Although
it is often classed as 'mental illness', clinical depression often has
as many physical symptoms as mental. The feelings or emotions that are
depression symptoms actually begin to cause the physical effects.
How this happens is a vital part of understanding depression and the
symptoms that come with it.
If
you are depressed at the moment some of the following symptoms may sound
familiar:
-
You
feel miserable and sad.
-
You
feel exhausted a lot of the time with no energy .
-
You
feel as if even the smallest tasks are sometimes impossible.
-
You
seldom enjoy the things that you used to enjoy-you may be off sex
or food or may 'comfort eat' to excess.
-
You
feel very anxious sometimes.
-
You
don't want to see people or are scared to be left alone. Social activity
may feel hard or impossible.
-
You
find it difficult to think clearly.
-
You
feel like a failure and/or feel guilty a lot of the time.
-
You
feel a burden to others.
-
You
sometimes feel that life isn't worth living.
-
You
can see no future. There is a loss of hope. You feel all you've ever
done is make mistakes and that's all that you ever will do.
-
You
feel irritable or angry more than usual.
-
You
feel you have no confidence.
-
You
spend a lot of time thinking about what has gone wrong, what will
go wrong or what is wrong about yourself as a person. You may also
feel guilty sometimes about being critical of others (or even thinking
critically about them).
-
You
feel that life is unfair.
-
You
have difficulty sleeping or wake up very early in the morning and
can't sleep again. You seem to dream all night long and sometimes
have disturbing dreams.
-
You
feel that life has/is 'passing you by.'
-
You
may have physical aches and pains which appear to have no physical
cause, such as back pain.