Signs of Depressions
Although we all suffer
sometimes from the blues, there are certain symptoms
which can alert us to the presence of a real underlying
depression. Sometimes it is helpful to know if we
have a tendency toward depression; it can help to
normalize the way we feel. The following are a list
of the most common symptoms, and a description of
how they feel to those people who experience them.
- Persistent low mood.
The low mood of depression may feel similar to the
low mood of the normal cycle, except that it lasts
and lasts. To qualify as depression, the low mood
must last at least 2 weeks. Upon reading that, a depressed
person will probably say "Two weeks! I've been in
a low mood for 20 years!" That is because the seeds
of depression are often planted early in life, or
in adolescence, and those who experience depression
have probably always had to fight it off, to some
extent. In addition, the low mood of the depressed
person can be paralyzing. When a nondepressed person
experiences a low mood, it often motivates him/her
to take an action to restore feelings of well-being
and higher self-esteem.Not so the depressed person,
a low mood just translates into inactivity.
- Low energy. Depressed
people tend to have no energy, and they also feel
that nothing really matters, anyway. People with depression
can spend hours, days, weeks simply watching tv, or
lying around the house. The extreme case, catatonia,
results in a person' s being unable to even move a
limb. Chronic fatigue syndrome is often thought to
be a physical manifestation of depression. Depression
is a physical illness as well as a mental one, and
the body tends to manifest the symptoms through low
energy, joint pain, headaches, stomach upset, muscle
aches, etc.
- Restless irritability.
Some people with depression become fidgety, anxious,
unable to sit still or remain quiet. They become compulsively
active, pacing, tapping their foot. Along with this,
there is usually a low frustration tolerance, and
short fuse and an explosive temper, although some
people express their anger through insults, sarcasm
or contempt. It is sometimes amazing to realize that
underneath that angry, hostile exterior is plain old
depression.
- Feelings of hopelessness
and helplessness. There is a sense of powerlessness
that accompanies depression. "There is nothing I can
do to change this, and there is nothing ANYBODY can
do." The depressed person feels impotent, gloomy and
despairing. If you feel powerless, hopeless and despairing,
chances are you are depressed.
- Withdrawal. Depression
leads one to withdraw. Someone might become aloof,
cool, stand-offish or more radically, isolate, become
reclusive. It becomes too tiring to try to socialize,
or even to spend time with friends. Depressed people
find themselves more and more alone as they push their
loved ones away. Yet social support is one of the
best cures for depression!
- Increased desire
for intoxicants. As one becomes more isolated, one
tends to turn more and more to non-human forms of
self-soothing. It is true that beneath most alcoholism,
drug use and other addictions, there is depression.
Depressed people try to self-medicate with these substances,
searching and searching for SOME WAY to feel better.
Some people drink more, others take pills or other
drugs, other people may 'shop til they drop', eat
chocolate, or do something else in an effort not to
feel the feelings.
- Tendency to cry over
small things. Many people cry easily, it is a part
of a sensitive character structure. But a depressed
person will often manifest an exaggerated tendency
to cry over small things, often generalizing them
to the world. For example, one person told me she
heard about a friend's taking in a stray dog. She
started cryng about all the abandoned dogs in the
world. Another person reported spilling a pitcher
of lemonade, and couldn't stop crying from the upset
over the incident. The crying responses of a depressed
state are one of the most recognizable symptoms.
- Insomnia. Sometimes
people with depression just want to sleep and sleep.
But often, even if it is possible to fall asleep,
the depressed person wakes up in the early morning
hours, and cannot go back to sleep. This is very difficult,
since lack of sleep itself contributes to depression!
- Inability to experience
pleasure. This classic symptom of depression is also
known as anhedonia, an inability to experience the
joy of the good things of life. Depression leads to
a loss of libido, sexual appetite, to a loss of the
ability to get turned on by anything, music, sex,
food, nature...Depression feels like wearing a shield
over the entire psychic system; nothing good can get
in!
- Self-loathing. The
inner sense of personal failure of a person in depression
is reflected in the self-flagellation which they heap
on themselves. Most depressed people call themselves
"losers," "worthless," even "better off dead." If
you find yourself having these thoughts, you are probably
struggling with depression. The thoughts are not real,
they simply are a sign that you are depressed.
- Inappropriate guilt
feelings. The depressed person tends to think that
she or he caused all the bad stuff that happens around
them. For example, one person said she felt guilty
because the stock market went down a week after she
convinced her sister to open an IRA account. Or someone
might think that a family member suffered an illness
or accident because she or he failed to call as planned.
In serious cases, these guilt feelings can lead to
beliefs that are unreal and entrenched, such as that
God is punishing him or her, specifically, for being
so "bad."
- Distortions of reality.
These guilt feelings described above can become serious
enough to be distortions of reality. Thinking that
you caused someone else's illness or bad fortune just
because you were involved in some peripheral way in
a circumstance is not sound thinking! If you find
yourself having these thoughts, you may be suffering
from depression.
- Suicidal urges. Suicide is the depressive person's last stand. Suicide ranks as one of the ten leading causes of death in all age groups, except those over 65, and most suicide victims have suffered from depression. If you are having suicidal thoughts, consider speaking with someone about your depression.
Depression is an illness, but it is a TREATABLE illness, for which there is usually a 100% (or close to it) chance of feeling relief. People too frequently do not realize that they do not have to suffer from depression. IT IS TRUE. If you are depressed, you CAN feel better.
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Dr. Simko
is available for Media and Speaking Engagements.
Contact simko@mac.com
Update:
July 2001
Copyright 1998 – 2006 Patricia Simko
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