Just like any other illness, depression has characteristic
signs and symptoms associated with it. Knowing and understanding these symptoms
can be extremely important in knowing when to get yourself or loved one
professional help. Depression is not just a normal case of the blues. It may
begin that way, but it becomes much more profound and persistent when the
illness truly sets in. Arm yourself with the facts about depression and learn to
recognize the symptoms. Please note that these are specifically the symptoms for
major depression, but they are also often seen to some degree in both dyspasia
and bipolar disorder.
Feeling Sad
Feeling sad for
a short amount of time over an event that was traumatic in some way is
completely normal. The grief process following the death of a loved one or the
loss of a major part of life is completely normal. Feelings that arise without
an obvious cause, feelings that begin to effect your everyday life, feelings
that all is hopeless, feelings that you want to die, is not normal at all.
The sadness symptom of depression is a highly magnified version of the normal
human emotion that negatively effects parts of our daily existence. Crying over
an emotional event happens to every body, but a depressed person will find
themselves crying for seemingly no reason at all. They also start to have very
dark thinking and feelings of total worthlessness. The sadness also can turn, with
sometimes dire consequences, to thoughts of suicide.
Loss of
Interest
It is normal for people to change their likes and dislikes
over time, but depression causes one to dislike everything. All the things the
person once found enjoyable may suddenly not sound appealing at all. This
includes hobbies and recreation, and this also includes sex. Some of the reasons
tell themselves they have lost interest in things are actually other symptoms of
depression. If you find
yourself not enjoying anything anymore because you are just always too tired, or
because you always have a headache or some other indiscriminate ache or pain, it
is a sign that you are indeed depressed.
Change in
Habits
Many times depression causes major changes in normal habits.
Depressed people often sleep too much or may have trouble sleeping at all. Sleep
deprivation can actually worsen the depression. Depression sufferers may also
find a complete change in appetite. They may also experience unexplained
weight gain or weight loss.
If you are depressed, you may begin to notice that nothing
seems to be going right. Part of this is created by the negative thoughts and
feelings associated with depression, but part of this is can be very true.
Depressed people seem to often have difficulty with normal functions because of
habit changes. They may be very tired and move more slowly than normal causing
themselves to be late or to miss things entirely. This is obviously going to
have repercussions that could in turn have other repercussions and the violent
cycle goes on and on. One
of the most difficult parts of recognizing depression is the fact that it
somehow feeds on itself and can begin a downward spiral that can quickly get out
of control.
