What is depression?

Depression is an illness which can leave you feeling very low, helpless and hopeless.   

Everyone feels down from time to time. Quite often people will describe these feelings as “being depressed”.  Typically, these feelings go away and life goes on. It’s when they don’t go away that they become a problem and could be symptoms of depression.

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Some of the common signs of low mood are:
  1. Crying a lot and feeling sad a lot of the time
  2. Feeling hopeless and like there’s no point to anything
  3. Not liking yourself 
  4. Feeling guilty or bad
  5. Lacking energy and the ‘oomph’ to do anything
  6. Eating more or less than normal
  7. Feeling moody, angry and irritable
  8. Feeling lonely
  9. Having trouble sleeping
  10. Not wanting sex
  11. Finding it hard to concentrate
  12. Thinking about self-harm or suicide 
If you notice you’ve had several of these for more than two weeks, talk to someone about it. Your GP would be a good person to talk to.
  
You can also talk about how you are feeling with other people who have depression in our community section.
Although symptoms may be different for each person, there are two factors that are used to diagnose depression:
  1. These feelings are persistent, meaning that they never seem to go away and don’t change much from day to day, even when there isn’t any particular reason for feeling that way.
  2. They interfere with your life, leaving you unable to enjoy normal pleasures. In severe cases, depression can make normal everyday tasks like getting dressed or doing the shopping feel like an impossible mountain to climb. 
As a general rule, if you recognise that three or more of the symptoms on this page have been present for more than two weeks and they are affecting your ability to cope with life, go to your GP or talk to someone you trust.

There can be a lot of stigma around depression and this may put you off getting help.

We say it a lot, but depression is an illness. Just like flu, diabetes and cancer are also illnesses. Depression doesn’t mean you are a bad person, or have failed to cope with life. With help and support, most people do get better.

Go to the getting help section for tips on what you can do to get better or visit our community section and talk to other people who feel like you do.

What depression is
  1. Depression is an illness
  2. It is treatable and people do get better
  3. It is common - affecting 1 in 5 people in Scotland at some point in their lives
  4. It’s CRAP – depression makes you feel awful
What depression isn’t
  1. Depression is not a passing blue mood
  2. It is not an everyday low or sadness
  3. It is not a sign of personal weakness
  4. It cannot be wished away, and people with depression cannot just “pull themselves together” and get better