Signs and symptoms of depression

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Signs of clinical depression symptoms of 'severe' depression, 'down' or sad?

Sleep The signs and symptoms of (clinical) depression are tough on you, if you are the one suffering. However, they are also tough for your partner/spouse and other loved ones as they observe the warning signs of depression, witness your struggles and worry about your symptoms of depression.

I hope I can help you, and them, to understand what the symptoms of (severe) depression are.

I would love to be able to help you get over your depression too. So, to beat your depression as soon as possible, stick with me. Follow me on these pages and you will discover all you need to know to get yourself well again.

In the meantime you might find the following article helpful - in case you are considering taking antidepressants: Lies, Damn Lies and Medical Research (Huffington Post), as well as links to other pages on depression and nervous breakdown.

If you are here, because you are concerned for someone else, maybe your partner/spouse, then my relationship advice is to pass the link to this page on to him/her, but to let them do the rest and let them decide when the time is right to take action.

It is hugely helpful though for someone suffering from depression to have supportive people around them, so it is great that you care enough to find out more about the signs and symptoms of depression.

What is 'clinical' depression and what is severe depression

'Clinical' depression is usually 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) (see links). 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 the symptoms point to warning signs of severe depression.

To me as a practitioner it matters not how high your score is, or how your depression symptoms 'should' be or have been labeled. To me it is enough to know that you are 'feeling lousy' to say the least - see my page on Depression questionnaires (link further down) - you will know exactly what I may be asking you. I will want you to get better as soon as possible.

Symptoms of clinical or severe/major depression

Here are some of the warning signs and 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 warning signs of clinical or major 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 alone - there were no such signs of clinical depression in previous generations.

Stay Or Walk Away?

Whether or not that is right has absolutely no bearing on how you are going to recover. In any case genes can be switched on and off. Even if you had a 'genetic predisposition' there is absolutely no reason to think that you will therefore forever be at risk of suffering symptoms of severe depression!

The message about clinical depression being in your genes, potentially sets you up for a negative expectation. That only adds to worries about the signs of clinical depression you may already see in yourself or someone you care about.

Questions about hypnosis? See: Hypnosis online FAQ.

Signs of clinical depression: feeling down or sad?

Your doctor may tell you that you are suffering from (clinical) 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 - link further down) are not being met. I hope that your doctor would reassure you that your signs of clinical depression are a normal reaction if you have suffered from a loss, or your have been through something traumatic. It is natural to feel sad when you have lost something or someone important to you. It is natural to feel down every now and then - life can be really hard. It is natural to feel troubled, lost and distress during and after a crisis!

Depression is like a prison, where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer."

Dorothy Rowe, clinical psychologist and writer

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 have all the following signs and symptoms of depression:

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) The sooner we can deal with the signs and symptoms of depression, the better for you of course, but also your partner/spouse and other people around you, as depression often seems contagious.

Self hypnosis for depression

Not sure about hypnosis? You are not alone - many people wonder if it does anything, or are frightened to 'play about with their mind'. Let me explain, see: Self hypnosis instruction. I really do think that hypnosis can make a big difference you how you are feeling.

You have actually nothing to lose by downloading this comprehensive hypnosis treatment track: Lift depression.

Professional help - yes or no?

Any counselling/therapy that relies heavily on your introspecting about negative events in your past is ill-adviced 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 you just 'don't do therapy', the combination of the hypnosis downloads and End Your Depression Programme offer the best you could wish for in the treatment of depression from the comfort of your own home, in your own time and at your own pace.

If you have visited this page because of your concern for your partner/husband/wife, my relationship advice is to do all you can to support and gently encourage him/her. However, don't be too quick to take control - it could only lead to him/her feeling even more 'useless' and out of control.

My Free Sleep Better Forever Ebook

You may be suffering from sleeping problems as a symptom of depression. This ebook contains all you need to know about how to sleep like a baby. It includes short explanations about your sleep/wake cycle and in particular: effective, targeted sleep remedies specifically for people going through a difficult period in their life. Find out more ...

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