It is common to have ups and downs in life. Everyone has bad days or feels “blue” from time to time, but if this feeling takes over your life, you might have depression. It is important to know the common signs of depression to overcome the problem. Be careful to not let depression symptoms go untreated for too long because then the symptoms can be harder to treat in the future. Depression makes it difficult to function and enjoy life like you once did. For some people, getting through the day can be overwhelming and the feeling of despair won’t go away. People sometimes use depression to describe sadness, setback, or disappointments, but depression can be much more than these kinds of feelings.  

Understanding and educating yourself about the signs, symptoms, causes, and treatment of depression is the first step to feeling better. Depression can occur one or multiple times during someone’s life. When someone experiences an episode of depression, their symptoms occur most of the day, almost every day. Some common depression symptoms include:

• You can’t sleep or you sleep too much

• Increase or decrease in appetite

• Feeing constant sadness or discontent

• Loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities

• Irritability, angry, frustration, or feeling aggressive over small problems

• Feeling worthless, hopeless, or helpless

• Isolation from others

• Trouble thinking clearly, concentrating, or remembering

• Frequent thoughts of death or suicide (seek help immediately in this case)

• Difficulty controlling negative thoughts no matter how hard you try

• Anxiety, agitation, or restlessness

• Unexplained physical problems/pain