Are You Worried About Depression?

Here are some questions you can ask if you’re concerned.

• Do you feel helpless, hopeless, and unmotivation?
• Do you feel depressed most of the day, most days?
• Do you cry more than usual or alternatively not feel any emotions?
• Are you eating or sleeping more or less than usual?
• Would you rather be by yourself than spend time with family and friends?
• Are you no longer interested in things you usually like to do?
• Have you been feeling this way for more than a few weeks with no end in sight?

If the answer to most of these questions is yes, then it could be time to visit a therapist. Major depression symptoms include change in sleeping eating habits; isolating from friends and family, lack of joy from things that normally bring you happiness (this is called anhedonia), having a bleak outlook on your future happiness, and even being irritable or angry much of the time. Sometimes when we are depressed, we feel like life is not worth living and can’t imagine feeling any other way. To see the symptoms of major (or clinical depression) follow this link.

There are different kinds of depression: the type we experience from the normal disappointments, losses, and changes in our daily lives. This type of depression lasts for a few weeks or months, but overall, it doesn’t interfere in a paralyzing way with our daily activities; we can usually get up and go about our business without too much trouble. Of course we might be operating in a fog for much of that time, but as time goes by, we adjust to our new circumstances, and life feels better. That is not to say that therapy or counseling is not useful in these situations; for many people it helps them move through the healing process more quickly.

On the other hand, Major Depression sometimes seems to come out of the blue, and the symptoms interfere in our daily activities for more than two weeks. It is when the world feels dismal most of the day for most days. We might isolate, under-eat, overeat, have insomnia or sleep too much, isolate, and not experience joy. We might not be able to go to work or even take care of our children or other loved ones or we may have problems in our relationships with others, and we may experience problems at work. In fact, sometimes when we are deeply depressed, we feel like life in not worth living.