It's an absolutely normal phenomenon to experience episodes of feeling low at times and have all those negative thoughts about almost everything. That may be among the symptoms of depression, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a person is under depression. It's important to understand that we all experience various symptoms of depression from time to time. Also, everyone who is depressed doesn't necessarily exhibit all the symptoms.
However, if the frequency of such episodes increases, then there's every possibility that you might be falling prey to depression.
So, now the question is how do you identify if you are depressed?
Major depressive disorder - a type of depression - is much more complicated. However, there are specific symptoms that can be observed to determine whether it's depression or the normal sadness that you experience in life.
If the duration of one such episode of sadness extends up to at least more than two weeks for which you have felt sad and miserable, or you have lost interest or pleasure in usual activities, then these are the signs that you are under depression. Determining if all those are a result of depression, can be the first step towards recovery.
The following is the list of various signs and symptoms to see if it's time for you to see a mental health professional.
Developing Hopeless Attitude: This is the most common and most prominent one. You start feeling hopeless and helpless towards everything in life in general. You are not optimistic about achieving anything you pursue, which may be any official task or a personal commitment.
Losing Interest: You start losing interest in all those things or activities that you used to love. You start ignoring your involvement in the activities you once looked forward to like sports, traveling, and even your hobbies.
Changes in Appetite and Weight: People under depression can experience changes in their appetite schedule, resulting in an increase or decrease in weight. This experience may be different for each person, some might have increased appetite and gain weight, while others may have absolutely opposite experiences. All these changes are attributed to depression if they are completely unintentional.
Extremities of Emotions: One moment you might be holding your stomach laughing, while the very next moment you might start crying like a kid. Nothing outside of you stimulated the change, but it's your emotions that are making you feel the extremities of emotions. Depression causes mood swings.
Increased fatigue and sleep problems: One of the reasons for you to stop doing things that you once enjoyed could be the lack of energy due to sleep problems. If the sleep problems persisted too long, this might result in insomnia as well.
Anxiety: Being insecure about the future can lead to anxiety as well. Although, depression is not the sole cause of anxiety. Nonetheless, it can be a prominent stimulant for anxiety.
Feeling suicidal tendency: Since depression makes you feel worthless, and makes you doubt your capabilities, this eventually leads to suicidal feelings due to considering yourself useless. You even start questioning your existence and hence those suicidal thoughts.
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