Depression Symptoms & Warning Signs

How to Recognize Depression Symptoms and Get Effective Help

The normal ups and downs of life mean that everyone feels sad or has "the blues" from time to time. But if emptiness and despair have taken hold of your life and won't go away, you may have depression. Depression makes it tough to function and enjoy life like you once did. Just getting through the day can be overwhelming. But no matter how hopeless you feel, you can get better. Understanding the signs, symptoms, causes, andtreatment of depression is the first step to overcoming the problem.

What is depression?

You can help yourself feel better!

• Dealing with Depression: Self-Help & Coping Tips to Overcome Depression
• Helping a Depressed Person: How to Reach Out and Help Someone While Taking Care of Yourself

Sadness or downswings in mood are normal reactions to life’s struggles, setbacks, and disappointments. Many people use the word “depression” to explain these kinds of feelings, but depression is much more than just sadness.

Some people describe depression as “living in a black hole” or having a feeling of impending doom. However, some depressed people don't feel sad at all—they may feel lifeless, empty, and apathetic, or men in particular may even feel angry, aggressive, and restless.

Whatever the symptoms, depression is different from normal sadness in that it engulfs your day-to-day life, interfering with your ability to work, study, eat, sleep, and have fun. The feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness are intense and unrelenting, with little, if any, relief.

Are you depressed?

If you identify with several of the following signs and symptoms, and they just won’t go away, you may be suffering from clinical depression.

• you can’t sleep or you sleep too much
• you can’t concentrate or find that previously easy tasks are now difficult
• you feel hopeless and helpless
• you can’t control your negative thoughts, no matter how much you try
• you have lost your appetite or you can’t stop eating
• you are much more irritable, short-tempered, or aggressive than usual
• you’re consuming more alcohol than normal or engaging in other reckless behavior
• you have thoughts that life is not worth living (seek help immediately if this is the case)

What are the signs and symptoms of depression?

Depression varies from person to person, but there are some common signs and symptoms. It’s important to remember that these symptoms can be part of life’s normal lows. But the more symptoms you have, the stronger they are, and the longer they’ve lasted—the more likely it is that you’re dealing with depression. When these symptoms are overwhelming and disabling, that's when it's time to seek help.

Signs and symptoms of depression include:

• Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. A bleak outlook—nothing will ever get better and there’s nothing you can do to improve your situation.
• Loss of interest in daily activities. No interest in former hobbies, pastimes, social activities, or sex. You’ve lost your ability to feel joy and pleasure.
• Appetite or weight changes. Significant weight loss or weight gain—a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month.
• Sleep changes. Either insomnia, especially waking in the early hours of the morning, or oversleeping (also known as hypersomnia).
• Anger or irritability. Feeling agitated, restless, or even violent. Your tolerance level is low, your temper short, and everything and everyone gets on your nerves.
• Loss of energy. Feeling fatigued, sluggish, and physically drained. Your whole body may feel heavy, and even small tasks are exhausting or take longer to complete.
• Self-loathing. Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt. You harshly criticize yourself for perceived faults and mistakes.
• Reckless behavior. You engage in escapist behavior such as substance abuse, compulsive gambling, reckless driving, or dangerous sports.
• Concentration problems. Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering things.
• Unexplained aches and pains. An increase in physical complaints such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain.

Depression and suicide

Depression is a major risk factor for suicide. The deep despair and hopelessness that goes along with depression can make suicide feel like the only way to escape the pain. Thoughts of death or suicide are a serious symptom of depression, so take any suicidal talk or behavior seriously. It's not just a warning sign that the person is thinking about suicide: it's a cry for help.

Warning signs of suicide include:

Talking about killing or harming one’s self Expressing strong feelings of hopelessness or being trapped An unusual preoccupation with death or dying Acting recklessly, as if they have a death wish (e.g. speeding through red lights)

Calling or visiting people to say goodbye Getting affairs in order (giving away prized possessions, tying up loose ends) Saying things like “Everyone would be better off without me” or “I want out” A sudden switch from being extremely depressed to acting calm and happy

If you think a friend or family member is considering suicide, express your concern and seek professional help immediately. Talking openly about suicidal thoughts and feelings can save a life!

Depression risk may fall after women's periods end

BY ANDREW M. SEAMAN

NEW YORK Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:22pm EST

Some women who are depressed as they move toward menopause may notice their symptoms fading or disappearing after a few years, a new study suggests.

Researchers found the proportion of women who reported having depression symptomsdropped consistently, starting 10 years before they had their final menstrual period until eight years after.

"If this is a condition that seems to appear in conjunction with approaching menopause, it may be time limited and the risk may really diminish to low levels once they pass menopause," Ellen Freeman, the study's lead author, said.

Freeman is a research professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Previous studies found women have a higher risk of depression as they enter menopause, the researchers write in JAMA Psychiatry. But little was known about what happened after a woman stopped getting her menstrual periods altogether.

Freeman and her colleagues studied 203 women between the ages of 35 and 48 who had not gone through menopause in 1996. They followed the women through 2010.

Women completed a questionnaire every so often to determine if they were depressed.

At the beginning of the study, about 40 percent of them scored high enough on the scale of depression symptoms to show they had at least mild or moderate depression, the researchers found.

Starting a decade before their last menstrual period, women's risk of depression fell about 15 percent every year during the study.

"One average, for two years after the final menstrual period the risk is still high but after that the risk goes down pretty low," Freeman told Reuters Health.

The pattern of depression symptoms around menopause was similar for women who did and did not have a history of depression leading up to the study.

But across the research period, women with a history of depression were more than 13 times more likely to report having depression symptoms again compared to women with no history of depression.

For those women, Freeman said, depression should not be treated as a symptom of menopause.

"It would appear that for women who had depression before and have depression again, it's probably a different underlying process," she said.

As for women without a history of depression, while the researchers can't say hormone levels caused depression symptoms, they did find an association between women's scores and hormone levels.

The existing evidence on a link between rapidly changing hormones and depression is conflicting, Joyce Bromberger said. She studies women's mental health at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

"But it's still important to look at," Bromberger, who was not involved with the new study, told Reuters Health. "It's just that it's very difficult to look at hormone patterns over time."

She said it's also hard to know how applicable the new findings would be to the average woman, because such a large proportion of participants met the test's threshold for mild or moderate depression.

"I think we can say that over time that - on average - depressive symptoms go down, but that doesn't tell us about women who are greater risk," she said.

New mother with post-natal depression killed by 100mph train Major's wife had started to lose hair and have suicidal thoughts after being woken up to 20 times a night by baby Harrison

A new mother killed by 100mph train was suffering from "one of the worst cases of post-natal depression" a coroner had ever seen, he told an inquest into her death.

Emma Cadywould had started to lose her hair and have suicidal thoughts after giving birth to baby Harrison, being woken as much as 20 times a night.

The 32-year-old had been battling with depression for six months before driving to a railway and placing herself on the track shortly before Christmas.

Mrs Cadywould, known by friends as Emsie, was struggling to cope following the birth of her son despite support military husband Steve, regularly telling loved ones she wanted to be at peace and expressed suicidal thoughts.

She sought medical help and was prescribed antidepressants to cope with the strain, which had also taken a physical toll, resulting in hair loss.

On December 16, 2011, she left from her home in Watchfield, next to the UK Defence Academy, on the Oxfordshire-Wiltshire border.

She drove four miles towards Swindon, Wilts., where she parked near the village of South Marston and made her way onto the main railway linking London with the West Country.

Shortly afterwards she was struck by a 100mph train.

The driver, who was partially blinded by the sun, thought he might have hit a deer and he continued to Swindon station, where an inspection of the damage led to an investigation further back down the tracks.

Major Cadywould told the hearing how he and his wife had been "rapidly ejected" from Swindon's Great Western Hospital following Harrison's birth.

"We left after four hours. It was made clear to us at the beginning that they have a quick turnaround ... I think it was quite a shock – the whole process," he said.

"As time elapsed Harrison was difficult to get into a routine. The whole night from day, day from night, feeding. There was no routine. She found that very difficult with broken sleep.

He described Harrison as a "very fretful baby" and said he would wake 10 to 20 times a night, sometimes with as little as 20 minutes in between.

Both took it in turns to look after Harrison but his father began to take further responsibility when Emma couldn't cope.

"There was a sudden change ... I think it had come to a point she could no longer cope. Physically she was okay, but mentally she wasn't coping," Major Cadywould said.

The couple were married in December 2007 and Harrison was born on June 1, 2011.

On the fateful day, the Major had breakfast with his wife and she dressed their baby and later drove him to nursery.

They had discussed "normal domestic" issues, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Major Cadywould, who had been taking military commander exams in the days, said: "I believe she took care to conceal it (her suicidal thoughts) from me.

"She didn't even tell me about the way she was feeling so I was unaware she had those thoughts. She didn't talk to me about thinking about harming herself."

The University of Bristol researcher for the department of East Asian studies was later died at about 10.30am that day.

Train driver Christopher Woodley was at the controls of the cab of the 9.30am First Great Western train from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads when he heard a "loud bang."

"The journey was uneventful until 10.30am when the train was in an area between Bourton and South Marston, just past the Acorn Bridge going at a speed of approximately 105mph," he said in his statement.

"A loud bang was heard at the front of the train but I did not see what caused the noise. The sun was very bright, light was shining into the cab."

A post mortem examination revealed Emma, of Saxon Orchard, Watchfield had died from "multiple injuries from an impact". Toxicology results showed prescription antidepressants in her bloodstream.

Mr Hatvany, the assistant coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, said: "This is one of, if not the, worst cases of post natal depression I have ever seen."

Despite the evidence, he stressed: "Only she knew why she made her way to the railway line that morning." He recorded a narrative verdict into her death.

Her family said the verdict was the best they could have expected and they vowed to continue to raise awareness into the condition which blighted Emma.

"No mother should have to die from post-natal depression," they said.