How do you know if you're depressed?
People who are depressed generally know that something is wrong, even frighteningly wrong. But sometimes they and those around them do not identify their problem as depression. Out of lack of awareness of what depression consists of or an aversion to admitting a mental or emotional illness, they see themselves as suffering from stress, fatigue, or overwork or even a physical disease.
Depression is a constellation of symptoms that varies from person to person. If you have at least five of the symptoms listed below for at least two weeks -- and they are not clearly caused by a medical disorder, drug use, or bereavement -- then you very likely have an episode of major depression:
- A depressed mood (often noticeably different from low moods previously experienced; an indescribable psychic pain or anguish).
- A pervasive and sometimes profound loss of interest in usual activities.
- (One of these first two symptoms must be included for the diagnosis.)
- Loss of appetite; significant weight loss.
- Insomnia or excessive sleep.
- Physical slow down or agitation.
- Lack of energy; fatigue.
- Feelings of guilt or worthlessness that may be of delusional proportions.
- Poor concentration; indecisiveness.
- Recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal ideas, plans, or attempts.
Many other symptoms can occur, such as hopelessness, a dismal view of the future, distorted judgment, decreased sexual interest, constipation, and bodily aches and pains. Depressive symptoms can occur in subtle and mild forms. It is best to recognize and begin to treat depression before it is full-blown.
Anyone who is depressed, or possibly depressed, should get a medical evaluation. Sometimes medical illnesses such as hypothyroidism can cause depression and should be ruled out.
Depression is highly treatable. Treatment can sometimes be done by primary physicians, if they have the experience and interest. If your depression is severe or not responsive to treatment, you should see a psychiatrist.
More like How do you know if you're depressed? . . .
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I don't know what's wrong me
I don't know what's wrong me I have been crying every day I'm extremely lonely I'm just not myself everyone thinks my life is perfect but noone know that when I get home I just cry its been like this for a long time but now its worser and I have nobody to vent to *sigh* when I'm around people I act like I'm the happiest but its all a big front I'm extremely Unhappy : (
I just have reall bad mood
I just have reall bad mood swings all the time and I am
Hurting the ones that I love and I don't mean to. I fell ugly in myself and have always suffered with weight but now i am
Not eating properly and it is making me feel in control of my body. I just seem to push everyone away and I don't mean to. I don't know what to do. Nothing seems to make me happy
I feel dead inside i wish i
I feel dead inside i wish i can die right now i have no idea how this has started i feel like dieing no one there for me i pick up kifes saying im finaly going to move on but can never bring my self to do it please help me con tact my email Drew...@yahoo.com or better facebook J-raw Drew im 14 i need help before i burn my light out and fade into what seems a better place for me
I'm 16 and I have all these
I'm 16 and I have all these symptoms except for one. My family is just being torn apart, &now they've taken my best friend (my cousin) away from me. She was the only one who really got me through the day. The only one who actually cared about my day. When her mom told her to stop talking to me I tried to talk to my friends the way I would talk to her, but it just wasn't the same. Ever since then I don't really talk to them. I can't open up to anybody else, it just feels wrong. So I don't talk to my friends outside of school. So all I really have are my four friend from a different school that I see from time to time. I tried talking to them too, but no. They haven't been through everything with me. And now all I do is read books and go on Tumblr, but then I have to stop because I just can't... So i have to switch between the two. Then today my mom said I never really come out of my room anymore an I've been acting different. That's when I looked this up and saw that I have almost every symptom. Except the one where I want to commit suicide. I mean, I have thought about it. I mean, seriously, who hasn't? Buy suicide would just make things worse to me. I wouldnt want to die in the state I'm in now. I don't even know if I'm really depressed or just tired of people and the crap they bring with them. Tired of my aunt... My aunt being so pissy at everyone... Not letting her daughter talk to me because she's mad at my mother. Not letting our family parties happen because it's just too awkward. And my mom not being able to speak up to her and make her see what she's doing. And speak up to my step dad and tell him to stop pushing her around like a slave. I don't want to end up like my brother, cooped up in room playing video games all day. Never answering his phone and making his friend struggle to get into his life. "accidentally" forgetting to enroll for winter college classes. And I don't want to end up like my mother, being pushed around by everyone. Not speaking up for herself. Or my aunt who will kick you out of her life and families life when you don't agree with her on every little thing. And I certainly don't want to end up in an office stapling paper or filing them like my grandma wants to do. My mom and grandma keep pushing ideas for things I should be when I grow up. I know what I want to be, but I don't tell them because it's not going to be in some law firm or whatever. I'm almost scared to tell anyone what I want to be when I grow up because i don't want them to laugh at my face. I just don't know what I'm doing anymore. I think I just really need to find a better way to vent things out than go on a depression website and just drop all my tiny problems here. I mean, I'm a teenager now. I don't know how I'm going to be like in the future when I have bills to pay and fears to face. I just feel like the world is moving too fast right now. Sorry if I wasted your time. but I need to get it out.
im just sad about the way i
im just sad about the way i lok the way im fat and im just ugly and i know it i cant do nothing right im not happy but at least i try to be when i sing it helps me a little i just wanna go to sleep...
I am depressed because people
I am depressed because people are always laughing at my name. They think that it was just a joke, but really my parents actually named me that. I want to change it but i respect my parents to much to do so. Please help me.
I don't know what to do
I don't know what to do anymore.. :( I've been trying to feel better, i've gotten out of the house more, tried sleeping at night, I've tired making friends.. But it doesn't work.. i just can't let go of the past, and it's killing me.. I've completely lost who i am, and all my ways and I can't figure out why.. The thoughts in my mind are getting worst :( I need help, i feel like one day i'm just going to lose it, and go somewhere and never turning back.. I'm scared....
I have gotten good at hiding
I have gotten good at hiding behind a fake smile, but does no one really see the pain behind it? I do my best to ignore or hide it by staying busy because trying to cover it up is so much easier than dealing with the pain. No one around me understands, but i feel like no one cares enough to, they don't even care enough to really notice. I hate my life and feel so lost, i don't know what the point is anymore. i don't think i will ever really be happy in life, no one will ever love me in a sincerer way. i feel the weight on my heart,not just emotional but physical, it hurts more than anyone knows. i hate that everyone around me is so happy!! i wounder if they pretend like me, and like me go home and cry till they cant breath and then just lay there because you have no more tears to cry. i cant sleep, my brain wont stop long enough to stop the tears and go to sleep.i cant consintrate or remember what i did two seconds ago. i have felt these feelings and more for about 3 months and it just keeps getting worse. idk what to do or if i should just keep pushing it to the side and it will eventually go away, i need help i know i do i cant stand this feeling much longer...i wanna cry out for help so bad but cant let myself for some reason. im sorry i know it sounds like im rambling, its just ard to keep my thoughts in order.
I'm feeling the same as
I'm feeling the same as everyone else here does, so here it goes. I don't want to talk to my parents about this because for one, my mom will tell me that i'm a hypochondriac and second, my dad will be so disappointed in me because i have failed him... again. I cry myself to sleep most nights. I HATE waking up and having to go to school just to force another smile on my face. People are starting to notice more and more that the smile on my face is fake. I'll drift off into a completely different thought while people are talking to me or when i'm doing my school work or even when i'm talking to someone, myself. I have separated myself from ALL of my friends. Even my closest friends i barely talk to now. I don't talk to my family unless i absolutely have to, I usually stay in my room and sit on my bed listening to depressing music and staring at the wall. I have actually found drugs to help. But, i know for a fact that i just can't go down that road. I have suicidal thoughts every day. And no, i'm not exaggerating. I mean EVERY DAY. I don't talk to my best friend about it because she's too busy telling me about how great her life is and how many boys want to have sex with her to stop and listen to how i'm feeling for a change. I wonder what it's like to be gorgeous like her. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, big boobs, huge butt, skinny tummy, tan as fuh. As a matter of fact, i have noticed that my appetite has changed. A lot. I used to eat almost everything in site. Now, i don't eat much. When i'm around my "Friends" i force myself to eat at least the sandwich on my plate at lunch. But tonight, i only had one slice of pizza. And it wasn't like a dominoes pizza. It was a store bought pizza. My mom makes those slices extremely small. I can't sleep very well, i don't sleep at night and i sleep on and off when i get home from school. Sometimes, i begin to believe the smile on my face. Some days at school things will be fine. Then, i get home and my mood completely changes. Other days, it's all just a wreck. I am VERY irritable, and in a lot of pain physically, more often. As of right now, my body aches. and i don't know why. I cut btw. And, i blog about my life too, but it never seems to help. Not even a little bit. I'm falling apart, I don't know how this started and i don't know why i feel like i want to just end it all, but i want this pain inside of me to be gone. I can't take this anymore. I just want to go to be tonight and never wake up again. Help me. Please, Just save me from myself. I don't know how much longer i can live in this painful illness.
I have been physically sick
I have been physically sick for a year now and going back and forth to the hospital as taken a lot out of my life. I was really upset and began cutting. Then i was ok for a while until my boyfriend tried to have sex with me and started doing things i didnt want and i feel like its my fault and like im a slut or something even though i dumped him and told him no. But when i told my best friend shes like "oh" and then i started to cut again this time almost everythiing something little happened and id cry all the time and be sad easily and started to ignore people and have no intrest in anything, i then started to think i was fat and stopped eating and when i did id go and make myself vomit i lost 45 pounds in 3 months and blamed it on being sick im always constipated, i take extra pills now so ill sleep quickly and faster and im always wishing id just disappear or die. I dont feel like anything matters and i make excuses for everything just to be alone. I hate myself and i dont know why, everything is so hard to focus on and im tired of crying everytime i wake up and myself to sleep. Yet i have no friends i can talk to or that even care. Its like im invisable when im with them just getting ignored and pushed off like im not as good as they are. Just because i needed a friend and no one was there for me yet when they needed some one i was always there. Idk if im depressed but i know im not happy with my life and wish id run away from it all or just die. Im tired of pretending im ok and faking a smile just to stop second looks and im tired of having to be this perfect girl when im not perfect and i make mistakes yet no one can except that..im done tying. im done with it all
hey, i just wanted to say
hey, i just wanted to say dont worry alot of people feel like this, im 14 years old and i just got done reading this. It made me feel really bad because it sounds like you feel like noone is there for you, i feel the same way too, i dont no how old you are but if you are young then my suggestion would be DONT commit suicide, and try and start fresh :) you have a long life in head of you! make it worth it, EVERYONE is insecure about somethings. but what keeps me motivated is that i just say WHOcares what other ppl say or think there opinion does not mean shit. just hang inthere girl. :)
I hope you get well soon .
I hope you get well soon . You should talk to your doctor . Stay safe .
It's Thsnkgiving the
It's Thsnkgiving the beginning of the holiday season and I wish it were over. I'm so stressed about bills and gifts for my kids I don't want to let them down. I feel like a failure in everything from life in general to love. I was recently in a relationship with a man for 11 month we connected on every level of a relationship possible first friends who fell in love went on the vacation of a lifetime, numerous people commented on what a great couple we were and that it was nice to see two people so much in love. We both knew it was coming ... Only to come home and have him decide to try and make things work with his estranged wife to see if there was anything there ??? Which I completely understand and respect I only want someone that can give me 100%. The problem is we are still very much in love and connected and talk regularly we just don't say we love each other outloud. we tried for a little over a week to not communicate and move on only to have an extremely empty aching feeling. I've gone on a few dates to distract me but really have no interest. I am a very sexual woman and have no desire to even have any one touch me even as little as holding hands. I could lie in bed 24/7 I've been sick it seems I get everything going around I used to love working out 3-5 times a week and now have no energy to even set foot in the gym. I know I've got some level of depression I cry all the time everything I see or song I hear hits home. I want to run away and hide if I didn't have kids well I just don't know what I would. I don't sleep and when I do I wake numerous times during the night crying or falling back to sleep crying..I've even started having a drink almost every night sometimes as soon as I walk in the door I make one.. I'm always the strong on in the family that everyone turns to their rock I am still faking and laughing things off pretty good until behind closed doors.... Help tired of being strong and holding it together I feel as if I'm going to just fall apart .... I miss my best friend lover and soul mate......
I'm very moody, can't sleep.
I'm very moody, can't sleep. I look at pictures of others and cry because they seem more happy than I am, I'm starting to cry everynight, I'm annoyed relly easily, I'm cutting people out of my life, my sex drive has shot down tremendisly I don't know what to do I dont want to think I'm depressed but.. I am. I just don't know what to do noone to talk to nothing I've never felt so sad in my life please help.
I found my mother dead six
I found my mother dead six months ago and I am 19 and my mother died when she was 46, ever since then I feel like I've completely changed as a person, I'm have all these symptoms listed above, I'm angry or stressed all the time even to my best friends and my gran and I never mean it and I've never was like this before my mother died, I often have suicidal thoughts but the only reason I don't is because I live beside my gran and I try my best too look after her, I also always have really bad aggression, I found out one of my mates had slept with my Mam shortly before she died, ever since I found that out I've been having thoughts about killing people, just anybody too let this anger out, I'm starting too think I'm becoming very fucked up as the days go by, I really want too talk to somebody but I physically can't open up, and I feel it will lead too my suicide.
i usally get depressed. i cut
i usally get depressed. i cut myself sometimes, and other times im just ignoring everything around me. when im depressed i dont eat at all, im never hungry, and i sleep or read a lot. my sisters are usally having fun together but i stand out and never so activities with them. school is also a big problem with me. i try fiting in but its usally hard. sometimes i try to much that i end up getting in to a lot of trouble wich brings me back to being depressed. im sick i need help but i cant get any because my parents dont want me to tell anyone about my problems.
i just wish life was easy
I have all of the listed
I have all of the listed symptoms. I didn't want to admit it, but I think I'm depressed. I feel empty; like my life no longer has meaning. Or maybe it just never did in the first place.
I just cry all the time for
I just cry all the time for absolutley no reason, I hate going to school, to work, I just hate getting out of bed in the morning. I get mad at everyone and everything but i don't even mean it. i don't eat, my family is telling me I'm losing to much weight, I don't sleep and if I do i wake up numerous times during the night. I feel like i have no life and I can't get away from it. The worse thing is, I can't talk to anyone about it, it's not that I physically can't I don't want to. I think that's why i feel I have depression. And I hate it because i can't even help myself by seeing someone about it.
I don't even know you, but I
I don't even know you, but I think you should see some one. Or just tell someone and ask them to find a way to help you. Good luck!
I feel really alone and
I feel really alone and really self-conscious whenever I'm anywhere.. My mind drifts off into all negative thoughts and I can't stop it. I feel really useless, and when people just comment on anything I do I start tearing up ): .. I don't know if I'm depressed but I'm pretty stressed x.x I have too much negative thoughts in my mind I can't think straight and I have trouble paying attention and making decisions. I stayed home 2 days because I was feeling so unwell and my friends are worrying about me.. I can't get out of the dark, deep hole I got trapped in. ):
just reading the previous
just reading the previous posts brings me to tears because I feel that way. I keep saying I am stresses or im just being "moody" but it has not gone away. Some days are okay when I can socialize but then I come home and a feeling of sadness comes through. I just want to be happy like other people are and smile because I cant help but smile not because I force myself to. I dont want to admit I need help and I dont want to put the mental work that I need to train my brain to think differently about myself. It is sad to say I dont want to try. I feel like my boyfriend and my friends do not understand at all. I am sure they are getting fed up with me moping all the time which is hard as well. I also keep saying it is just stress because I started a new job but who knows..just had to type I guess to get it out
I'm currently on my way into
I'm currently on my way into depression, as it was said when i took other online tests to determine whether I'm or am not depressed. It feels like my heart is so heavy its about to fall out of my chest. Sleeping gets difficult too. I tried to get out and enjoy places but then at times when i pause for a moment my mind drifts off into thinking of how happy other people are, even if I'm just staring out into a crowd. My eyes start to swell and tear up. This feeling is very heavy. The ease i get from this heaviness is through normal conversations. If ever you are feeling depressed and reading this, talk to someone anyone about anytime as soon as possible. Trust me, it helps me ease the ache in my chest. Please don't go too far into depression. Then again maybe I'm just saying that to myself. I feel so heavy.
I can't sleep, I feel distant
I can't sleep, I feel distant from everyone, I'm sad all the time and I just cry. I don't want to admit that I'm depressed but I think I am. Usually I can hide it from my family but they've been noticing more lately. I don't want to tell them because they've got enough going on and I don't want to bug them. What should I do? Does anyone else feel this way? :'(
everyone around me always
everyone around me always expects me to do things and be good at everything, or they dont really like me and im kind of the excluded one; im rubbish at school work and nothing ever goes right, im really worthless and all my friends like each other way more than they like me, or pretend to like me but really hate me :(
I don't know what to do fill
I don't know what to do fill lonely I have no friends and cry just telling my self am nothing I need help
its okay i'll pray for you!!
its okay i'll pray for you!! :-)
I think i know how you feel
I think i know how you feel :( its a horrible feeling i feel like im drifting away from everthing, I know this sounds really petty but my ipod broke and i realised how much i had been blocking people out, I need help but im to worried, i dont know who to tell, i am sick :(
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