Signs of clinical depression

Depression symptoms

Clinical depression - 'severe' depression, 'down' or sad?

Are you longing for a 'duvet month', not just a day?  The signs and symptoms of clinical depression are tough for you and those around you.

I am going to see to it that you, and they, understand what is going on.

I am also going to help and advice you on how to get over depression.  Stick with me and follow me on these pages and you can help yourself to recover.  I also suggest that you read this article, before you consider taking antidepressants: Lies, Damn Lies and Medical Research (Huffington Post).

If you are here, because you are concerned for someone else, please pass the link to this page on to that person.

What is 'clinical' depression and what is severe depression

Clinical depression is diagnosed by a medical practitioner or mental health profession.  Their diagnosis is based on the signs and symptoms listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).  They may use a checklist/test, such as the Beck Depression Inventory, a tick list with questions for you to answer by yourself. The higher your score, the more severe your depression - or vice versa.

To me as a practitioner it matters not how high your score is, or how your depression symptoms 'should' be labeled.  To me it is enough to know that you are feeling lousy to say the least and will want to get better as soon as possible.

Tell us your story here

Depression is like a prison, where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer." Dorothy Rowe, clinical psychologist and writer

Symptoms of clinical depression

Here are some of the symptoms of depression:

• Have you stopped taking an interest in things you used to enjoy?
• Do you feel down most of the time?
• Has your appetite changed?
• Do you feel tired all the time?
• Do you have difficulties concentrating?
• Do you have difficulties falling asleep or
• Do you wake up early in the morning feeling exhausted?
• Do you suffer from low self-esteem, lack of confidence?
• Do you often feel guilty about all sorts of things?
• Have you found yourself thinking about death lately?

Well ... just watching this video is enough to make you depressed!  However, it explains the signs of clinical depression well.

I am not sure about depression having a genetic underpinning.  I remember being told by a fabulous trainer (Joe Griffin of MindFields College) that the numbers don't stack up.  The massive increase in the number of people suffering from depression cannot be explained by genetics - there were no such signs of clinical depression in previous generations.

Clinical depression, feeling down or sad?

Your doctor may tell you that you are suffering from depression, if you have answered with a 'yes' to a number of the above questions about depression symptoms, including the first two and you have felt like that for a least a couple of weeks.

’Depression’ really is what happens when essential emotional needs (see The human givens) are not being met.  A doctor might even give you a diagnosis of depression when you naturally feel down because of a sad event or a crisis!

Share your story about your experience Help yourself - get some things off your chest.  Help others by sharing your experiences of suffering and/or beating depression here.  No need to register or log-in.  You can create your own journal, coming back whenever you feel the need.  Other people can comment/offer support.

What really causes depression linking dreaming and depression

The discovery of why we dream, by Joe Griffin, has given us a new understanding of the cycle of depression.

It is likely that it all started after you suffered a setback of some kind, perhaps a loss, such as the ending of a relationship or the death of a loved one (which on its own would not cause a depression).

You might have been through a traumatic event and have not come to terms with. 

Whatever has happened - it resulted in negative thinking and worrying.

The cycle of depression

The whole sad cycle is likely to look like this:

• you no longer do the things you used to do in the way that you enjoyed them, so your emotional needs are not met
• you begin to worry endlessly - sometimes about the most minor stuff
• now you begin to feel lethargic and ‘flat’, yet your body is flushed with stress hormones
• your emotional brain traps you into black and white thinking - everything becomes: all or nothing, love or hate, good or bad
• you can only focus on problems and begin to loose touch with the context - the wider view
• unable to express yourself and/or resolve anything much, your brain attempts to sort it by increasing your dreaming at night.  Your problems - those you have not been able to sort out in the previous day - are acted out in a metaphorical way in your dreams.
• this means less time for restorative slow-wave sleep, which results in you feeling exhausted on waking.  No wonder you can't get up and/or motivate yourself!
• you lack of energy leads to even more worries about how you’ll cope
• all this makes it even less likely that you can meet your emotional needs at all, let alone meeting them in balance
• the cycle repeats itself with your increasingly becoming depressed

Depression is a debilitating condition that saps you from energy and takes away any joy in living. (See also: bored with life)

 

These amazing hypnosis downloads will speed up your and your partner's recovery

Lift depression Living with a depressed husband Living with a depressed wife Full depression treatment

Professional help?

Any counselling/therapy that relies heavily on your introspecting about negative events in your past is ill-advice as it could prolong the depression.

A human givens therapist can deal with any of the stages and depression symptoms above, whether or not you have a 'severe' depression and/or been diagnosed with 'clinical depression'.  I know that you can recover your focus, your joy in the things you used to like doing, your ability to problem solve and your sense of humor - I have helped hundreds of people!  If, however, you just 'don't do therapy', you may want to help yourself get rid of the signs of clinical depression. (affiliate)

Return from Signs of Clinical Depression to Home at Mind and Relationship Matters

---

You may also be interested in:

Natural Depression Treatments
How to deal with depression
Depression questionnaire
Top 10 phobias

---

Other helpful links:

Dr Breggin's website Dr Peter Breggin challenges the 'wisdom' of modern day psychiatric treatments (be sure to visit his site, before taking any antidepressants, so that you can make an informed choice.)
Return to top