Previously published on Factoidz
Oftentimes people think of depression as an emotion or a state of mind. They often believe that depression is a way of thinking, and we can just “snap out of it.” Many of us experience the symptoms of depression, but if you’ve never been depressed, you can not always relate to how it feels to suffer from this disease of depression. Depression is a physical illness, because it is, essentially, a mental illness or even a brain disorder where the brain chemicals get off kilter. The following sections show what he would like to suffer from depression.
Depression is a disease not seen in the same way by all. Symptoms of depression vary from person to person. Symptoms of clinical depression include frequent crying, feelings of hopelessness, fatigue, memory loss, inability to express thoughts and feelings, an inability to find words to talk with another person, difficulty concentrating, to name a few.
Often, fopr depressed people, have an overwhelming desire to cry for no apparent reason. There may be external factors that stimulate the person to start crying, and then the internal factors that cause the crying to continue. For example, you might start to cry when you hear a song that touches you deeply. The song encouraged you to cry, but you will then continue to cry because of some internal factors, whether you are aware of them or not. You can cry when your favorite actor may be killed on one of your favorite soaps, and then continue to cry, because you do not mourn the loss of someone or something in your life. It could be a husband who is dead or out of your life. Not everyone knows why they cry, and others know perfectly well why they are crying. Sometimes the reasons for tears are well hidden, and other times you may not have a clue of why you cry with the original stimulus.
Sense of Doom – Often, a person who is clinically depressed feels like something bad will happen. The person may feel as though there may be an unexpected death about to occur or that something bad will happen in the world. The sense of alarm can be linked to an event that occurred in the past that 9 / 11 attacks. The person may feel quite sure that something devastating will happen, for no apparent reason.
Fatigue – feeling tired or tired all the time, your energy level saps to nothing. It can be difficult to even get out of bed in the morning. Fatigue can interfere with the quality of life. Family life often suffers from depressed people suffer from depression. Depressed people often find that the things and people they once held dear has no meaning for them anymore. You may be so depressed that you don’t even like your family anymore. You might feel that you are better off without them, or they are better off without you. This is not clear thinking, but it happens all the time when a depressed person seems to dislike everyone around them, even their children.
Inability to express thoughts and feelings – sometimes I can not find the words to hold a simple conversation. You can express your feelings, but I can not find the words. Your mind may feel that is totally devoid of thought. Open your mouth to say something and no words come out. It’s frustrating to have something to say but you cannot express yourself. The frustration of not being able to think about what you want to say is devastating. For many people, like me, the inability to express myself or communicate with others fuels my frustration and depression.
Self-deprecation – Depressed people often think that if they put themselves down, they beat everyone else to the punch. This type of thinking chips away at the self-image or self-esteem of a person. Self-critical people may feel they cannot do anything right.
Loss of family ties – Many people with depression lose their sense of joy. They may lack the emotional attachment they used to. They may lack empathy for others because they cannot go beyond their own feelings of loss. A husband or wife may lose feelings for the other. Often, people decide they love their spouses, but they are no longer in love with them.
The feelings listed above do not begin to summarize what depression feels like. You can become physically ill. Being subjected to constant stress of depression can flood your system with the cortisol (stress hormone). Cortisol is an important hormone. We need cortisol to feed our fight or flight, but when the body becomes saturated with cortisol, the immune system may be compromised and you may get sick.
Sources:
Health.com
Personal experience