Depression is a disorder that affects your thoughts, moods, feelings, behavior and even your physical health. Sometimes people confuse it with the “blues”. Whereas the “blues” go away when you find a supportive friend or family member, depression often tends to continue despite your support systems.
Signs and symptoms of depression include:
- You lose interest in normally enjoyable activities.
- You feel sad, helpless or hopeless, and may have crying spells.
- You either sleep too much or have difficulty falling asleep or wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning and not be able to get back to sleep again.
- You may have trouble concentrating or making decisions and have problems with memory.
- You might see changes in your weight and appetite.
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You may seem restless, agitated, irritable and easily annoyed.
- You feel tired and feel low in energy nearly everyday. You may feel like you're doing everything in slow motion, or you may speak in a slow, monotonous tone.
- You feel worthless, negative about yourself and sometimes have excessive guilt.
- If you were sexually active before developing depression, you may notice a dramatic decrease in your level of interest in having sexual relations.
- You have a persistent negative view of yourself, your situation and the future.
- You may have thoughts of death, dying or suicide.