Depression symptoms

If one has depression, then one may feel hopeless, sad or stop taking pleasure from almost everything he/she does. These are initial depression symptoms. You might feel down in the dumps, tearful, or dishearten. One may also be irritable or anxious or have low energy levels which are also among depression symptoms.

The depression symptoms are often subtle at first. It may be hard to recognize these symptoms as they may be connected and that you might have depression. The two most significant depression symptoms are: sadness/hopelessness and loss of interest in or pleasure from approximately all daily activities. Other depression symptoms include:

Losing or gaining weight because of the changes in appetite, sleeping too much or not enough, feeling restless and not able to sit still, or feeling that moving takes a great effort, feeling tired all the time, feeling worthless or guilty without a proper reason and having problems while concentrating, remembering or making decisions. The worst depression symptoms include tthinking mostly about death or suicide.

If one has at least five of these depression symptoms for 2 weeks or longer and one of the symptoms is either sadness or loss of interest, you can be diagnosed with major depression that requires treatment. Even if one has less than five symptoms, one can still be depressed and might require treatment. If you have 2 to 4 symptoms for a time of approximately 2 years (1 year in case of a child) you can have a long-term form of depression called dysthymic disorder (dysthymia) any form of depression is diagnosed from the same depression symptoms one way or the other. Several number of women experience mood changes before their menstruation. Physical and emotional premenstrual symptoms which interfere with relationships and responsibilities are called as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). If any of minor or major form of depression is diagnosed it is important to take proper treatment.