Depression

There are common symptoms for depression, which is a low mood disorder which makes you feel down at times. These feelings can last and get in the way of your life, often making you want to run away from your thoughts.

Depression can affect people in different ways and can be caused by anything, whether that’s family history, your upbringing, stressful events or your lifestyle.

There could be some signs that you have depression:

• Feeling sad or irritable
• Feeling less able to do things
• Losing interest in the activities you enjoy
• Becoming tired easily and losing concentration
• Sleeping and eating less or more
• Low self-esteem and feeling guilty or worthless
• Low sex drive or losing interest altogether
• Thoughts of self-harm or suicide
• Delusions and hallucinations, such as hearing voices.

It’s important when you have depression to try and get enough sleep and eat well. You might feel low so it’s important to try and keep active, even if you don’t feel like it.

It’s important you seek medical advice if you’re experiencing symptoms of depression and it may be difficult to imagine that any treatment will help the way you’re feeling. The sooner you seek help, the sooner your symptoms will improve. You might find it difficult to talk about your emotions but being open and honest will give an accurate and quick diagnosis.

Different types of depression

Depressive episode or recurrent depressive disorder – if you’ve had one or even more depressive episodes, you might be going through a ‘mild’, ‘moderate’ or ‘severe’ episode.

Reactive depression
your depression might be triggered by difficult events in your life, such as divorce or money worries.

Dysthymia
you might be experiencing continuous mild depression that lasts for over two years.

Cyclothymia
you might experience persistent and unstable moods and have periods of depression and elation that are not severe or long enough to be diagnosed as bipolar disorder.

Psychotic depression
if you have a severe episode of depression with hallucinations or delusions, you might have psychosis.

Prenatal or postnatal depression
prenatal depression occurs during pregnancy and might also be called antenatal depression, and postnatal depression occurs after becoming a parent which can affect both men and women.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
you might experience depression during particular seasons or because of certain types of weather, which affect your mood and energy levels once the climate gets colder or warmer that can impact your sleeping or eating patterns. It will affect you at the same time of the year, every year and is most common during the winter.
Read more about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) here