Depression is one of the most globally widespread mental health disorders. According to the World Health Organization, 350 million people worldwide live with depression. With medication, therapy, and lifestyle changes depression can be managed. If you can identify with any of these signs and feel that your depression has gotten out of your control, it is time to seek treatment.
- You’ve had a severe change in appetite: Depression can cause a conflict between the mind-body connection. People who eat very little tend to start eating a lot. Those who usually eat a lot, tend to eat very little. If there is a noticeable change in your diet and relationship to food, you might be experiencing an imbalance causing depression.
- You’ve also had a serious change in sleeping patterns: Sleep is also affected by depression. On the one hand, depression can cause a lot of feelings of exhaustion and fatigue which lead to sleeping way more than usual as well as feeling tired despite hours of sleep. On the other hand, depression can cause ruminating thoughts and anxieties which can keep someone up all night long. Additionally depression can cause physical discomfort like aches and pains, which can also cause restlessness.
- You’re more irritable than normal: Having a heightened sense of emotions that you feel you have no control over can make you a little sensitive. You might be struggling with depression if you’ve noticed that you are far more irritable than normal, reactive, and lashing out when people set you off. It feels like everything is out of balance and out of control.
- You’re in a mental haze: Difficulty concentrating, having a hard time focusing, unable to pay attention, and generally feeling like you’re trying to make your way through a fog in your brain can all be signs of depression.
- You’re having a hard time enjoying yourself: Losing motivation, experiencing a lack of passion, and feeling lackluster about things you love aren’t normal signs. If you were having passing feelings of sadness, you’d get back into the things you love quickly. With depression, you simply cannot be inspired.
- You’re feeling really down: Depression is more than a case of the blues. It’s a clinical issue in which the brain become imbalanced and can’t get itself balanced again. You aren’t just feeling sad, you’re feeling down on yourself, down about your life, and down about everything.
- You’ve been thinking about death a lot: If you are feeling suicidal or having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. Depression doesn’t always cause thoughts of suicide, but it can cause thoughts of death, contemplating life, and falling into a deeply existential state.
- You’ve had panic or anxiety attacks: Panic and anxiety are two separate disorders from depression, however, depression can cause both to happen. If you’re having more anxiety attacks or panic attacks than normal, you are in need of help.
Hired Power is here to help you through the process of treatment and beyond for any mental health disorder including depression. For information on our recovery management services, call us today at 1-800-910-9299.
