Depression Warning Signs and Symptoms

They fall into 4 general categories: Physical; Emotional; Behavioral; Cognitive. Many people say "I'm depressed" when what they mean is that they are feeling a little down, sad or blue today. The offical definition includes being down or sad with feelings of hopelessness for 2 weeks or more with no apparent external reason like a death in the family or pphysical illness.

Now, I'm not a phychiatrist, phychologist or anything. I haven't even taken classes in phychology. But I do have personal experience with depression. I have read many books, gone to therapy myself and watched family memebers struggle with it. I avoided writing about this for a long time because I am no expert, I didn't think it was really appropriate for this website and well, frankly, it's a depressing subject. But I kept being directed back to the subject. I think it's because depressed poeple are in the most need of self-improvement. And since Thoughtful Self Improvement is all about helping people lead better lives, depression warning signs does fit on this web site.

I've mentioned that it's more than just feeling sad, but sadness is a depression warning sign. It becomes significant when it goes on for an extented period of time, invades most aspects of your life and affects your ability to function effectively. You can be depressed about a specific subject without it seriously affecting your enjoyment of other aspects of your life. A Job loss, for example, is depressing on the aspect of income and financial security. But if you can still find joy in other things like family and friends, or hobbies, then you're not really suffering from depression.

It may be hard to notice some depression warning signs because sometimes it comes on so slowly, we don't take notice of it. Also, it is often behavior they already display. It's just more pronouced. It's hard to tell if an introvert is depressed because they naturally withdraw from people and don't show as much excitement as extroverts do.

You must be careful of jumping to conclusions when reading the list of depression warning signs. Many are also associated with physical illness such as chronic fatigue syndrome or animia. That's why it's important to eliminate physical sources before seeking mental therapy. But chances are, if you're reading this the depression is already present and you're looking for confirmation.

Depression warning signs and symptons include:

Physical
• Insomnia
• Excessive Sleepiness
• Extreme Fatigue for no apparent reason
• Lack of sexual interest
• Change of appetite with weight gain or loss

Emotional
• Excessive guilt
• Self hate, self punishment
• Feelings of helplessness and / or hopelessness
• Lack of pleasure or interest in activities previously enjoyed.

Behavioral
• Anger, agressiveness, irritability
• Loss of ability to laugh
• Neglect of personal appearance

Cognitive
• Indecisiveness
• Difficulty concentrating

What to do about depression warning signs

It's been many years since I suffered from depression, so my memory of which depression warning signs I experienced my be a bit off, but I'm pretty sure I had most of these. I didn't have any money to see a therapist. But I remember that I got out of it by doing something about my life. I got a divorce, took my 3 kids and moved in with my parents. It took me about a year before I felt OK, not good, just OK, about myself again. In the meantime I went on welfare and back to college. I was pretty humiliated between welfare and moving back to my parents. But I exceled at school work. Away from the highly stressful environment of my marriage, I started to feel better, little by little.

I got better through positive action. I refused to abandon my kids to their father or burden may parents with them, so I had to do something. There are many treatment options which I'll go into on another day.

Let me know what you think about this article by submitting a Comment. I'll post appropriate comments. Maybe your comment will help someone else.