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What Is Depression?
Everyone has reasons to feel sad now and then. Life's disappointments and setbacks make us feel down for a time, and that's normal. But if feelings of sadness persist for weeks or months, and are so pervasive that they interfere with daily functioning, depression treatment is probably needed.
What are the symptoms of serious depression? The underlying experience that all depressed people share are feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. People with depression usually also feel pessimistic and anxious, and have a sense of emptiness and low self-worth. Additional symptoms of depression may include:
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- Restlessness and irritability
- Loss of interest in formerly pleasurable hobbies and activities
- Feelings of fatigue and low energy
- Difficulty in concentrating and remembering
- Difficulty making decisions
- Change in sleeping habits - sleeping either too little or too much
- Change in eating habits - loss of appetite or increase in appetite with an accompanying weight loss or gain of 5 percent of body weight or more
- Aches and pains or digestive problems
- Feeling of heaviness in the limbs, lethargy and overall slowing down
- Thoughts of suicide, or actual suicide attempts
Mental health treatment professionals usually urge seeking depression help if a person experiences at least five of these symptoms for most of every day (or nearly every day), for two weeks.
Effective treatment for depression involves more than just prescribing a medication. Comprehensive mental health help like the whole-person approach provided by The Center for Counseling and Health Resources evaluates and addresses all facets that make up a complete human being, including physical, emotional, nutritional and spiritual factors. The Center's depression hotline can answer your questions about getting help, and our depression clinic offers holistic depression rehab services in a caring and professional residential setting.