People with depression often struggle with long-term depressed mood or a sense of indifference. It leads to the loss of interest in things that previously seemed important or interesting to the patient. The patient loses the ability to feel pleasure, joy and satisfaction. Depression is also accompanied by anxiety, impatience and irritability. There are problems finding motivation to act . Patients have trouble concentrating and making decisions, and their movements become slow and uncertain.
A common symptom of depression is also low self-esteem and self-accusation. You may have thoughts of suicide and, in the case of advanced illness, attempts to take your own life.
Patients also struggle with somatic symptoms such as sleep disturbance, loss of appetite, weakness and various types of physical pain.
Not all of these symptoms need to occur to show that you have depression. The course of the disease in each patient is slightly different.
What is depression
One can speak of a disease state when five of the symptoms typical of depression occur in increased intensity within the same two-week period and cause deterioration of the current level of functioning, and the symptoms are not caused by taking medications, alcohol or other psychoactive substances.
Typical symptoms that signal depression:
- Depressed mood compared to the current level
- Loss of interest in activities previously seen as interesting
- No motivation to act
- Feeling tired and lacking energy
- Problems with concentration
- Reduced self-esteem
- Pessimistic thinking
- Problems with sleeping
- Loss of appetite
- Lowered libido.
The patient's low mood lasts most of the day, and the mood does not change significantly, regardless of the circumstances.
Depression should not be confused with sadness, which is a healthy reaction to unpleasant events and can last even several days, e.g. after the breakup of a relationship, death of a loved one or severe professional failure.
Due to the severity, we can divide the course into mild, moderate and severe.
Depression is largely biologically conditioned. People with genetic tendencies to depression and suffering from somatic diseases are at risk of developing this disease.
However, an unhealthy lifestyle can also contribute to the development of depression - including constant, strong stress and long-term overwork.
