Depressed! – do you need treatment??

Alternating between being happy and being sad is a part of normal life but if you are sad, most of the time of a day, and then maybe you are depressed. Depression takes out the happiness of all your activities of day to day life. The primary thing for overcoming depression is to know the symptoms and causes of depression. Though everybody doesn’t have similar symptoms certain questions might help you to find out if you are depressed or not.

Do you feel daily activities as desirable as before??

Depression is almost always associated with feelings of helplessness and loss of interest in pleasurable activities which leads to withdrawn behavior and isolation.

Do you feel irritated and angry more often than before??

Depression almost always associated with irritability which at times leads to anger outbursts. Depression may also be associated with poor impulse control and substance abuse.

Is there any change in sleep pattern??

Depression results in sleep problems. It may either be increased or decreased sleep. Depressed people may also face difficulty to fall asleep as well as to maintain sleep. Sleep apnoea may also be seen in depression. If left untreated this problem worsens with time.

Do you feel fatigued or tired??

When the body doesn’t get adequate sleep you start feeling tired. Thus depressed people often feel fatigued and complain of a variety of muscle and joint pain. This may be associated with persistent headaches, stomach upset, etc.

Do you feel suicidal or harming yourself??

Due to the increased feeling of helplessness hopelessness and worthlessness depressed people often feel life is not worthy so they try to commit suicide.

In case of depression loss of energy can be of such extent that the person may not feel like taking help from any professional. But if you feel the answer to these questions is mostly yes then you should consult a psychiatrist as soon as possible. With proper treatment, patients may start feeling better after one month of treatment.