing and actualising all their facets and becoming fully functioning.

In order to understand how Emotional adjustment difficulties play, Rogers proposed that incongruence and emotional maladjustment lead to low self-esteem, self-worth, self-image, and even lower levels of self-actualisation. This implies that emotional adjustment has a great toll on one’s self-concept. Thus, some of the symptoms of emotional maladjustment are:

Nervousness and anxiety
Defensiveness in the form of social withdrawal or aggression
Insecurity and inferiority complex
Increased experiences of negative emotions like sadness, fear, etc.
Low confidence
Excessive use of defence mechanisms
They may also be perceived as awkward, confused, and unfriendly by others.
Denying and distorting unacceptable ways of perceiving reality leads to rigidity in experiences.

To ensure Emotional adjustment difficulties and understand the basics, As the basic proposition of the Person-Centered Approach suggests, the person has the potential and ability to make choices and bring changes in one’s life. It is one’s perception that decides one’s behaviour and personality development.

Thus, emotional adjustment can also be ensured by empowering an individual to be free to make choices. Some of the ways to ensure emotional adjustment in children are as follows:

A primary caregiver should provide positive regard for the child.
Encourage the child to explore and accept different experiences.
Avoid being overprotective or overly supportive.
Delegating responsibility to the child.
Teaching methods like meditation and stress management.
Giving moral education.
Acting as a guide and facilitator instead of an authority.

Similarly, Emotional adjustment difficulties can be improved in adults and can be ensured by the following measures –

Meditating and practising self-care.
Being self-aware and observing oneself.
Knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses.
Being accepting and enjoying uncertainty and challenges.
Sharing one’s problems with others.

Beyond this, when is loved one is in a debilitating condition, one should not avoid contacting and seeking help from psychological professionals.

Emotional adjustment difficulties can be rectified in humans and Emotional adjustment is a characteristic feature of a fully functioning person. As per Rogers, one’s emotional adjustment is directly affected by one’s perception of the actual and ideal self. Being emotionally adjusted is important to living a psychologically healthy life.

Overall, Rogers’ emotional adjustment concept is relevant in personality and developmental psychology and has very important implications, especially for youth development.

Coping With Relationship Stressors

Coping with relationship stressors. “Every relationship is going to have arguments. And at worst, arguments can result in hurt feelings, loss of respect for the other person, or loss of a close relationship,”

It’s easy to let financial stress broil, parenting pressures mount, or fall into old argument patterns especially if the two of you are locked together in close quarters. Making time to go outside your house will help break you out of patterns and allow both of you to feel like you’ve escaped the usual.

Words carry a lot of weight in an argument, and saying something in anger (even if it feels justified at the time) can still have lasting effects long after the argument has concluded and these impacts can contribute to even more stress down the road.

When you think of Coping with relationship stressors, Ask for help or ask how you can help. One of the hardest things to do when you’re stressed out is to ask for help.

Sometimes you may feel too overwhelmed to ask for help, or be in such a high-stress situation that you don’t even know what kind of help you need. If you’ve ever felt this way, your partner has definitely felt it, too.

That’s why the best thing you can do is take a breath and ask them what kind of help they need. For example, a pile of dirty dishes may not normally be a big deal to your partner, but if they feel stretched to the limit already, that pile of dishes is going to look impossibly large.

“You can respond to your partner’s stress by simply ‘asking’ them about it and how you can support them. We are more likely to miss the mark when we assume,” Hardy says. “I would recommend taking something off their plate. When you give them less to worry about in other areas, you are supporting them inadvertently.”

When you think of Coping with relationship stressors, hear them out instead of planning your defence. An argument can sometimes feel like a competition where the goal is to score the most points over your opponent. While it may feel good to win the argument, it doesn’t do anything to de-stress your partner or the situation.

If they’re expressing their anxiety to you even if it’s not in a calm or productive way try to hear them out. Even if you don’t agree with them, stopping to take the time to actually hear what they’re saying will help validate their point of view.

“Listen to each other,” says Opoku. “If we listen to the other person and give them an opportunity to explain their point of view, chances are they’ll be more open to hearing us out. When someone is making a statement that we disagree with, our common response is to start thinking of a rebuttal while the person is talking.”

When you think of Coping with relationship stressors, consider the root of their stress. If you’re in an argument with your partner, it would make sense to assume that the source of the problem was you (or something you did) that upset them. However, even if the argument is being had with you, it might not really be about you.

External factors in your partner’s life may be contributing to their increased stress.

Try to think about what may actually be causing the tension in your relationship and work to address the real reason they’re feeling stressed.

“When we are stressed about work, family, etcetera, we carry this into our relationships,” says Hardy. “Our patience is reduced, and we don’t always have the emotional capacity to handle issues appropriately. Therefore, I recommend that couples take time to rejuvenate, take care of themselves, and evaluate if they are taking other issues out on their [partner].”

If you can help your partner reduce the external stressors in their life, it might help diffuse similar arguments in the future and show your partner that you’re being supportive and sympathetic.

When you think of Coping with relationship stressors, write a Letter. It can be hard to end a relationship, even if the relationship isn’t a positive one. Consider writing out all your feelings in a letter.

You can give your letter to the person or throw it away. Taking the opportunity to write out and process your feelings can help give you the clarity and courage you need to move forward.

Adjustment Disorder Treatment

Adjustment disorder treatment. Adjustment disorder is typically temporary, but it can also be debilitating and trigger a number of serious complications. It makes normal life not just difficult, but impossible. Someone you care about with this disorder is probably feeling overwhelmed, hopeless, scared, and depressed.

Your loved one is experiencing significant distress, so be there to provide positive support. You can assist them in several ways, but most importantly help them get into treatment. If nothing else is helping, your loved one needs professional mental health care.

To understand Adjustment disorder treatment, If Possible, Reduce Stressful Situations, People, and Events. Like other trauma- and stressor-related mental illnesses, adjustment disorder has a known cause: exposure to an event or series of events that are traumatic or stressful. Often with adjustment disorder, the symptoms will begin to subside when those stressors are removed.

You may not have the power or the ability to remove all the factors in your loved one’s life that are causing this negative response. But anything you can do to reduce their stress will be useful. For instance, you may be able to help around the house, doing chores or assisting with child care. Take over some of their responsibilities to give them fewer things to worry about.

If people in your loved one’s life are causing stress, encourage them to cut ties if possible. Help them spend more time with positive, supportive people and to avoid those that cause them distress. If the stressful situation is a big life change, like a move or a divorce, be there to listen so that your loved one knows you are there to help in any way you can.

All of these things can significantly reduce stress and make life a little easier for someone who is struggling to cope.

To understand Adjustment disorder treatment, Encourage and Participate in Healthy Lifestyle Changes. Being mentally and physically healthy is a protective factor against poor reactions to stress and trauma.

Help your loved one improve their health with lifestyle changes. Whether they have been in treatment and are in recovery or have yet to seek care, making these healthy changes may help them better cope with stressful life situations. You can do these things together:

Learn about good nutrition and cook more healthy meals at home.
Exercise regularly, including taking walks together.
Practice and try mindfulness techniques like breathing exercises and meditation for relaxation.
Avoid alcohol and drugs, as many people with adjustment disorders are susceptible to substance abuse.
Get adequate sleep every night.
Journal feelings and events, focusing on gratitude.

Any kind of positive activity that reduces stress is helpful. Encourage your loved one to engage in activities they enjoy and get involved too. This could mean reading together, taking an art class, training for and running a 5k race, or just having coffee and a chat.

To understand Adjustment disorder treatment, Push for Treatment If Symptoms Don’t Resolve. It’s helpful to use healthy lifestyle choices and activities as well as stress reduction to manage adjustment disorder. But these measures are not always enough. Your loved one may need more professional care, and treatment in a residential facility is a good choice.

Treatment for adjustment disorder includes therapy, especially cognitive behavioural therapy and trauma-focused therapies. behavioural therapies help patients learn healthy coping strategies, set and achieve goals, make positive lifestyle changes, and build self-confidence. Trauma therapies help them face past bad experiences and process them in ways that are healthy and productive.

With residential treatment, your loved one will have access to these therapies and experienced professionals to guide them through it. Because adjustment disorder often co-occurs with other mental illnesses, they will also have the benefit of a thorough evaluation so that all issues can be addressed at once.

Patients can benefit from an extended period of time in treatment, from a couple of weeks to a few months, to heal and learn how to better cope with stress. A residential treatment centre can also provide medical care. Medications, like antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, can be helpful for adjustment disorder.

To understand Adjustment disorder treatment, Facilitate Positive Social Engagement. Once your loved one has finished treatment, they will need you to continue to provide support by encouraging positive lifestyle changes, helping them mitigate stress, and just being there as someone who cares.

Add social activities to these other areas of support to help your loved one heal and to protect them from future stress and trauma. A positive social network and strong support from others are protective factors against the negative effects of stress and trauma.

Having social ties helps promote good mental health and will help your loved one cope better in the future when stressful situations arise.

Help your loved one build up this positive network by encouraging and facilitating social engagement. If necessary, start out slowly. Set up activities with one or two family members and close friends, and eventually push your loved one to branch out and go to parties, try new social activities, and make new friends.

There are many ways you can be a positive influence in the life of someone you care about who struggles with adjustment disorder. Being there to listen and provide support is powerful, but ultimately the best thing you can do is make sure your loved one gets the professional evaluation and treatment they need to get better.

Resolving Relationship-Related Depression

Resolving relationship-related depression. Don’t Take Your Partner’s Depression Personally. Depression can make people behave in ways that they normally wouldn’t when they are feeling well.

They may become angry, irritable, or withdrawn. They may not be interested in going out or doing things with you like they used to. Your spouse or significant other may lose interest in sex.

These things are not personal, and they don’t mean that your partner no longer cares for or about you. They are symptoms of the illness that requires treatment.

When you think of Resolving relationship-related depression, Help Out With Chores. Just like when a person has any other illness, they may simply not feel well enough to take care of paying the bills or cleaning the house. And, just like with any other illness, you may have to temporarily take over some of their daily chores until they feel well enough to do them again.

Encourage Your Partner to Seek Treatment. Treatment is vitally important to recovery from depression. You can help your loved one by helping them keep up with taking their medication and remembering appointments.

You can also help them by reassuring them that asking for help is not a sign of weakness or something to be ashamed of.

When you think of Resolving relationship-related depression, Offer Hope. Offer your partner hope by reminding them of their reasons to keep living, whatever they may be. Perhaps it’s their children, a beloved pet who needs them, or their faith.

These reasons, which will be unique to the individual, can help them hold on a bit longer until the pain subsides.

When you think of Resolving relationship-related depression, Demonstrate Your Love. Depression can make a person feel like a burden and unworthy of love and support. Proactively counteract those thoughts by telling and showing your partner that you love them.

Let them know that you understand that depression is affecting their thoughts, feelings, and behaviour and that you (still) love them. Reassure them that you are here to support them in their journey to get better.

When you think of Resolving relationship-related depression, Discuss. Discuss depression in relationships as a variable in your life that is sometimes there and sometimes not. Discuss how depression impacts you and your relationship with depression with your spouse.

Make an effort to frame things in a nonjudgmental manner. This is when “depersonalisation” can be helpful, as you may discuss your condition as if it were an unpleasant visitor impacting each of you.

Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood Conclusion

Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood Conclusion Adjustment disorder is a common mental health condition that affects children, teens, and adults. Having the condition can lower your mood, increase your anxiety, and make it difficult to go about your daily life.

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