Dealing with Depression
DEPRESSION AND OUR DAILY LIVES
Do you or have you felt empty, sad, and very hopeless most of the day every day? Have you noticed yourself or anyone close to you with these symptoms? Is there a loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies or being around family members and kids? Trouble sleeping, maybe? Eating and functioning issues as well? Maybe a loss in interest in things that once made them happy, that no longer makes them happy? If you have answered yes to the above, and these symptoms have been persistent for two weeks or more, you may have depression, a very serious but treatable mood disorder.
It is important to understand that we all feel sad or down at some point, however these feelings we experience usually pass with some time. The feelings are not persistent, nor do they interfere with our daily lives. There is a fine line between being in a depressed mood, experiencing a low moment, and being clinically depressed. Depression is a disorder that can affect everything you do in your daily lives. It affects the way we feel, think, and handle daily activities (for example sleeping and eating habits drastically change). Depression is not something that we can simply “get over” like a cough or cold. Some individuals that experience depression, tend to think that they can easily get over it and that they are just feeling sad or maybe that the feeling would “pass with time”. For some, yes that can be the case, for others it can actually be a very debilitating disorder that can in some cases lead to even suicidal ideation as well as some even engaging in the act. These are the individuals that would benefit with that little extra help to make them feel like themselves again.
Sadness, however, is simply only a small part of depression. Interestingly enough, some people that experience depression do not even feel sadness. Remember like anxiety, with depression, different people have different symptoms and experiences. Let’s begin with some symptoms:
● Persistent sad and empty feeling for over two weeks
● Feelings of pessimism, hopelessness and helplessness, guilt and worthlessness
● Changes in appetite (weight gain or loss), nausea, headaches, sleep problems (sleeping too much or not at all)
● Withdrawing from the outside world
● Suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts
● Stressed or anxious, irritability or anger
One question that seems to be asked a lot is, “Does depression look the same in everyone?” The answer to that is NO, no it does NOT! Women, men, children, older adults, older children and teens all differently experience what depression is to them and how they react to these experiences. For example, women tend to experience or talk about their experiences about depression more than men would. Men tend to turn to drugs or alcohol to deal with their depression that surfaces as anger, irritability and tiredness. Older children may get in trouble at school more often, sulk and be irritable. They may in addition, have other underlying disorders.
Depression can affect and impact every area of an individual’s life, including but not limited to education, relationships, health, etc. Individuals that suffer from depression also typically already have comorbid disorders such an anxiety. One important thing to note is that depression does not just occur for the individual in vacuum but can also affect those around them and typically negatively affects your productivity. Depression can be treated with therapy, medication, both or can also be treated by you taking some precautions and with some self-treatment. Remember these thing stake time and you won’t see results immediately, but as you continue on you will see results. Some things you can do on your own to help yourself are:
● Go easy on yourself, try to get yourself to do things you enjoy again. SLOW AND STEADY wins the race!
● Trying to be active and exercise. Get a pet!!! Having a pet helps!
● Breaking up larger tasks into smaller simpler ones to ease the anxiety behind it, set priorities and ensure that you stick to them! Be strong!
● Postpone important life decisions until you feel like you are better and capable of making a reasonable decision.
● DO NOT self-medicate or turn to alcohol to solve the problem, because that can in turn create more problems.
● Talk to someone, someone you confide in. Talk to them about what is going on lets it out! Do not keep it bottled up.
Most Important
Depressed mood most of the day every day. (Observation made by self or by others)
Diminished pleasure in activities that once made you happy
Suicidal ideation and thoughts about death
Important
Experiencing difficulty making decisions, and feelings of helplessness
Inappropriate feelings of guilt
Social withdrawal, and complete avoidance of social events and going out
Sometimes Helpful (more common in older adults)
Appetite changes, morning sluggishness that improves throughout the day
Changes in ability to think and concentrate, loss of energy, insomnia or hypertension almost everyday
Family history of mood disorders
Remember to take care of YOURSELF first. Never let anyone allow you to feel as though your problem is “too small.” We all go through different experiences, that does not mean that your depression is not worth talking about and fixing.
YOU MATTER, YOUR DEPRESSION MATTERS AND YOUR LIFE MATTERS!
