What are the symptoms of Depression?
What is depression?
Depression is a disease which causes you to become trapped in a state of painful sadness for most of the time. Doctors often say it becomes true depression if it’s lasted more than 2 weeks. If you’re reading this article and wondering if you’re suffering from depression, then you’re probably already feeling sad enough to need medical advice. You may be surprised to learn that getting the right kind of medical help can aid your recovery.
Because happiness and sadness are so personal and subjective, it can be difficult to know whether you have the disease “depression” or not- some of the following information may help.
Symptoms of Depression may include:
- Anxiety.
- Decrease or increase in appetite – maybe you feel you’re forcing yourself to eat, or maybe you’re comfort eating.
- Bad sleep – particularly not falling asleep easily or waking in the early hours.
- Easily losing your temper at silly things, or easily becoming tearful.
- Fatigue, loss of energy.
- Loss of motivation – finding it hard to get out of bed, leave the house or meet people.
- “Anhedonia” – the inability to enjoy the things you would normally enjoy.
- Either fidgeting or becoming slow-moving.
- Feelings of guilt or self-loathing.
- Wanting to die.
- Severe depression can also sometimes lead to delusions and hallucinations.
Depression may be:
- Recurrent (and sometimes seasonal) – it comes and goes.
- Persistent – most of the time.
- Part of a bipolar disorder involving distinct episodes of unusual upswings in mood.
Depression may also be:
- “Reactive” – there’s a cause, for example the death of loved one or the breakdown of a relationship.
- “Endogenous” – there’s no obvious trigger. You just feel that way. If this is the case, it can be harmful to keep looking for a cause, as this will only delay your acceptance of your illness and cause you guilty feelings – “I shouldn’t feel like this.”
Both reactive and endogenous depression can be extremely serious illnesses.
Some advice that you may find helpful:
- If you’re depressed, you’ll almost certainly worry what people will think if you admit you’re unwell. In that case, you should ask yourself the following question: “If somebody I know told me they were sick with depression, how would I react?”
By not telling our loved ones that we’re unwell, we deny them the opportunity to help.
- If you feel there’s nobody you can turn to, please tell a GP – there should be nothing embarrassing about it and it could actually be the first step to feeling happy again.
- You’re not alone – about 3 million Australian adults have a mental illness. There are so many unhappy people, feeling paralysed by the thought of getting help. Half of all of us have a mental illness at some point. That means there’s a good chance that even your GP has had a mental illness.
- In the meantime, if you think you may be suffering from depression, talk it through with your GP or read more at the Beyond Blue website.
What is Bali Belly?
What is Bali Belly? causes prevention treatment What causes Bali Belly? Bali Belly is also known as “Traveller’s Diarrhoea” It comes from eating contaminated food [...]
Painful fingers in the winter? It could be Chilblains
Painful fingers in winter? It could be Chilblains What are Chilblains? Chilblains are caused by repeated exposure to cold air, leading to inflammation of the small blood vessels in [...]
Why is Eczema worse in winter?
Why does Eczema get worse in winter? What is Eczema? Eczema is inflamed skin. It can be difficult to distinguish from other skin conditions. Symptoms include: Redness Itch Dryness Weeping and [...]
What is Rubella and why is it dangerous?
What is Rubella and why is it dangerous? What is Rubella? Rubella (sometimes called German Measles) is a viral infection. It used to be very common, but routine vaccination [...]
Why is Measles so serious?
Why is Measles such a dangerous infection? What is Measles? Measles used to be a common illness. The MMR vaccine has dramatically reduced the number of cases in Australia, [...]
Flu symptoms- how do you know if you have Influenza?
What are the symptoms of Influenza (Flu)? What is Influenza? Many people say they have “the flu” when they experience viral symptoms, however true Influenza is generally a lot [...]