Depression Treatment

Symptoms

The main symptom of depression is sadness or low mood level, but many other mental and physical symptoms also occur. Here are most commom symptoms of depression:

• Low mood level or sadness.
• Lack of joy or interest in activities that were joyful before.
• Pessimism.
• Low Energy Level
• Feel of guilt of something without any substantial reason to feel so.
• Inferiority thoughts.
• Increased Anxiety
• Increased Irritability
• Slowness in the thought process.
• Slow physical reactions.

Depression Symptoms last weeks or months, sometimes years if you don’t seek treatment. It is sufficient to have either of these symptoms in conjunction with five of a list of other symptoms over a two-week period. These include:

• Feeling sad or blue. Feelings of overwhelming sadness or fear or the seeming inability to feel emotion (emptiness).
• Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities.
• Decreased or increased appetite. Changing appetite and marked weight gain or loss.
• Sleep disturbance, such as insomnia, loss of REM sleep, or excessive sleep (Hypersomnia).
• Fatigue, mental or physical, also loss of energy.
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, anxiety, or fear.
• Psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly everyday.
• Trouble concentrating or making decisions or a generalized slowing and obtunding of cognition, including memory.
• Isolation from family and friends.

Children with depression also experience these classic symptoms:

• Poor school performance
• Persistent boredom
• Significant behavioral changes; such as withdrawal, social isolation, and aggression
• Frequent complaints of physical problems such as headaches and stomachaches
• Loss of appetite
• Irritability
• Sleep problems, such as recurrent nightmares
• An additional indicator could be the excessive use of drugs or alcohol. Depressed adolescents are at particular risk of further destructive behaviours, such as eating disorders and self-harm.

Other symptoms sometimes reported but not usually taken into account in diagnosis include:

• A decrease in self-esteem.
• Inattention to personal hygiene.
• Sensitivity to noise.
• Physical aches and pains, and the belief these may be signs of serious illness.
• Fear of ‘going mad’.
• Change in perception of time.

If you identify with these symptoms and they have existed for over a month, you need to consider this an urgent matter. If you know the symptoms of depression, you should also know some strategies for reducing the problem. Depression can be the result of many things, and it is necessary that you avoid those circumstances that upset you or make you feel depressed.