Melancholy in psychology: what it is, causes, symptoms and how to manage it

Many times we are left clinging to a relationship that was broken, a job that was lost, a dream that could not be fulfilled. We are devastated by that feeling of loss that invades us and makes life difficult for us. This can happen to us when we lose something or someone that we love very much and going through the pain takes time. However, there are people who cannot get out of the sadness that a loss of this style implies and live with the same feeling for years. Maybe it has happened to you or you know someone who lives this way. Do you want to know more about this? In this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about what is melancholy in psychology, what are its causes, its symptoms and how to manage it.

Index

1. What is melancholy
2. What Causes Blues?
3. Symptoms of melancholy
4. How to manage it

First of all, we will start by explaining what melancholy is. From psychology,

Likewise, we must also know how to distinguish between melancholy and depression since the latter consists of the loss of desire in all areas of life. In other words, a person with a depressed state has lost the will to live for various reasons, while that someone melancholic may not feel the desire to have another loving partner because of a separation that occurred 15 years ago behind. In this article, you will find the criteria and symptoms of depression.

Melancholy can have serious consequences both at a family, social and work level. What is the cause of melancholy? Next, we will describe the main causes associated with the emergence of a state of melancholy:

• Death of loved ones
• Ruptures loving
• Losses of work
• Educational failures
• Disappointments about important people
• Imitation of family behaviors

The causes described here are general, although there may be other reasons that trigger a melancholic state.

What is it to be a melancholic person? What is it to be melancholic? Melancholy has some manifestations that it is important to consider when detecting this clinical picture. We will divide the symptoms into two groups: cognitive symptoms and behavioral symptoms.

• Cognitive symptoms: are those ideas that arise in those who suffer from melancholy. Here we must include the feeling of guilt, catastrophic thoughts about life, loss of interest by areas of life related to what was lost, among others.
• Behavioral symptoms: they consist of those behaviors that people who go through melancholy present. At this point we will highlight isolation, loneliness, avoidance of activities that are linked to loss, eating problems, sleep disturbances, among others.

It should be noted that the presence of one or more symptoms does not necessarily mean that a person suffers from melancholy. The diagnosis must be made by a mental health professional since he will be in charge of carrying out a treatment appropriate to the characteristics of the person.

How is melancholy cured? Due to the characteristics that melancholy presents in terms of its main causes and symptoms, one of the aspects that we must consider lies in the possible ways of approaching it. As a result of this, we will expose some ways that can be useful against this problem:

Psychological treatment

Therapy can help us overcome certain situations that arise throughout life. There are several types of therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and the psychoanalysis the most important.

Regarding short-term therapies, we will mention that they focus on problem solving through various techniques that will seek that the person gradually regain the desire for what they have lost in the past.

On the other hand, psychoanalysis aims to find the origin of the conflicts that a person may have in her life. In this way, this type of therapy will focus on locating what has been the cause that triggered the melancholy to modify the behavior of the person in the face of situations that involve what is lost.

Psychiatric medication

There are some medications that act in the brain and have the ability to produce modifications in neural connections. In the case of melancholy, special emphasis is placed on the areas related to adrenaline and joy. This allows the mood of a person to be different in the area that has suffered a loss. However, this type of medication should always be prescribed by a health professional who evaluates the characteristics of the patient and observes the evolution of the treatment.

Here you will find the Types of antidepressants and what they are for. We can also support you from Natural antidepressants.

What to say to a melancholic person? In these articles, we explain what to say to someone who is having a bad time and how to encourage a person.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is melancholy in psychology: causes, symptoms and how to manage it, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

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• Garcés Giraldo, P. TO. (2019). Clinic of melancholy and depression: From disorder to symptom. University of Antioquia, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences. Department of Psychology, Medellín.
• Ortiz Zavalla, G. L., Berdullas, P., Malamud, M. (2013). The object in melancholy. Research Yearbook Magazine, 20 (1), 157-161.