HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE DEPRESSION?

Many of us have gone through a phase of life where we don’t feel much enthusiastic. People, mostly during this period, suffer from conflicting emotions such as feeling unhappy, stressed, anxious or sometimes even depressed. According to experts, it is nothing but a normal part of our life, which everyone experiences at some point of our life. However, it is observed that sometimes the hardships of life, where we go through difficult situations, can leave us with low spirits, or in other words, can cause “depression”. There is no particular situation for people to suffer from depression. There can be many possible reasons to experience such thing.

Depression or Anxiety

Some of the very common circumstances where people might feel depressed are situations like relationship issues, work related stress, bullying, sleeping disorder, long illness and many such similar situations, which effects your mental as well as emotional well being. Sometimes hormonal changes can cause depression like during puberty or during childbirth. Sometimes there can be no particular reason to feel low. In that case, you are most probably suffering from depression or anxiety. Well! Depression and anxiety are the most common health problems these days. As mentioned earlier, there can be many possible reasons to experience such things, depending upon the social, emotional, environmental or spiritual factors. One can experience both types of health problems at the same time, but that is a very rare situation. At one point of time, you are either suffering from depression or anxiety. Both these health concerns are not the same and you yourself can distinguish between them if you know the symptoms of both situations. In this article, we have discussed about the symptoms of both, depression as well as anxiety

DEPRESSION

Depression is like living in a body that is fighting to stay alive, with a mind that is attempting to die!

Depression is a very common health issue that is seen to inflict millions of people from around the world. According to a recent survey, every one person out of ten is suffering from depression. This problem not only puts an adverse effect on one’s personal life, but also causes problems in one’s social life as well. One needs to be very specific about the kind of work he or she is indulging in, because depression mostly occurs due to the negative effects of our everyday work.

Symptoms

Symptoms of depression may include:

• Physical symptoms such as headaches, low energy and moody nature.
• Feeling guilty, hopeless, persistent sadness or low self esteem.
• Concentration problems like lesser interest in work, memory issues, having difficulty in taking decisions etc.
• Weight loss or weight gain, change in appetite.
• Sleeping disorders such as not able to sleep at all (bouts of insomnia) or sleep too much.
• Unnecessary thoughts of various events etc.

Facts

Mentioned below are some more facts about depression, which you can relate to yourself, and check whether you are suffering from depression or not.

• You feel scared to approach new faces thinking that they will judge you based on your looks or your work.
• You have constant thoughts of running away from your family and friends if you are not finding any other means to put an end of your misery.
• If you are doing things in the right manner, but still think that something is missing, and this makes you feel demoralized.
• If you feel disconnected from the rest of the world and usually spend time in your own company.
• You feel weak, defective or having a sense of failure.
• You get irritated or angry easily on very petty issues.

If you think that the above mentioned symptoms and facts are all related to you, then probably you are suffering from depression.

ANXIETY

Anxiety is like a narrow stream of fear dribbling through the mind of the sufferer. If encouraged, it can even cut an entire channel into which all his thoughts would be drained forever!

Anxiety is the negative reaction of stress. Usually people suffering from anxiety think too much about the future events. Based on future anticipations and expectations, people suffering from anxiety disorders, can’t find a perfect conclusion for their future. Statistics say that every one person out of five in the world is suffering from anxiety disorder.

Symptoms

If you are experiencing the below mentioned symptoms, then it is quite possible that you are suffering from anxiety disorder.

• You are not able to keep your mind at peace and you are constantly thinking about your future.
• You remain worried all the time no matter how small the issue may be. It concerns you very much. For instance, how will I score in the exams? Am I doing this thing in the right way? What if he doesn’t make it to the office in time? No matter what others tell you to assure, you would still be worried.
• Unwanted thoughts mostly starting with “What if..?” These thoughts always scare you a lot.
• You cannot concentrate on your health, because you worry a lot.
• You always feel like something worst is going to happen to you and your family.
• You always have suicidal tendencies.

Other Symptoms

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Trembling
• Sweating
• Muscle tension etc

Other issues related to this problem are panic disorders, post traumatic stress, and obsessive compulsive disorder etc. Usually these people have suicidal tendencies, because of their constant worries and apprehensions about their future. Anxiety disorders are generally characterized by the state of physical, mental and emotional well-being of any person. As stated, the people with anxiety disorderalways have unpleasant feelings about anything they do, which might affect their present as well as their future.

Conclusion

So this is what actually you need to know about the difference in both types of disorders. However, if you are suffering from any of these, then it is better for you to undergo a detailed session with a qualified psychologies/therapist. It is difficult to comprehend all by yourself that whether you are in the beginning stage of these disorders, or you have been suffering from these from quite a while. So, if any of the above symptoms you think you are having, then an appointment with a good therapist should be the first thing on your to-do list for the week. He or she will surely help you to analyze your problem and will guide you in respective manner. There is no need to feel ashamed about it; it is for your own, good and you can again open doors to a new life waiting to embrace you with all the worldly pleasures.