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People can feel sad and blue at different points in their lives, but if it’s starting to seem like a much bigger issue, you might be depressed. Here are some signs of depression, and when it’s time, you should seek help and feel your best again.
Symptoms Have Lasted For A While
One of the critical differences between having depression and feeling sad is the duration in which it lasts. According to the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5, symptoms of depression must have existed for at least two weeks to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder.
However, even if it hasn’t been this long, if you’re feeling depressed and it’s affecting your wellbeing, you should still definitely reach out to a therapist. Even more temporary causes of sadness, like bereavement, experiencing a break-up, attending a new school, and leaving old friends behind, require coping skills to deal with, and not everyone is equipped with the knowledge of how to address them in a healthy manner.
It’s Disrupting Your Daily Life
Another reason and this also goes with the depression diagnostic criteria, is that if your symptoms are causing issues in your day-to-day living, you should find a therapist so that you can regain proper functioning.
———————————————————————————————– Try online therapy and get 15% off from our partner, BetterHelp. ———————————————————————————————–Depression can cause people to become socially withdrawn, start underperforming at work and school, have sleep problems, and even lack the energy and motivation to properly take care of themselves. People can also start to lose interest in hobbies and activities that they used to love doing, and attempting to engage with them often doesn’t result in any excitement or pleasure.
You Feel Hopeless
In addition to feeling sad, It’s common for depression to cause people to feel guilty, worthless, and lack optimism about the future. The pain that comes from these can consequently cause people to think about death, particularly as a means to escape them.
Suicidal ideation, whether or not you go through the act, is a serious matter, and in an effort to try to numb these feelings, people often resort to unhealthy coping strategies like substance abuse, which can be life-threatening too. Uncontrolled eating is also incredibly common, and this, alongside substance use, can tie in closely with the previous section.
More Resources For Depression
If you can relate to any of these problems, it’s time to reach out for a helping hand because you can heal from these feelings and learn to cope with them if they arise.
A therapist will be able to give you a proper diagnosis and help create a treatment plan for depression, which may include recommending you speak to your doctor for medication.
However, even if it’s determined that you don’t have major depressive disorder, your thoughts, feelings, and emotions are still completely valid, and if they are causing you any issues, you can still benefit from talking to a therapist and finding out ways you can cope with them. Depression or not, sadness can still be overwhelming and challenging to tackle on your own.
———————————————————————————————– Try online therapy and get 15% off from our partner, BetterHelp. ———————————————————————————————–To learn more about how you can find a therapist, visit BetterHelp today to receive more information about therapy and get connected to a licensed professional for depression. Online therapy is shown to be just as effective as traditional methods of assistance while also allowing you to enjoy its flexibility and affordability.
Conclusion
Feeling down is one thing, but if you feel that you’re starting to lose control over your happiness and wellbeing, you are encouraged to get support because while sadness can improve over time on its own, it’s also possible that it can be incredibly persistent and even get worse over time, which is typical of depression. Nowadays, getting the help you need is easy, and getting professional support is just a click away.
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The post Feeling Depressed? appeared first on The Good Men Project.
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