Depression: Symptoms that you should be aware

Depressed mood, loss of interest and listlessness are characteristic symptoms of depression. People with depression are no longer able to feel positive emotions. Many suffer from the feeling of inner emptiness. In addition, there are often physical complaints such as sleep disorders or pain that has no physical cause. Here's what the typical signs of depression are.

depression symptoms

Three main symptoms

How can one recognize depression? People are often described as depressed when they are depressed for a long time. However, depression is much more serious than mere moping: they are serious mental illnesses that need to be treated.

In addition to a depressed mood, the diagnosis of depression includes other symptoms. Signs of depression are subdivided into major and minor symptoms in the Classification System ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems).

The main symptoms belong to the ICD-10:

• Almost uninterrupted depressive mood to a large extent, which can not be influenced from the outside and lasts at least two weeks.
• Loss of pleasure and interests
• Listlessness or tiredness

These “signs of depression” make the extent of the disease clear. Depressed people feel depressed for many days and throughout the day. Even positive experiences can not improve their mood in depression.

A characteristic symptom of depression is also that the patient feels neither joy nor other feelings, therefore feel inside empty and emotional. Aufmunterungsversuche by fellow humans then has no effect. Nothing can arouse the interest of depressed people. Even getting up in the morning is so difficult for those affected that some do not even leave the bed. They can no longer fulfill their daily tasks.

In addition to symptoms

In addition to the three main symptoms usually, more symptoms of depression occur. Thus, depressive people develop great self-doubt and evaluate themselves as very negative. Strong fading of self-confidence or self-esteem is therefore characteristic of depression. Symptoms also include strong guilt and self-blame. In addition, some depressives struggle with concentration and attention deficit disorders.

Delusions and hallucinations

A major depressive episode may also be accompanied by psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. For example, patients suffer from persecutory delusions or moral obsessions. They feel persecuted, constantly questioning which behavior is right or wrong, and feeling inferior. Delusional depression is particularly serious and not easy to treat. Such psychotic depression is therefore treated not only with antidepressants but also with neuroleptics. Severe depression can also be caused by.

Suicide risk

The negative thoughts are sometimes so strong that suicidal thoughts arise. In depressive people, the risk of suicide is very high. Many try to commit suicide, about ten to fifteen percent die from suicide.

Physical symptoms

Depression does not just affect emotions and behavior. There are also physical effects of depression. Physical symptoms include cardiovascular discomfort or pain, sometimes loss of appetite or - less often - an increase in appetite. Sometimes the physical complaints are so prominent that the depression is not recognized.

If there is no organic cause for physical ailments, it is called "somatization" (from Greek soma = body). This does not mean that sufferers imagine the physical symptoms. The mental disorder creates or intensifies existing complaints. They show up in very different physical regions. Patients often complain of the stomach and intestinal problems, headache, and backache. Another physical symptom of depression is sleep disorders. Depression also often causes strong restlessness and agitation or inhibit behavior. Frequently, interest in sex also decreases. Recurrent mental or concentration difficulties can also be an indication of depression.

Depression - Symptoms: Difference from grief and depression

“Depression symptoms” may be similar to those of deep mourning. But there are crucial differences. This includes that the depressed mood in bereavement does not always remain the same. Most mourners, despite their loss, are able to laugh and enjoy themselves in between. In addition, the mood of mourners usually improves with time. Grief can recur abruptly with the thought of loss. But gradually, a mourning person can enjoy increasingly beautiful experiences again. The support of friends and family can be a comfort to him. In some cases, however, a mourning reaction turns into depression.