Depression

There are many ways in which you can practice self-compassion. Learn more in this blog and webinar series by ADAA Member Kimberley Quinlan, LMFT.

The current pandemic has unleashed unique stressors on our health care community. While many medical and mental health care workers have responded with resilience, our health care workforce is not immune to the trauma and suffering they face.

The current pandemic has unleashed unique stressors on our health care community. While many medical and mental health care workers have responded with resilience, our health care workforce is not immune to the trauma and suffering they face.

With depression, there’s limited pleasure or interest in day-to-day activities and/or a consistently depressed mood. Because of this, individuals experiencing depression often pull back from life by not engaging in activities they used to before becoming depressed.

More often, people have heard about PTSD in the context of war, with combat-exposed veterans. While combat veterans often return to the normality of the civilian life after deployment, the job of firefighters, police officers and emergency medical services workers involves regular, routine exposure to all types of traumas, for years and decades of their careers.

Thanks to research, we know more about depression in children and adults with autism than we used to. Whereas scientists have studied the rates of depression, risk factors, and ways to diagnose it in people on the spectrum, we know far less about how treatments traditionally used on the general population work for those with autism.