6 Signs You May Be Depressed without Knowing It

You may be depressed without knowing it – that’s what happened to me – for twenty years! One of the reasons that it took me so long to recognize that I had depression was not because I never say depression symptoms lists. I did come across these lists from time to time. But they didn’t seem to fit me.

Since I had depression from an early age, I was used to being sad and anxious, so I didn’t know that things could be different. I didn’t eat or sleep too much or too little. I never (thankfully) had suicidal thoughts. I also had what’s known as “double depression,” so most of the time I had Persistent Depressive Disorder (also known as “smiling depression”) and sometimes it turned into Major Depressive Disorder.

So here is the technical list of depression symptoms:

• Persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” mood
• Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed, including sex
• Decreased energy, fatigue, being “slowed down”
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
• Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping
• Appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and weight gain
• Thoughts of death or suicide; suicide attempts
• Restlessness, irritability
• Persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as headaches, digestive disorders, and chronic pain

I think that the way these lists are written, they’re just too sterile. They didn’t really speak to me, and so I didn’t get diagnosed for years.

Below is a short list of depression symptoms that I’ve experienced. I hope this might help you to else move beyond the more conventional depression symptoms list and recognize their own depression:

• You’ve been very self-absorbed. (Of course, given the nature of self-absorption, you may not have realized it until just now.) But you realize that you haven’t asked anyone else how things have been going for them in a while, even if someone you know is going through a tough time, and you would normally be checking in with them.

• You’re irritable. Now, I know you may think that it’s actually that everyone else is being irritating as opposed to you being irritable but think about it – maybe one or two people are being irritating, but if it seems to be everyone then chances are very good that it’s you. Believe me, I’ve come to this realization a few times.

• Escapist activities are taking up a lot of your time. You’re either watching TV or movies, playing video or computer games or reading your escapist choice of literature. I know that when I’m reading a lot of scifi/fantasy or spending a lot of time playing role-playing computer games, then something is up with my depression. It’s a foolproof tip-off. If I’m reading non-fiction or playing a computer game like The Sims, I’m all right.

• Normal household chores are not getting done. Your plants are slowly dying, you only do dishes or laundry or grocery shopping when you get close to running out. Your list with all those little projects that we always have going on hasn’t been touched in a long time. It’s not just plain old being busy. There are plenty of times when you’re staring at the things you need to do, and you just can’t seem to care enough to do them.

• You’re being negative and pessimistic in general. For instance, if you’re trying to decide what movie to see with a friend or family member, you shoot down every suggestion of theirs, whereas normally you would be more open.

• You feel detached from the rest of the world, or like you’re not really part of it. You feel like there’s a glass wall between you and the rest of the world, or that you’re underwater.

Now, I’m not saying that if a certain number of items on my list resonate with you, you should see your doctor. After all, it’s a non-medical list of symptoms. But you might want to think about it and consider seeing your doctor to get their opinion.