(Extract from the Mind Publication "Understanding Depression ")

'I felt detached from the world around me. All emotions - love, affection, anger - were gone.  Actually, I can't say I had no emotions, I did, but they all seemed desperately negative.  Most involved fear.  Fear that I would never escape the condition'.

'I was so scared of being alone with my thoughts.  At night everything seemed so bleak.  I couldn't concentrate on anything: I couldn't read or watch TV.  I couldn't relax or unwind.  Sleep seemed impossible - so many thoughts were racing through my mind.  I could spend hours fantasizing about ways of killing myself'.

'Everything to do with everyday life seemed like such hard work.  I simply didn't have the energy to go to work, to see friends, to shop or cook or clean.  It all seemed pointless!  What was the point in eating when I didn't even want to be alive?'

Depression can affect different people in different ways and there are a wide variety of symptoms, both psychological and physical.  If you are depressed you may feel that nothing can help.  But there are things you can do which can make a different.  Deciding to do something is the most important step you can take.  Most people recover from bouts of depression and some even look back on it as a useful experience, which forced them to take stock of their lives and make changes in their lifestyle.

What is depression?

Depression is a medical term which covers a broad range of psychological distress.  In its mildest form depression can cause lowered mood, which does not stop you leading your normal life, but it makes everything harder to do and seem less worthwhile.  At its most severe, depression can be life threatening.  You may feel like killing yourself or simply give up the will to live.

Anxiety

People who are depressed often experience anxiety too.  You become anxious when you feel threatened, whether the threat is real or imagined.  Anxiety can be expressed through physical symptoms such as headaches, aching muscles, sweating and dizziness.  The mind of someone who is anxious is often full of busy, repetitive thoughts.  These can make it hard to concentrate, relax or sleep.  In the long term anxiety can cause physical exhaustion and general ill-health.  Anxiety is more fully explained in Mind’s booklet Understanding Anxiety.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

This type of depression is thought to be due to the lack of daylight during the winter months which makes some people more prone to depression.  For further information see Mind’s booklet Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Postnatal depression

This is the depression which some mothers experience after their babies are born.  It is thought to be brought on by the large changes in hormone levels in the mother’s body after birth.  For further information see Mind’s booklet Understanding Postnatal Depression

Manic depression

This is a condition which causes people to have episodes of depression and mania.  Mania is a state of highly excited and uncontrolled behaviour.  Manic depression is explained more fully in Mind’s booklet ‘Understanding Manic Depression’. 

What are the symptoms of depression?

Depression affects different people in different ways. It can produce a broad range of symptoms, which can be emotional or physical.

People suffering from depression may:

• feel low-spirited a lot of the time
• have low self-esteem and may lack self-confidence
• be preoccupied with negative thoughts
• feel numb, empty and despairing
• blame themselves and feel unnecessarily guilty about things
• find it difficult to concentrate or make decisions
• be unusually irritable or impatient
• wake early, or have problems getting to sleep
• eat more and put on weight, or not eat properly and lose weight
• not enjoy normally pleasurable activities
• experience a loss of sexual drive
• use more tobacco, alcohol or other drugs than usual
• consider, or commit, acts of self-harm or suicide
• have reduced energy and reduced activity
• cut themselves off from others, rather than asking for help or support
• have a bleak, pessimistic view of the future.

What causes depression?

There is no one cause of depression; it varies very much from person to person. In many cases, depression is triggered by life-events, especially in a first episode of depression. What happened to you as a child can also have a profound effect on how you feel about yourself in the here and now.

Traumatic experiences, such as a physical attack or rape, can trigger depression, as can bereavement. It's not just the negative experience that causes depression, but how you deal with it. Negative experiences are more likely to contribute towards depression if your feelings about the experience are not expressed or explored.

Depression can also be linked to physical causes. Poor diet, lack of physical fitness, and illnesses such as influenza, can all leave you feeling depressed. Frequent use of some recreational drugs can also lead to depression.

Topics also included in this leaflet are: