By Sara Strong
The second in a series of midlife seminars comes to Luverne Community Hospital at 7 p.m. Monday.
Psychologist Dr. Susan Maresh will speak on depression and mood swings through a videoconference session by Sioux Valley Hospital USD Medical Center.
Maresh said, "Women are two times more likely to have depression."
She also said 40 million more people have symptoms that would get them diagnosed with some form of mental illness.
Maresh said it's important to understand that the brain is like any other body organ and needs treatment if it's ill. "You have to treat it like you would if you had poor kidney function," Maresh said.
She will speak Monday specifically on women in midlife who experience depression from hormonal imbalances.
For example, Maresh said, "Postpartum depression can be medicated and is very treatable but can last for years if untreated."
Postpartum depression isn't as severe as postpartum psychosis that's been heard of recently when Texas mother Andrea Yates killed her five children.
For some women, even admitting to depression is a difficult thing to face, Maresh said. "Especially in the Midwest we're taught to control our moods when you really can't. You can't just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get better."
Maresh tells her patients that mood swings are messages that the brain sends the body saying that it's in pain.
"That can show up as problems in eating or sleeping," Maresh said.
Her talk on midlife emotional issues is directed toward women. Maresh said that's often necessary "because they are often caregivers and aren't used to caring for themselves. It can be seen as selfish to ask for help or not feminine in a way."
One of the major reasons people are diagnosed with depression and other mental illness today, Maresh said, is because people just live longer.
"In 1900 people lived to be 48. Today a woman who's 51 can expect to live to be 87, and depression as you age is more likely," Maresh said.
Attendance at the videoconference is free, but call 283-2321 to register.