Tips on Recognizing Depression

Everyone feels a little blue now and then, but sometimes that feeling blue turns into something more serious - clinical depression. There are events in everyone's life - death, divorce, loss of a job, that cause ordinary healthy people to feel blue. That is a normal healthy reaction to a difficult situation. However, over time we begin to feel better as we adjust to the changes in our lives. This type of sadness and feeling blue generally isn't a sign of depression.

When the sadness lasts for a longer time period and you appear to be sad for no particular reason then it's time to consider whether what you are experiencing is a bout of depression or just a temporary period of feeling blue. Not only do you feel blue but you really don't feel like doing many of the activities you used to enjoy. Seeing old friends or playing your favorite sport that you always enjoyed just isn't very much fun anymore. After a while you begin to feel that you just don't really care about anything anymore.

What are some of the other warning signs of depression? Many people who are depressed find that they have difficulty sleeping. On the other hand some people find that they want to sleep all the time and have no difficulty doing so. The important thing is to think about whether or not you have experienced and significant changes in your sleep patterns - for no apparent reason.

Another sign of depression is that you really don't like yourself very much anymore. It seems like you just can't do anything right anymore and you find that you are constantly criticizing yourself very every mistake - or every little perceived mistake.

Finally, just feel like you don't have the energy to do anything, you fell tires and listless all the time. You don't even have the energy to do the small day to day tasks that never were a problem before. You just feel worn out, for no reason.

Depression can be a very serious problem and is not to be taken lightly. The first step in dealing with depression is learning about how to tell if perhaps you're not just blue but really are depressed. If you begin to see some of these signs in yourself it may be time to seek professional help.