Clinical Depression: Know the signs & symptoms

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Clinical depression is a serious mental illness that makes a person extremely hopeless, causes extreme difficulty to regulate mood or feel motivated even to do basic things, rendering a person feel helpless, lose out on normal day-to-day functioning, and also face career setbacks or other issues in many cases. 

Clinical depression is diagnosed by a clinical psychologist, standardized assessment tests, and by a psychiatrist. In this article, however, we try to cover some of the major signs and symptoms to bring awareness and prompt action.

If you feel any of these signs and symptoms are being experienced by you or your loved one, it's important that you consult a psychologist over IWill app or as you feel comfortable. 

 

Signs and Symptoms of Clinical Depression 

 

They can include:

• Trouble concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions

• Fatigue that doesn’t go away with rest too and keeps coming back

• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and helplessness

• Pessimism and hopelessness

• Insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or sleeping too much

• Crankiness or irritability

• Restlessness and anxiety 

• Loss of interest in things once pleasurable, including sex

• Overeating, or appetite loss

• Aches, pains, headaches, or cramps that won't go away

• Digestive problems that sometimes don't get better, even with treatment and when there is no known cause of these issues

• Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" feelings

• Suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts

 

Diagnosis 

Diagnosis of clinical depression needs to be done by a psychologist or a psychiatrist. If you have any more than 3 symptoms mentioned above and they have been present for more than 2 weeks, and are leading to difficulty for you, it's important to consult and get a diagnosis now and start treatment.

 

Treatment 

Treatment will include therapy sessions and/or medication or both. Your clinical expert is the best person to guide you on this and so consulting and starting treatment as soon as possible can help with the management of these issues and getting better and getting the ability to lead a normal life again. 

 

Risk 

Clinical depression brings in the risk of suicidal thoughts and even in extreme cases, suicide attempts. If you are experiencing the following, it's imperative and extremely important that you physically visit a psychiatrist now and also disclose this to your trusted loved one or friend. 

 

• A sudden switch from sadness to extreme calmness, or appearing to be happy

• Always talking or thinking about death

• Clinical depression (deep sadness, loss of interest, trouble sleeping and eating) that gets worse

• Taking risks that could lead to death, such as driving through red lights

• Making comments about being hopeless, helpless, or worthless

• Putting affairs in order, like tying up loose ends or changing a will

• Saying things like "It would be better if I weren't here" or "I want out"

• Talking about suicide

• Visiting or calling close friends and loved ones