How To Know If You’re Just Feeling Blue, or Battling Real Depression
Everyone experiences sadness. Life is full of ups and downs and sometimes sadness lasts longer or goes deeper than other times.
But how do you know if you’re experiencing a normal sadness that you’ll rebound from or battling a real depression that can negatively affect your life?
The key difference between sadness and depression is that depression is a mental health disorder that overpowers a person’s life and causes a deeper level of sadness that negatively affects a person’s life over a period of time. When a person is unable to control or recover from their sadness or hopelessness, they may be battling depression.
It is important to be familiar with the symptoms and recognize when depression starts so that it can be addressed early on.
Symptoms may include:
- Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness
- Persistent fatigue
- Loss of interest in hobbies
- Uncontrollable sadness
- Difficulty managing self care
- Unexplainable changes in weight
- Drinking more alcohol than normal
- Difficulty experiencing joy
- Inability to sleep
- Loss of energy
- Suicidal thoughts or attempts
If you’re experiencing some of these symptoms, start by asking how long you’ve been feeling this way. If you experience the normal ups and downs of life and are able to manage your symptoms then you probably don’t need professional help but it’s always important to have friends and family that you can talk through your life with.
If the lows of depression have been negatively affecting your life most days during a two week period or you are feeling out of control, you may need to seek professional help. Depression is a common mental illness that affects many people who are unable to help themselves by themselves.
A professional mental health therapist or counselor is trained to help you identify and cope with lifestyle and mental factors that may be causing a depression to set in.
The symptoms you experience may be different than what another person experiences and a counselor can make a diagnosis and develop a treatment plan with you.
Treatment plans and paths can be different for each person depending on their circumstances. There is no one-site-fits-all approach which is why it’s important to talk with a professional. Programs for depression treatment may include individual counseling and psychotherapy, evaluation and assessment, medication management, and personal coaching. Visit us here, to learn more about depression treatment at Arbor Place.
If you are battling depression, we are here for you. Whether you would like to discuss treatment or simply ask us a question, we are just a phone call away.