Depressive Disorder, commonly known as Depression, is a mental health condition that affects your senses and organ functions. According to the World Health Organization, depression is characterized by visible changes that affect an individual’s daily life. The signs of depression can be observed in physical, emotional, or both factors.
What if I tell you that you can detect if someone shows any signs of depression to your friends, loved ones, or supportive people in your neighborhood?
Knowing these signs and symptoms can help the people around you obtain medical or psychological help at the earliest stages. Please be warned, these symptoms may or may not appear, or they may indicate something else.
Based on the established studies or reports published by the World Health Organization, here are the 10 symptoms that someone has a depressive tendency:
Unmotivated Feeling – Losing Interest or Pleasure
People with signs of depression may experience a sudden loss of interest or pleasure in their socialization skills, hobbies, or daily routine.
Inside, these people are unmotivated to do something that is either part of their lifestyle or character, as they feel empty. This can be a friend or a family member who was known for being motivated, yet all of a sudden gained a realization that their routine no longer has a purpose from their perspective.
Unimpeded Yet Volatile Emotions
Another sign of depression that is not to be taken lightly is the volatility of an individual’s mood, but occasionally leaning towards negative emotions. From the perspective of the depressed, these unpredictable mood shifts are not simply emotional outbursts, but the result of an unsettled mind that’s struggling to find a balance.
Physically Drained Like A Low-Battery Device
Being drained physically is also considered a depressive tendency, especially when your energy is not recharged as you take your rest. We normally have the nature to be physically active, get some recharge, and repeat.
But for depressed individuals, that exhaustive feeling is holistically affecting them. This makes them unable to stay motivated, be productive, or continue to communicate with other people.
Breathing Difficulty
Due to the intense emotions felt by someone with depressive tendencies, it can also manifest physically. For example, when someone experiences a heavy feeling, shortness of breath, or a tightness in their chest.
This physical discomfort is the result of a combined stress and other negative emotions piling up from one’s feelings. This can also be because some may have a hard time opening their emotions to someone, which eventually suffocates them from such feelings.
Not-so-Tight Sleeping
Sleep is an essential rest for every human being, as depriving oneself of it leads to detrimental effects on overall human health. An average adult must sleep at least 7 to 9 hours.
However, a symptom of depression is a messed-up sleeping schedule, disrupting an individual’s holistic recharge. Depression makes people either insomniacs, too-early worms, or late risers.
This disruptive schedule affects the cognitive balance of an individual, which will result in other negative consequences. Once someone is deeply affected by the irregular sleep schedule, it takes a challenging time to get back to their normal course.
Easily Distracted, Struggling to Calm Down
Another common symptom that someone has depression is the fact that they can be irritated easily, but have a challenging time calming down. Although depression is linked to sadness, irritability is also a negative emotion resulting from an unsettled emotion.
This feeling can have a consequential impact, not just on oneself but also on people around them. Getting irritated easily can also manifest in different scenarios, such as getting frustrated, feeling restless, and taking things seriously due to having a heavy heart.
Keep an eye on people who get irritated easily, not just because of depressive tendencies, but because it can strain someone’s relationship with other people.
Degrading Performance in Work or School
Do you sometimes observe that people who are known for being hardworking become ineffective all of a sudden? This has nothing to do with work ethic, but it could be a sign of depression. As your mind is affected by depression, your performance as a student or employee takes a downturn.
At first, underperformance slowly manifests in different ways, such as the disappearance of motivation, faltering memory, or fading concentration. These challenges will then affect bigger aspects of your responsibilities and how you perceive them.
As depression takes a deeper toll, you may notice that you have missed certain deadlines, and simple tasks you can finish in no time become so difficult to accomplish. This feeling should not be treated as a manifestation of weakness or laziness, but rather a sign of an exhausted mind battling with different emotional pain.
A Man and His Appetite
Depression does not just affect someone’s emotions, feelings, or dealings with other people. Another symptom of depression is the changes in one’s appetite. Depression affects how an individual perceives food.
For someone with depression, they may either reject the food or eat food in excess (such as stress eating) due to their indecisiveness and restlessness. The long-term effects of depression on one’s appetite are the changes in their energy levels, weight, and mood.
Having a Mental Block
A person who is depressed can also be indecisive at times, because they feel empty and unable to express their rationality. Certain cognitive activities, such as decision-making, make it challenging for people with depression to exercise.
They are fogged not just with emptiness or negative thoughts, but also with feelings of doubt. This emotional sentiment made one’s situation too difficult.
Pessimistic Thoughts: Thinking of Suicide and Hopelessness
If someone is thinking of ending their life or feels the spirit of hopelessness, this is one of the most evident yet precarious signs of depression, as it indicates long-term detriments to one’s mental health. The thoughts of hopelessness and suicide clouded the individual’s perspective on life.
This symptom reflects the deep despair that depression creates in one’s mind. Should your friend or loved ones have experienced the same thing, help them consult a specialist.
In reality, anyone can be affected by depression, regardless of its forms or signs. Depression embeds long-term, negative consequences on one’s mind.
Acknowledging these 10 signs is a step to help someone in reclaiming their mental peace and rediscovering the essence of hope. There’s no shame in asking for help, especially if things have an emotional or psychological impact on one’s life.
If you know anybody stuggling with depression help them find professional help.