Show More than just feeling down Shar Brannam Campus Reporter James Renola Renala spoke at atthe atthe atthe the Student Center on April 4 about different forms o of f depression and help that is is- available on campus Renola is a counselor at Health and Wellness Services and is working on his Masters of Social Work at the University of Utah Posters around campus advertise the acronym SPIES for the Health and Wellness Center SPIES stands for Social Physical Intellectual Emotional and Spiritual Those are areas of a students student's life that when they come into our office we like to assess in order to determine their health said Renola Social aspects include time with family or significant other physical aspects include exercise eating healthy getting enough sound sleep massage and hydration and intellectual aspects include life goals Emotional means an awareness of emotions and being able to express them spiritual includes meditation or prayer Not particularly religion but to feel your life has meaning Renola said Renola told students that 95 of Americans or approximately million people have some form of mental illness Its more than just feeling blue or down for a couple of days Its It's more like hopelessness and helplessness said Renola Depression is a medical illness its it's not made up in your h head ad When a student is feeling depressed Renola and other counselors at Health and Wellness are available to talk and to help Four free sessions are available to every student each semester After four sessions the cost is 10 per session Renola emphasized that this is a good value compared to the price of private counseling which is usually around 90 an hour Students receive counseling from a licensed clinical social worker According to Renola its it's normal for people to have sad days But when the sad days become frequent an individual may be suffering from depression If a student comes into Health and Wellness Services for counseling an will ask the student many questions about their circumstances Counselors will then encourage the student to come back over the next few weeks for further counseling If the student comes in repeatedly over the next few months with no improvement then medication may become an option to explore It depends on the severity of the students student's symptoms We might take other steps said Renola Treatment can include prescribing an antidepressant antidepressant antidepressant anti- anti depressant medication depressants Anti-depressants are beneficial because they relieve symptoms quickly Benefits of depressants anti-depressants include being able to concentrate better and having more energy I 1 If f an depressant anti-depressant is prescribed effects are usually not felt for three to four weeks Individuals should stay on I the medication for at least nine months more like a year Renola said j If the patient decides to quit taking the medication it is IS important to wean wean I ean off of it slowly and fake take smaller does for a p period of time rather than stopping abruptly Any change in life whether welcome or not can cause depression Physical illnesses such as stroke heart attack or cancer are also common causes of depression Most often symptoms of depression will improve with medication Some of the negative side-effects side can include dry mouth headache drowsiness change in sexual function or change in libido Major depression is associated with brain dysfunction This is an organic disorder and can run in families According to Renola it does not mean that if someone has a depressed relative they will also become depressed |