Depression affects each person in different ways and it can vary in severity. If you’ve already read what is depression?, you will know that there numerous different signs or symptoms for depression. This page is about how the symptoms may affect you.
When talking about depression, your GP or health professional may describe it as: mild, moderate or severe. This refers to how much it is affecting your ability to cope with life.
- In mild cases feelings of low mood may come and go but you will generally be able to cope with everyday activities.
- In moderate cases a persistent low mood is accompanied by some physical symptoms and difficulties in keeping up with things like work, study, and socialising.
- In cases of severe depression you will experience persistent low mood, intense physical symptoms and will be unlikely to keep up with normal activities and responsibilities.
Your body can be affected by depression as much as your mind. Some of the physical changes you may notice include:
- Problems sleeping
- Aches and pains that are not explained by a physical illness
- Appetite - either you stop eating much at all or completely the opposite and you eat all the time or binge
- Stomach problems, including constipation or diarrhoea
- Feeling tired and drained and lacking in energy most of the time
Many people with depression have a persistent low mood, and even doing things that would normally cheer them up does not improve it.
You may:
- Feel more irritable than usual
- Feel numb and unable to feel any emotion
- Cry a lot or feel unable to cry
- Feel anxious
Depression also affects how you think about yourself, about others, about your work, your home, your friends and family, and everything else in your life.
You might become preoccupied with negative thoughts – these thoughts are often bleak and pessimistic about the future.
You might feel bad about yourself and lose your confidence and belief in your own abilities. It is common to have suicidal thoughts, and when you are severely depressed, you may become actively suicidal or simply lose the will to live.
If you are feeling suicidal, please seek help immediately. Go to our get help now! page to find details of organisations and people who can help you.
Depression can have a big impact on our behaviour.
You might have stopped socialising or doing activities you used to really enjoy, like going to the movies, catching up with your mates or doing exercise. It’s common to avoid things that seem difficult or that are worrying you when you’re depressed.
You may be the opposite and deal with depression by keeping very busy. Maybe you spend your whole life trying to meet deadlines and ‘keep up appearances’.
Or you might be doing things to block out your thoughts and feelings like:
- Going on shopping sprees
- Drinking a lot or taking drugs
- Bingeing on food or not eating
- Self-harming
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