What does depression feel like? You might be surprised.
“It was not really alarming at first, since the change was subtle, but I did notice that my surroundings took on a different tone at certain times: the shadows of nightfall seemed more somber, my mornings were less buoyant, walks in the woods became less zestful, and there was…
Top 10 Depression Myths Debunked
It’s all in your head. Only women get depressed. If you have depression, you’re stuck with it for life. Do any of these statements sound familiar? For all the misconceptions about clinical depression, it seems that there’s a depression myth for every truth – and this makes it difficult…
What is depression? – Helen M. Farrell
Depression is the leading cause of disability in the world; in the United States, close to ten percent of adults struggle with the disease. But because it’s a mental illness, it can be a lot harder to understand than, say, high cholesterol. Helen M. Farrell examines the symptoms and…
Depression Rarely Strikes on its Own
I have clinical depression. I also have mild Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I always feel a little silly rattling off the laundry list of my mental illness disorders. It makes me feel like I should add “hypochondriac” to the list as well. My depression…
4 Reasons Depression is Hard to Spot in a Child
Most of my childhood was blighted by clinical depression. After I was diagnosed at age 27, my parents told me that they knew something was wrong but didn’t know what. Not surprising, since I grew up in the 1960s and 70s, and depression in children wasn’t even considered a…
What is Depression (and What is it Not?)
“People who don’t know [what depression is], who say it’s self-indulgence, sound callous, but it’s not callousness born of indifference; I think it’s callousness born of ignorance. That kind of ignorance we’ve got to get rid of, and little by little I suppose, we will. You say to them,…
Depression – NIMH
Everyone occasionally feels blue or sad, but these feelings are usually fleeting and pass within a couple of days. When a person has a depressive disorder, it interferes with daily life, normal functioning, and causes pain for both the person with the disorder and those who care about him…
Depression Symptoms and Screening
“I am the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be a cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be better I cannot tell; I awfully forbode I shall not. To remain as I am is…
Are you at risk for depression?
Most people know the risk factors for illnesses such as heart disease or high blood pressure, but not many people realize that clinical depression has risk factors associated with it also. Having these risk factors doesn’t mean you will suffer from depression, only that you may be predisposed to…
How Does Depression Affect Your Daily Life?
Sometimes, instead of looking for depression symptoms, looking at how you’re behaving every day helps you to recognize that you have depression. Here are a few ways that your behavior might have changed. Your place is a mess; laundry and dishes are piled up, mail is unopened, etc. (Assuming…