How to Know If You Are Depressed

Signs and Symptoms of Depression

How do you know when you’re just having a hard time and are stressed out, or if it’s something more serious? When is it clinical depression?

While a doctor is the only one who can make a qualified diagnosis, there are some signs and symptoms of depression that can signal your need to see a doctor. Here are some of those signs and symptoms.

7 Helpful Hints on How to Know if you are Depressed

1) Do you have the morning blues? According to medical sources, feeling particularly depressed in the morning is a sign that you may have depression. Feeling sad all day is also part of depression, but the morning blues – perhaps making you just want to stay in or go back to bed – are particularly likely to be connected with depression.

2) Are you angry all the time? Many people don’t realize that recent research points to a connection between anger and depression. Blowing up and yelling at people without being able to control it may signify depression.

3) Are you irritable for no particular reason? Slightly different from anger, irritability is more about feeling snappish or easily frustrated and/or annoyed than angry blow-ups. Irritability connected to depression may make you feel really on edge all the time.

4) Are you feeling overwhelmed? Do you find yourself wanting to give up because things seem like they’re just too much? Do you say, “I just can’t take anymore,” often?

Depression can make you feel overwhelmed and over-stressed even when your schedule is not terribly demanding. Even a simple request for you to do something may send you over the edge and make you feel super-stressed.

Depressed people often have trouble concentrating and focusing. Your mind may wander, even to thoughts of death or suicide, and you may feel like you just can’t get it together.

5) Are you feeling inadequate? People with depression may constantly compare themselves to others. As noted above, a not-too-demanding schedule may seem overwhelming to a depressed person, thus making the depressed person feel inadequate that he/she can’t handle a schedule that others seem to handle fine. This sets up a cycle of feeling inadequate.

6) How well are you sleeping? Insomnia and excessive sleepiness are both signs of depression. Ironically, depression can cause some people to lose sleep, while it makes others want to sleep all the time (hypersomnia).

Irregular sleep patterns make you even more irritable and prone to bursts of anger when things don’t go your way.

7) Have you recently lost or gained a significant amount of weight? In another irony of depression, both weight loss and weight gain may be symptoms of depression. Generally, if you gain or lose 5% or more of your body weight in a month, it may mean depression.

If you are experiencing any of these types of symptoms, talk to your doctor. As much as you can, make sure you stay connected to supportive people. Friends and family are important whether you are battling full on depression or just having a bad day.

For more information, watch the video below.



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Norma Esler
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