Google Search cannot diagnose depression, but it can provide information on symptoms like persistent sadness, loss of interest, low energy, changes in sleep/appetite, trouble concentrating, and feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness that last most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks and significantly affect daily life, prompting you to see a healthcare professional for an accurate diagnosis and treatment.
You can have a full-time job and a fulfilling life despite your depression. Specific lifestyle habits, effective therapy and medical care can help you to recover and continue working efficiently. Nothing is impossible for those who have found the strength to accept and challenge their depression.
Five common symptoms of depression include a persistent sad/empty mood, loss of interest or pleasure (anhedonia), significant fatigue or low energy, changes in sleep (insomnia or sleeping too much), and difficulty concentrating or making decisions, often accompanied by feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and sometimes suicidal thoughts. These symptoms, lasting most of the day, nearly every day for at least two weeks, significantly impact daily functioning.
Causes - Depression in adults
Feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness. Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters. Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or sports. Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much.
New evidence shows that people who maintain a range of healthy habits, from good sleep to physical activity to strong social connections, are significantly less likely to experience depression.
Symptoms associated with depression include joint pain, limb pain, back pain, gastrointestinal problems, fatigue, psychomotor activity changes, and appetite changes. In the primary care setting, a high percentage of patients with depression present exclusively with physical symptoms. Simon et al.
Stressful life events: Difficult experiences, such as the death of a loved one, trauma, divorce, isolation and lack of support, can trigger depression. Medical conditions: Chronic pain and chronic conditions like diabetes can lead to depression. Medication: Some medications can cause depression as a side effect.
The studies vary, but Kristinsson says all show that patients with MDD have both structural and functional brain differences. “The amount of atrophy, or shrinkage, in the hippocampus, thalamus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex is related to the severity and length of the episode of depression.”
Immediate hospitalization is essential for those who express suicidal ideation or have attempted self-harm. Severe Functional Impairment: Moreover, patients unable to care for themselves, including neglecting personal hygiene, nutrition, or medications, often require hospital-based treatment.
With treatment, you should start to feel better within a few weeks, but it can take longer. Stay connected with your healthcare provider and let them know if you are not starting to feel better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or even years.
Depression is a disorder of the brain, a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being and can cause alteration in sympathetic activity of the body, thus affecting heart rate variability (HRV).
Emotional and cognitive (thinking) symptoms include a depressed mood, lack of interest or motivation in things you typically enjoy, problems making decisions, irritability, excessive worrying, memory problems and excessive guilt.
Know the 5 signs of Emotional Suffering
Creating a regular routine may help a person with depression feel more in control. Offer to make a schedule for meals, medicine, physical activity, social support and sleep, and help organize household chores. Find helpful organizations.
We often don't prioritize self-care because we have obligations to others. We find ourselves having to meet the expectations of those around us—as friends, children, parents, students, employees, etc. And too often we set aside our needs and feelings to meet those expectations and obligations.
Don't drink too much alcohol
For some people, alcohol can become a problem. You may drink more than usual as a way of coping with or hiding your emotions, or just to fill time. But alcohol won't help you solve your problems and could also make you feel more depressed.
People high in neuroticism (very emotionally sensitive) and introverts are two personality types more likely to experience negative thoughts research finds. In addition, being introverted is linked to spontaneously remembering more negative life events.
The physical symptoms of depression include:
Most young adults we interviewed described ways depression enriches their lives despite – or in some cases because of — the suffering it causes. Many people said depression made them more aware, empathic, kind or humble.
Research suggests that depression doesn't spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, and stressful life events.
The main subcortical limbic brain regions implicated in depression are the amygdala, hippocampus, and the dorsomedial thalamus. Both structural and functional abnormalities in these areas have been found in depression.
An acute change in mood that persists for weeks or is associated with thoughts of self-harm should not be ignored. In some cases, it may constitute an emergency. Depressed mood, whether from a major depressive episode, or in the context of another problem, can become an emergency when there are thoughts of suicide.
Depression Triggers
People with insomnia, for example, are 10 times more likely to have depression and 17 times more likely to have anxiety than the general population. Sleep apnea raises the risks of these conditions about threefold. In short-term studies, sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce the ability to control our emotions.