How do you know if you have depression?

[P0mbears]

Just that really...

I've never really understood the difference between just feeling really down and being depressed

There's questionnaires you can do

For me, depression is not necessarily (or even at all) about feeling sad. It's a complete numbness, like everything is just a void and emptiness.

It feels like you're under water and everything is black and hopeless. Often in a lot of pain and feeling powerless and like you're better off not here.

I think it can feel different to different people but what makes it depression is combination of it being persistent (ongoing) and interfering with your day to day life.

Clinical criteria attached

I have suffered on and off with depression since my early 20's. To me it tends to feel like nothing is worth doing, there is no point in anything, and thinking everyone would be better off if I were dead! Eventually I was lucky enough to be able to see a psychologist, who told me that I had a hormone deficiency which was causing my problems, and I have been taking various drugs for depression ever since. I am now in my 60's and still need them, but it's worth it, as one tablet a day, keeps me on an even keel, and makes life bearable. I did find at one point that exercise helped make a difference, so If you think you may be depressed, it may be worth going out for long brisk walks, or something similar OP, but if you're really struggling, then it's worth having a chat with your GP.

Ime Depression comes with a complete loss of energy/will to do anything rather than just sadness. However, sometimes physical conditions, even something as simple as anaemia, can cause the exact same symptoms so it's worth going to the doctors rather than just suffering through it.

I had a brief spell of depression a few years ago. In the run up to it I’d had many down days but been able to get myself out of it. One day it would not lift and that was the beginning of my period of depression.

I felt that nothing was good and I stopped caring for myself. Getting up and looking after my son was very effortful. Pretending all-okay was draining. I’d literally drop him off at school and go to bed. Went on for a few weeks. I really, really understood why it drives people to suicide. I knew that what I’d thought was depression before really hadn’t even come close… I’d just had down days.

It lifted after about a month and I do think, despite what my GP said, it was medically induced as I’d started thyroid medication.

I’ve not had it again but I’ve never forgotten how it made me feel. Since then I’ve had much greater empathy for those who suffer from it.

I have depression. I’ve been on anti depressents since I was 16.

It’s hard to explain but I get moments where I’m happy and normal, and then I get days where I have no motivation to do anything. I just lay there and feel extremely blue.

I couldn't understand why I didn't feel better even when I was trying everything I could (sleeping well, reducing stress, exercise, eating healthily, seeing friends etc) and did the NHS quiz and was surprised how much I ticked so spoke to GP.

It lasts longer, is constant and everything feels like joyless pointless effort. Even eating or washing.

This. Combined with physical symptoms like insomnia and complete exhaustion. I physically couldn't lift my body out of bed some mornings. Utterly bizarre feeling in hindsight.

I used to commute into London on a motorbike. It was exciting and risky, cutting through the traffic, slipping through gaps while the traffic moved around me. Dangerous, sure, but a real rush.

Then things in my life started to really get on top of me but I thought I was coping. One day on my way to work I had a particularly close shave with a bus. It was one of those real split-second moments where I only just about got away with it. Usually that kind of thing would be accompanied by a massive dose of adrenaline but instead I felt nothing. No adrenaline, no surprise, no thrill, no thumping heart, just... nothing.

A couple of months later I was on a busy train station platform. I was standing near the edge and found myself thinking "if someone bumps into me just right I'll fall on to the tracks just as the train is coming in. It wouldn't be anyone's fault, just an accident. Everyone else would be better off afterwards." And I felt disappointed that it didn't happen.

That was when I went to get help.

I think when you find you are in anhedonia which is an inability to experience any joy or pleasure in anything, even things that would normally be a pleasure that's a big clue. I also completely lost my sense of humour, everything was utterly utterly flat... and it was not a mood, didn't pass and no amount of having a word with yourself could lift it.

Like a pp said, I'd never forget how bleak and dreadful it was.

To me, it is not feeling down... it is feeling nothing.
And you only realise how depressed you actually were when you finally start to come out of it.

I had it any years… I just felt worthless and hopeless. A constant dread that something bad was about to happen. I woke up at 3am every morning. I have a lot of knowledge about depression and treat people but I told myself I was useless and not depressed. Then once, in the middle of the night I just woke up and said to myself “ you have to go to doctor”.
I remember a few days after starting meds I laughed properly. It was spring and for the first time in many years I SAW the colours, I smelt the flowers.
I have taken citalopram since…I will never stop it.
Depression is such a physical illness. When I pick people up from waiting room ,before they even sit down , I can tell antidepressants have worked … they are so much lighter, the darkness has gone.

To me, it feels like someone has turned the gravity up.

A simple thing like having a shower feels as hard as running a marathon.