Depression - Understanding the symptoms & effect

​Sometimes there is a trigger for depression. Life changing events, such as bereavement, losing your job or even having a baby, can bring it on and it can happen to anyone. People with a family history are also more likely to experience it themselves. But you can become depressed for no obvious reason.

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According to the NHS depression is more than simply feeling unhappy or fed up.
We all go through spells of feeling down, but when you're depressed you feel persistently sad for weeks or months, rather than just a few days.

Some people still think that depression is trivial and not a genuine health condition. They're wrong. Depression is a real illness with real symptoms, and it's not a sign of weakness or something you can "snap out of" by "pulling yourself together".

Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a wide variety of symptoms.

They range from lasting feelings of sadness and hopelessness, to losing interest in the things you used to enjoy and feeling very tearful. Many people with depression have feelings of anxiety.

There can be physical symptoms too, such as feeling constantly tired, sleeping badly, having no appetite or sex drive, and complaining of various aches and pains.

The severity of the symptoms can vary. At its mildest, you may simply feel, persistently low in spirit, while at its most severe, depression can make you feel suicidal and that life is no longer worth living.

Sometimes there is a trigger for depression. Life changing events, such as bereavement, losing your job or even having a baby, can bring it on and it can happen to anyone. People with a family history are also more likely to experience it themselves. But you can become depressed for no obvious reason.*
 
The important thing, in my opinion, is that you seek help, in whatever form you are comfortable with. I have suffered from depression myself in my own life and have been down the medical, counselling route and at another time sought alternative complementary therapy.

I feel that there is no set rule as to which way an individual may choose to get well and there is no right or wrong way. It is ok to get depression, just as it is ok to catch a cold. It is an imbalance in our system and it can be addressed and resolved.
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* taken from NHS choices
 
Charlotte Crook