What were your symptoms of depression

[whymewhyme]

Just that really can anybody tell me what your symptoms of depression are/ were? I'm trying figure out if I'm slightly depressed or just low.
Thank you

I had depression for about six months last year, I was very high functioning, worked etc. But I didn't remember the last time I felt joy. My mood always fluctuates in the month but there are usually a couple of weeks of being really bouncy, and then a couple of weeks where I'm more focused. I didn't have that. To me if felt really unhelpful to start saying I'm depressed, as to me I feel it can become a label I would hide behind. I guess it would be more helpful in hindsight to have recognised 'I had depression'. Anyway it was only when I started to have dark thoughts, which became more troublesome that I started to seek help . I went to the doctor and described all the symptoms and what was going on. He never really said you're depressed, but I was offered therapy and anti depressants. There are other lifestyle factors to change too. It's only now I'm getting better that I feel I can look back and say I was depressed. Now I would say symptoms to look out for (for me) would be social withdrawal, turning things down, becoming over emotional, lack of joy, loss of enjoyment in things like eating. I would also say time is important. How long ago did it start? Can you find things that lift you? Would talking to someone help? Bw

Like sunflower, I only really saw it for what it was when I came out the other side. It's hard to see things clearly in the middle of it! For me symptoms were; not wanted to leave the house, weepy over the smallest thing and then crying and not being able to stop, negative thoughts and not being able to see a bright future, lethargy, difficulty concentrating, lack of self care.

Hello. Similarly to pp it’s now that I am getting better I can see it better. I felt very isolated and lonely, despite having a loving family, hopeless, I couldn’t think at all about the future without feeling overwhelmed, at my worst I couldn’t think about tomorrow without it being unbearable, i felt trapped, very bleak, frequent thoughts about hurting or killing myself. People would say kind things to me and it would make me want to cry because I knew they were wrong and it wasn’t true and that everyone would be better off without me around. A lot of the cause was work, which I’ve now left, but it’s not gone, and I am afraid often of it coming back again. I think the thing that made me doubt it was depression was that I thought I’d feel the same all the time but I had definite bad times in the day - first thing in the morning and late afternoon were awful. Apparently it does fluctuate though, that’s very common. How are you feeling, OP?

Sorry, it’s not gone completely but miles and miles better.