Mental Health

The Symptoms Of Depression. What To Look Out For

Hi Musers. I’ve talked a lot about depression here at CMooMuses, but I’ve never explained the symptoms of depression that might suggest you or someone you know has it too. As the term depression is so widely misused these days, I want to put this right.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a trained psychiatrist, psychologist, or counsellor. The information in this post is not intended to replace medical advice or give you a positive diagnosis of depression. If you suspect you may be depressed, always see a trained professional to be officially diagnosed and, much more importantly, get the help you need. The information here is based on my own experiences of depression and how it felt for me. Not everyone may feel the same way. It does not mean you aren’t depressed. This post is for information only.

What Is Depression?

Depression is not feeling a bit down; it’s not feeling sad because you’ve been through a rough few days; it’s not even grief at the loss of a loved one. All of these things can lead to depression, but they are not depression in and of themselves. This is how the NHS website explains what depression is:

“Depression is more than simply feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days. Most people go through periods of feeling down, but when you’re depressed, you feel persistently sad for weeks or months, rather than just a few days.”

I don’t think this goes far enough as there are so many other symptoms of depression in addition to feeling sad. Let’s talk about them now.

Emotional Symptoms

• Continual sadness that doesn’t improve for weeks or months
• Loss of self-confidence and self-esteem
• Loss of interest in hobbies and other activities that you previously enjoyed
• Feeling anxious all the time. This could be an anxiety disorder, too, but it happens with depression.
• Starting to avoiding other people, sometimes even your close friends. Sometimes I have to be alone. I can barely cope with myself, let alone other people, even people I love. 
• Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. I feel drained and stuck in a grey wilderness that I can never escape from. It’s hard to see the point of continuing to fight when I feel that way.
• Extreme feelings of guilt or worthlessness
• Thinking about suicide and death. 
• Self-harm

Mental Symptoms

• Difficulty concentrating/brain fog. When I’m at my worst, it feels like my brain is wrapped in cotton wool. Thinking clearly is incredibly difficult.
• Difficulties functioning at work, university, or school. Some days I can cope, and some I can’t. My emotions, exhaustion and brain fog sometimes just get to be too much.

Physical Symptoms

• Feeling very tiredness and a complete loss of energy. I feel like I barely have then energy to exist. 
• Physical aches and pains. It can be anywhere but headaches, arms and legs are where I feel it.
• Loss of appetite or eating way more than usual. I’ve been emotional eating since I was 12 as a way of self-medicateting.
• A range of sleeping problems – difficulties in getting off to sleep or waking up much earlier than usual. I find it difficult to get to sleep and wake up a lot. 
• A loss of sex drive or other sexual problems. That might be depression, and it might be antidepressant medication. Both have this effect. It’s not ideal, but you can still enjoy closeness with other people. I love cuddling with Mike when I feel bad.
• Feeling like a giant rock is crushing your chest where your heart is. When the rock arrives, that’s when I know I’m going to have a difficult time.
• A bad stomach. I don’t know if it’s an official symptom or not, but I get stomach cramps and diarrhoea when I feel awful. It’s not pleasant, and it feels like a tummy bug, but it happens too regularly when I’m feeling depressed.

Dysthymia

This condition is less well known but it is a form of depression. Instead of having periods of depression and then feeling better, dysthymia is constant low level depression over a long period. The symptoms are much the same as depression and in particular include sadness, loss of energy, trouble focussing, insomnia or sleeping far more than normal and lack of interest in life.

Sometimes the symptoms can be so mild sufferers don’t realise they have it. It can be accompanied by periods of major depression though and when this occurs it is referred to as “double depression”. Sounds weird I know but it is an actual diagnosis. It is also every bit as important to seek treatment for dysthymia as it is for other depressive disorders as it can very easily steal all enjoyment from life, damaging careers and personal relationships.

Treatment

The most important thing to realise is that the symptoms of depression won’t get better on their own. You can’t tough it out, or snap out of it and sufferers are not attention seeking. The first stop should always be to a doctor or mental health professional. If you or someone you know is struggling getting treatment is vital. Once you’re being treated there are other things you can do to speed up the process. Sadly there is no quick fix and you will have to do some work. You can read a recent post on things I do when I’m feeling down here and how to help a loved one who’s depressed here. Until next time my Musers take care of each other.