Depression hurts, not just the individual but also the people surrounding the person. The truth is, depression can lead to drastic changes in the life and health of those that suffer from it and those who love the person who is depressed.
Just like being happy, the feeling of being sad is often unavoidable. When we experience major losses such as a loved one’s death, major failure, disappointment, or discouragement, we normally feel sad. Also, the certain period of a one’s life called mid-life crisis leaves more and more adults with this feeling of sadness.
When these sad feelings dwell in a person for quite some time, energy decreases, fatigue is often experienced, and quality of life is affected. Some people find it difficult to make it through each day. Some people find it difficult getting out of bed in the morning. Others might not feel the crushing weight of depression but instead feel a constant tug of unhappiness or just feel flat and unable to experience happiness. Depression hurts, no matter how you feel it.
The term clinical depression is a condition that may last for weeks, months, or up to years. Depression symptoms differ in each patient, as depression can be classified as mild, moderate or severe. Clinical depression differs from normal feelings of sadness, as clinical depression is characterized by the chronic episodes of excessive sadness that is present all the time and last for more than two weeks.
Depression hurts many but often in different ways. The sleeping patterns, appetite, intimacy, and energy are replaced with insomnia, anorexia, withdrawn behaviors, and loss for the zest for life. Depression also affects one’s abilities in thinking, concentrating, and functioning. Dizziness, hopelessness and escape from life becomes their main emotions so the activities of daily living that are usually practiced are diminished in these depressed people.
The first symptom of clinical depression is unexplainable episodes of sadness that last for weeks. The feelings of sadness cannot be identified, and the cause is not known. Second, a person may be answering questions with simple one or two word answers; “nothing”,”I don’t know”, or “I am okay”, instead of saying and acknowledging that he is sad, despite the evident symptoms of depression. A third sign of depression is experiencing a loss of interest in job, school, family and life in general. Some people might feel that enjoyment of any kind is not possible, and they may lose the desires for sexual intimacy. In this way depression hurts marriage partners and intimate relationships.
Increased difficulty in concentration, memory and decisiveness is occurring. The most evident and initial sign is when a depressed person finds it hard to read or listen. He or she has difficulty at work when experiencing difficulties in thinking and memory retention. Thus, the depressed person tends to isolate himself. In this way depression hurts work relationships.
Lack of self-esteem, along with loss of appetite and motivation are additional symptoms of depression. The most prominent symptoms are the physical symptoms that hurts the patient by bringing along discomforts, physically and emotionally. In severe cases, patients can have abnormal thought which lead to committing suicide.
As it is said, depression symptoms can vary. There is no group of depression symptoms that can be experienced to the same extent by all people. Obviously having only a couple of these symptoms alone doesn’t necessarily mean you have depression. Having a large number of signs very well could indicate depression. If you feel you are showing some of these signs a depression test can be done to diagnose the condition. Depression help is available but the first step is allowing for such help. Traditional depression treatment addresses the person’s emotional and physical symptoms through pharmaceutical intervention as well as talk therapy. Most health plans, and even HSA health insurance, will cover depression treatment options. Additionally, there are natural options that help ease depression. Diets that work for depression will be low in processed foods, high in whole foods and supply an ample amount of omega-3 fatty acids.