Depression: What it is and what it isn't

It’s a fact of life that we will all feel down from time to time. Quite often we will describe these feelings as “being depressed”. But, typically, these feelings go away and we can carry on with our lives without it affecting us too much. Having the blues or going through a tough patch is not the same thing as being depressed.

Symptoms of depression

Depression is an illness. For many people, depression means intense feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Some of the common signs of low mood are:

• Crying a lot and feeling sad a lot of the time
• Feeling hopeless or inadequate
• Not liking yourself
• Lacking energy and the oomph to do anything
• Being angry and irritable
• Feeling lonely
• Having trouble sleeping
• Not wanting sex

The wall of depression on the feeling crap? page lists more of the common symptoms, or signs, of depression.

Different people are affected in different ways

These symptoms will be different for every person. For example, one person may find that they want to sleep all the time; another may get insomnia and not be able to get to sleep at all or wake at an early hour. Where one person might spend a lot of time crying, another person might have intense feelings of agitation.

The two important factors

But generally, when diagnosing depression there are two important factors:

• These feelings are persistent, meaning that they just never seem to go away and don’t change much day to day, even when there isn’t any particular reason for feeling that way.
• 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.

Getting help and support

As a general rule, if you recognise that three or more of these symptoms 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 who can help you.

There can be a lot of stigma around depression. Remember – depression is an illness. Just like diabetes and cancer as also illnesses. Depression doesn’t mean you are a bad person, or have failed to cope with life. With the right help most people do get better.

Go to the Getting help section for tips on what you can do to get better or get in touch with us and we can talk you through your options.

 Brought to you by Depression Alliance Scotland.
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Copyright: DAS, 2010. Last updated: 07/01/10