With over 20 million people suffering from depression each year in the United States, some distinction needs to be made between the different types of depression that people suffer. There are depression illnesses that are considered mild (though people who are depressed would dispute that description), moderate and severe and depressions that come at different times of year and some that are with the sufferer almost constantly.
When you are depressed it affects all aspects of your life and can ruin a moderately pleasant existence at any point in life. All of the pleasure is taken away from you and you feel as though you are weighed down. When you suffer from a long term depression you can feel this way for months or even years and it can ruin your relationships, work life and any attempt at education.
Clinical Depression Symptoms
Clinical depression is a long term depressive illness with mild to severe periods of depression. Clinical depression symptoms can last for weeks, months and sometimes years without end. The depression can be at varying levels of intensity during these periods and are there nearly every day during the depressive state which lasts a minimum of two weeks. Clinical depression symptoms include:
Sadness and low feelings that last for extended periods (at least two weeks). There may be no explanation for those feelings and no catalyst. People close to the sufferer will note a change in their behavior and assume something is wrong or making them sad.
The feelings of sadness and depressed behavior do not change with achievements or events that would normally bring happiness. The sadness persists through any changes in environment or circumstances.
There is no explanation for the sadness at all and it comes on suddenly. The sufferer may even state confusion about the presence of the sadness but be unable to change the way they feel.
The sufferer may report simply feeling empty or numb rather than just feeling sad. There may be the feeling of life moving in slow motion or that they are weighed down physically. Responses to stimuli are the same whether the influence is positive or negative. There is no enthusiasm in the person.
The loss of interest in things the sufferer found pleasurable such as hobbies, activities and even sex may be noted or expressed.
There is a marked decrease in the ability to make decisions or think clearly and sometimes memory is affected. Handling day to day activities can seem impossible, as does the simple task of reading instructions. The person may become increasingly isolated and put strain on (or ruin) good relationships.
Insomnia (the inability to sleep) is frequently reported in clinical depression and may serve to increase the depressed feelings and clinical depression symptoms. Hypersomnia (sleeping too much) is reported in some people with clinical depression symptoms. Though they sleep normal hours or even more than usual, they are not well rested and cannot function properly.
The sufferer may not be motivated to do anything because of the physical exhaustion which is in the main clinical depression symptoms. Care for physical appearance and hygiene are the first things that are lost in clinical depression. Normal tasks that are performed daily become impossible to complete.
Appetite and weight changes occur because the person either no longer cares about food and does not eat or no longer cares about how they look and eats too much or snack constantly.
The person feels that they have no worth in their own life or the lives of others. Any attempts at consoling or reassuring the patient are ineffective.
Physical symptoms such as aches, pains and digestive disorders begin to surface with no medical reason for their existence.
Thoughts of suicide and a preoccupation with death surface. The person may talk about not wanting to live or their life not mattering so they are ‘better off dead’.
Paranoia, hypochondria, hearing voices and phobias that come on suddenly can be clinical depression symptoms.
