Oftentimes, people are surprised when I suggest that they might be suffering from depression. They mistakenly believe that being depressed means they are feeling sad and blue, and frequently they are not. They might feel irritable, numb, or nothing much at all. Sometimes they just don’t enjoy things the way they had in the past, which is troubling in and of itself. Your mood is important, but it’s not the full story.
Depression is a biochemical process that affects the mind and body in various ways. Your sleep is affected. You might have difficulty falling asleep and struggle with racing thoughts and it’s as though you can’t turn your mind off. The opposite happens for others in which sleep is the only respite to escape the overwhelm and pressure they feel from just trying to make it through the day. You might sleep many more hours than normal, only to wake up and still feel exhausted.
You begin to feel like a hamster on a wheel and you just can’t catch up. Your productivity is impacted and you are capable of doing less, even though it feels like you are exerting all of this energy. It all feels so overwhelming. You begin to procrastinate and avoid more, and things mount up. It makes you want to give up, because what’s the point?
Your thinking can change and your attitude may start to take on a more negative slant. You might feel excessive guilt and feel like everything is your fault. It’s easy to become indecisive while you are depressed, which adds to the procrastination because you just can’t seem to make a decision without worrying that it’s the wrong one. So then you do nothing. It becomes difficult to concentrate, and you might only be able to listen half the time. It all just takes so much effort. Your body can physically slow down, giving you the sense that you are wading through water or something. Or the opposite can happen to you, in which you feel so much agitation that you can’t sit down and relax for the life of you.
Your appetite changes. Have you gained or lost weight? You might not feel like eating at all, or maybe all those carb cravings caused you to really pack on the pounds, making you feel even worse about yourself.
Socializing can become a nightmare. You can’t manage small talk anymore. When did it all become so tedious? You feel disconnected and misunderstood. It becomes so hard to explain to others what it is you are experiencing. You are mentally fatigued with no psychic energy. As a result, you need a break which leads you to isolate yourself more and more. Maybe you stay home more, or maybe you cancel plans at the last minute because you just can’t even. This, in turn, starts to affect your relationships. People may sense that something is wrong, but they don’t know how to help. Or even better, they give you helpful tips like, “Smile!”, or “Fake it til you make it!” All of which makes you feel even more misunderstood, alone and hopeless.
You might be feeling some of these symptoms, or a lot of them. If that’s the case, just call because you don’t have to go through this alone and there is a way to feel better pretty quickly and get yourself back to your previous way of being in the world and enjoying your life again. Click below to call or email.