Recognizing the Basic Symptoms of Depression

Depression symptoms are often overlooked. It can be highly detrimental to your physical and mental health to ignore these signs. Depression can often be dealt with if you know what you are looking for. There are treatment options such as therapy and even medications that can help to take the edge off. If you suspect that you, a friend or a loved one is suffering from depression, these are the depression symptoms to look for.

The first of the symptoms is extreme sadness or excessive crying. A person suffering from this symptom will often state that they do not know why they are upset or crying. They may even feel overwhelmed and that everything is going wrong. It may even seem to someone on the outside that they are unnecessarily upset or that they are making a big deal out of nothing at all. It is very important to not dismiss their feelings or to tell them that they are being silly because this can make the depression symptoms even worse.

People who are suffering from depression symptoms may also lose interest in things that they once loved to do. This change may be as drastic as a cheerleader who no longer loves the sport all of the sudden or as subtle as a person who once loved to read not even wanting to do that anymore. The common misconception in this area is that the once loved activity may be a group activity. In fact this symptom can also include activities that are performed alone.

Change in appetite and weight are also very common depression symptoms. These symptoms can be displayed in different ways. A person suffering from these depression symptoms can either go through excessive eating and weight gain or can go the other way with loss of appetite and losing a lot of weight. These depression symptoms in particular are very important to deal with because they can lead to very dangerous eating disorders such as bulimia, bingeing and purging as well as anorexia.

Sleeping problems are another form of depression symptoms. A depressed person may be sleeping excessively or not enough. It may feel like you just cannot get enough sleep no matter how much you sleep. It is not uncommon for a depressed person to sleep for what seems like days at a time in stretches of 12 hours or even more. Lack of sleep is also a symptom of depression. You may find it hard to sleep and may even stay awake for days despite the trying to sleep. Sleep patterns may be broken and restless leading to fatigue and irritability.

If you are feeling any of these depression symptoms talk to a friend, loved one or seek professional help. Symptoms of depression are often experienced in different combinations. The above afflictions are just a few of the symptoms of depression. Depression is a disease and there are treatments. There is no reason to feel ashamed to admit that you may need help.