Am I depressed? If you are consistently sad for no reason, or often find yourself faced with more than you can handle emotionally for long periods and weeks on end, there is a good chance you might be depressed. For more, read on to learn: Am I depressed?
Just about every individual goes through a time of sadness in their life. For some, these occasions happen more than for others. Ultimately it depends on the situation and the individual at hand and how well they are able to cope with the sadness and unhappiness they are facing. However, for some the times of sadness and despair become more and more frequent and harder to shake. This is typically an indication the individual might be suffering from depression. Anyone can experience a bought of depression here and there, but prolonged sadness and feelings of loneliness and just general unhappiness about life can often become a debilitating mental illness that can cause problems with a person’s work, family, relationships and overall health.
Am I Depressed?
To determine whether or not if you are depressed and need to seek professional help or treatment, it is a good idea to do a little self-reflecting and look at the following questions to help determine if you truly are suffering from depression. These are some of the most common depression symptoms. If you find that you are experiencing any of these for a few weeks or more, it is likely you are suffering from depression.
- Difficulty concentrating and/or making decisions
- Trouble sleeping or sleeping excessively
- Feeling down, hopeless, or depressed for the majority of the day
- Feeling worthless or guilty
- Increased anxiety or irritability
- Increased fatigue or loss of energy
- Lacking interest or pleasure in activities you once enjoyed
- Pain anywhere on the body that cannot be explained by illness or injury
- Significant weight loss or weight gain
- Decreased or increased appetite
- Recurrent thoughts of death, suicide or inflicting bodily harm upon yourself
If you find that you are experiencing any of these symptoms for a prolonged period of time – longer than a few weeks – there is a good chance you might be suffering from depression. Unfortunately only about 20 percent of those with severe depression ever seek treatment this might be a big part of the reason suicide is one the highest causes of death among adults in the United States. Not seeking help for your depression is not just likely to lead to self-mutilation, eating disorders and cases of suicide, but it can also impact the lives of those around you. Those with depression find it difficult to perform well at their jobs and might find their job in jeopardy as a result. Those with depression might also lack in their effort to connect with friends and family members, which can in turn hurt those people and those relationships.
Other negative side effects of not seeking treatment for your depression include suffering from pain and other illnesses that can worsen as the depression worsens or might even lead to cases of drug or alcohol dependency as the depressed individual tries to self-medicate, but actually makes the mental illness worse.
Treatment For Depression:
If you are someone wondering, am I depressed? It is a good time to get help if you are able to determine your sadness is more than just a case of the blues. There are a couple of different ways you can go about getting treatment if you do find you are suffering from depression,. To start, it is a good idea to meet for therapy with a therapist or psychologist that is trained to help those suffering from depression. These regular treatment sessions are helpful in assessing the underlying emotional issues that could be causing this problem. Other depression treatments include antidepressants. Not all antidepressants are for everyone with depression, so it is important to consult with your doctor to effectively treat depression.
Sources: webmd.com