Depression Help: How To Identify Depression And What To Do When You Spot It

How to identify depression and what to do when you spot it.

Hundreds of researches have been done studying about the prevalence of mental illnesses, and how much people in general know about mental illnesses.

The results are not good, by the way.

Researches suggest that today 1 in 4 people suffer from some kind of mental illness. That makes a total percentage of 25% people living with a mental illness.

Studies have also found that people don't know what to do even when they spot depression.

That's just plain sad. Especially because depression, mixed with anxiety is the most common mental illness in the world. You probably know someone who is right now suffering from depression.

The diseases is so stigmatized that people don't really openly talk about it.

It is important that we discuss about it, and acknowledge that mental health is important as well.

It is going to be just a brief post about the symptoms of depression. This is just to enlighten you so that you can spot depression in others, or yourself, and realize when to get help.

Depression is a mental disorder which is characterized by low mood, low energy and lack of interests in activities that were once enjoyed by the person.

It affects how you feel, think and behave. The feeling of well-being is lost.

It is a common but a serious mental disorder, and is contributing to greater portion of suicide rates.

Although a low mood is normal in certain events of life, like loss of loved ones etc, it becomes a problem when it persists and causes disability.

What Are The Symptoms Of Depression:

The following are the major symptoms, and they should persists for a minimum of 2 weeks most of the time, to be considered as depression.

1. Persistent sad mood. 
2. Feeling of hopelessness. 
3. Feeling of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness. 
4. Disturbance in sleeping pattern; oversleeping or insomnia. 
5. Disturbance in eating pattern; weight gain or weight loss. 
6. Loss of interests in activities that were once enjoyed by the person. 
7. Low energy or fatigue (moving and speaking slowly). 
8. Pessimistic views about the future 
9. Difficulty in concentration, remembering things and making decisions. 
10. Ideas or attempts of suicide. 

It is not necessary to have all of these symptoms to call it depression.

How many symptoms presents depend from person to person. Some may have few of them, and some may have most of the symptoms present.

Also note, there is a criteria to diagnose mild, moderate and severe depression. Let's just leave that for your therapist.

(Check out this article about the Lesser Known Facts About Depression)

What To Do When You Spot Depression

Well, the reason of learning about how to spot depression is to get the proper help you need.

When you see that someone could be depressed, talk to them personally if they are close to you, and motivate them to seek a therapist.

If the person is not close to you, then it would be best if you would bring this in notice of someone who is close to them, and motivate them to talk to the affected one. It is recommended because if they are not close to you, chances are that they won't open up. People with depression don't trust people around them with their feelings.

What Not To Do

1. Don't make them feel that they are ill and that they are being looked upon differently. Just be casual around them.

2. Don't force them to tell you anything. Nobody likes to be poked about the same thing again and again. Just motivate them to face the reality.

3. Don't be the "overly caring" friend, because according to a Reddit thread, they are the worst.

What Are The Treatment Options For Depression:

The available means of treatment are:

1. Medications,

2. Psychotherapy, and

3. ECT (Electroconvulsive therapy): Considered when both medication and psychotherapy fails. It has been proven effective for the treatment of depression.

Now, don't you go have a panic attack seeing "ECT" on the list of treatments. They don't go shocking everyone that reach out for help. ECT is something done in very extreme cases. You can say it's the last resort.

ECT and other brain stimulation methods are usually brought into picture much later when both of the other options fail. It is not commonly used.

Most commonly a combination of medications and psychotherapy is used.

And mild cases might not even need medications; psychotherapy is enough for them.

Also remember that the treatment depends from person to person as well. Something might work on others but not on you. Errors might occur during your treatment and several trials may be required. Be patient and don't lose hope. It might take some time but you can find the best treatment for you after a few trials.

It is important that you be observant, open minded and compassionate.

Don't be ignorant. And especially, don't be ignorant jerks!

Depression, even the severe ones are treatable. So don't think nothing can be done.

Seek help.

Share you views and stories with me. Positive feedback is always welcomed. You can interact with me in the comment section, or on the contact section on the right to post privately. You can also chat with me on twitter, and facebook. 😊


More on the depression:
Depression: The Infographic
How People See Depressed People
What Not To Say To Someone With Depression

© Quirky Writes 2018