What is depression?

Symptoms of depression

A wide variety of depression symptoms can lead to a diagnosis. Psychological symptoms could include feeling sad or hopeless, having low self-esteem or feeling guilt-ridden, having a lack of motivation, anxious thoughts, a loss of interest in things that you previously enjoyed, trouble concentrating or remembering details and making decisions.^1,2

Physical depression symptoms could include talking or moving more slowly than normal, persistent aches and pains not associated with injury, constipation, appetite or weight changes, loss of energy, reduced sex drive, and disturbed sleep and fatigue.²

Depression can affect your home, social, family and work life – leading to avoiding contact with others and less participation in social activities. It also varies in severity, from mild depression that has some impact on your daily life, to moderate depression where the impact is significant, to severe depression where coping with daily life is almost impossible.²

There are also specific types of depression. These include postnatal depression, where a parent (mother or father) becomes depressed after the birth of a child. There’s bipolar disorder where sufferers experience periods of both depression and excessively high mood (mania). And there’s seasonal affective disorder – also known as SAD – where depression follows a seasonal pattern and is usually worse in winter.²

If any of the above symptoms strike a chord with how you’re feeling, go and see your GP so you can discuss your feelings and determine a treatment approach that would work best for you. As well as trying to get to the route of psychological problems, there may be urine and or blood tests to rule out medical conditions that have similar symptoms to depression, such as thyroid disease.³