Depression

Depression is an illness where you have a continuous low mood and/or a loss of interest and enjoyment in your life.

Everyone has ups and downs – sometimes you might feel a bit low or experience grief when you lose someone you love.

It’s common for people to say that they are ‘depressed’ when they are feeling down.

However, if the sadness becomes persistent and you lose interest in your life, affecting how you think or behave, it’s possible you have depression. It’s important to remember that depression isn’t a sign of weakness and it’s not something people can just ‘snap out’ of. Most people feel better talking to a trained therapist or taking medication or both.

Depression is common; each year, around one in 20 adults in the UK will have an episode of depression. It’s the third most common condition GPs see in their practices.

How do I know if I have depression?

There are lots of symptoms of depression and they affect everyone in different ways. Not everybody will have the same experience. The two core symptoms of depression are having a low mood (feeling down or hopeless) along with losing interest or pleasure from doing things.

Below we’ve outlined the symptoms you may get if you have depression.

Feelings

You might:

  • feel low all the time
  • not enjoy or want to do any of the things you usually enjoy
  • feel guilty
  • feel helpless
  • feel worthless or have a loss of self-esteem or self-confidence
  • feel hopeless, you might feel that it’s too hard or painful to live and have thoughts about death or suicide

Physical symptoms

Depression isn’t just about how you feel mentally; you might change your behaviour and get physical symptoms too. Aches and pains are sometimes what people notice first.

You may:

  • cry in situations in which you wouldn’t usually cry
  • feel tired and lack energy
  • have a loss of sex drive (libido)
  • have trouble sleeping – possibly taking one or two hours to go to sleep, and especially waking up earlier than usual
  • get unexplained or worsening aches and pains
  • have constant headaches
  • feel restless or agitated
  • have poor concentration and find it difficult to make decisions

You might be:

  • smoking or drinking more alcohol than usual
  • eating more or not being hungry, often resulting in weight gain or weight loss
  • avoiding your family and friends, or cancelling plans you’ve made