Fact Sheet: Depression
Inner Hush A Mental Health Service Audit Organisation: Awareness Initiative
Depression
Feeling low from time to time is just a normal part of life. But if emotions like despair and hopelessness take hold on you, and does not go away, then there is a chance that you may have depression. Being unhappy is not at all same as being depressed. There are certain symptoms that determine whether you are depressed or just experiencing sadness that people go through at times in their daily lives. You can always take a mental health test online to check your condition.
What is depression?
Depression is a common mood disorder that leads to a persistent feeling of loss of interest and sadness. This condition is also known as clinical depression or major depressive disorder. Depression influences how you feel, behave and think. It can even lead to a variety of physical and emotional issues. Depression might interfere with your ability to study, work, sleep, and eat more.
Severely depressed individuals might face problems in completing their day-to-day activities, and can even feel as if their life is not worth living. To manage this condition, it would be smart to go for online counseling for depression.
Depression is not just a bout of blues you can ‘snap out’ of. This condition can require long term treatment. The majority of people with depression do feel better after undergoing proper treatment, which can involve psychotherapy, medication or both.
Signs and symptoms of depression
Determining if the unshakable, persistent feeling of sadness is a result of depression can be the very first step towards recovery and healing. Consulting the Best Doctors for Mental health test would help you to ascertain whether you have depression or not. The specific symptoms of this condition differ from one person to another, but depression does have certain common signs. They include:
Treating depression
There are a variety of ways to treat depression, counseling or psychotherapy and medications being some of the most common ones.
Depending on your severity of depression, its treatment may take a few weeks or a lot longer.