Depression Therapy
Life can be tough! When you feel down (i.e. sad, empty, or hopeless) most of the time for at least 2 weeks, and those feelings keep you from your regular activities, you may have depression. Depression is a serious mental health condition. Depression affects a person’s ability to work, go to school, or have relationships with friends and family. It can affect the way you eat and sleep, the way you feel about yourself, and the way you think about things. Depression is different from grief over losing a loved one or experiencing sadness after a trauma or difficult event. It is not a condition that can be willed away. People struggling with depression are very unlikely to just “pull themselves” out of it.
Symptoms of depression
Symptoms of depression may vary. How often symptoms occur, how long they last and how severe may vary for each person.
If you have any of the following symptoms for at least 2 weeks, talk to a doctor/nurse practitioner or mental health professional:
- Feeling sad, “down,” or empty, including crying often
- Feeling hopeless, helpless, worthless, or useless
- Loss of interest in hobbies and activities that you once enjoyed
- Decreased energy
- Difficulty staying focused, remembering, or making decisions
- Sleeplessness, early morning awakening, or oversleeping and not wanting to get up
- Lack of appetite, leading to weight loss or eating to feel better, leading to weight gain
- Thoughts of hurting yourself
- Thoughts of death or suicide
- Feeling easily annoyed, bothered, or angered
- Constant physical symptoms that do not get better with treatment, such as headaches, upset stomach, and pain that doesn’t go away
What if I have thoughts of hurting myself?
If you are thinking about hurting or even killing yourself, get help now. Call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Once the short term crisis has lessened, consider an appointment with me to address the “root causes” of your struggles with depression. I can be reached at: (812) 332-4929.
Portions of this article were extracted, edited and paraphrased, with permission, from Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.