What is Depression?
Depression is often described as a ‘black cloud’ or the ‘black dog’ that follows you around; it can feel like it takes over your life. Similar to our previous blog post ‘What is Anxiety?’, depression comprises of a number of behaviours but also thinking styles. Many of us from time to time have felt a deep sense of sadness. Sometimes sadness is situation specific, like after a relationship breakdown or after an argument with a friend. Other times, sadness can be more pervasive and feel like it is impacting all areas of our lives. Clinically speaking, when sadness begins to impact your everyday life and you feel like you can no longer do the things you used to do, it might be time to have a chat with someone about depression.
One of the best ways to start to notice any changes in your mood/behaviour is to know what you’re looking for. Below are some of the common signs and symptoms of depression.
Behavioural
When experiencing depression there may be a number of changes in how you normally behave and feel, here’s a list of some of the more common changes:
Withdrawing from people around you and wanting to spend more time on your own
Difficulties concentrating and feeling like you can’t get motivated to do anything
A lack of energy
Difficulties and/or changes to your sleep
Changes in diet, whether it is eating more than you normally do, or less
Feeling isolated from friends and family
You may also start to experience a number of physical symptoms, such as an upset stomach or headaches
Psychological
Just like with behaviour, when experiencing depression, there can be changes in the way that you’re thinking. Here are a couple of examples of how your thoughts may seem different:
You make start to feel a lack of confidence at work or with friends
You may notice that your thoughts have turned quite negative and you’re putting yourself down a lot
You may also feel like everything is going wrong or that there is no hope for the future
You may notice an increase in feeling irritable or annoyed by things, or people, around you
You may also notice that you feel really ‘flat’ or ‘numb’ to the world around you
Do any of these examples sound like you? The good news is depression is very treatable! Depression is one of the most researched mental illnesses, meaning a lot of time and effort has gone into finding robust therapeutic supports to help people manage and improve their symptoms. Thankfully, there are now a number of really successful interventions available to people that will support them in feeling better. At Piece by Piece Therapies we are specifically trained in these interventions.
If you would like some help in managing your depression, please do not hesitate to contact our team at Piece by Piece Therapies for support.