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Depression is a serious mental illness that too often goes undiagnosed and untreated. If you think you’re struggling with depression, read below about 7 depression symptoms and how effective treatment can help.

1. Feelings of numbness

At times, depression comes across as prolonged periods of intense sadness, but it can also manifest in a multitude of other ways as well. People with depression symptoms often struggle with the inability to feel any emotion at all. They may exhibit distant, withdrawn behavior and feel like a prisoner in their own body. They are no longer an active participant in their own lives and lose interest in the activities they once enjoyed.

2. Isolation

Depression pushes people away from their loved ones and feeds off of the isolation that it creates. It convinces people to hole up and spend the majority of their time alone. Even those who are able to socialize often do so by creating a façade; they wear a mask of happiness to hide the way they truly feel.

3. Unexplained Crying or outbursts of Anger for “no reason”

For those who have depression, explaining the disease to others can feel impossible. Most of the time, they don’t even understand why they feel the way they do. Angry outbursts or unexplained crying are some of the most common depression symptoms because emotions become difficult to control.

4. Less attention to personal hygiene

Mundane chores or everyday personal hygiene often become neglected when people suffer from depression. Doing dishes, showering, brushing teeth and other daily activities become extremely difficult; this lifestyle change is usually a physical manifestation of how they are feeling on the inside.

5. Changes in appetite

Because depression causes people to grow out of touch with their body, people often experience changes in hunger an appetite. Instead of listening to hunger cues, people with depression will often overeat or restrict their food intake as a means of coping. This usually creates a weight change, which in turn, leaves people feeling less like themselves than they already did.

6. Sleep disruption

Similar to a disruption in eating habits, people with depression also struggle with a disruption in their sleep routine. Depression causes constant fatigue, which allows people to use sleep in order to avoid social situations and outings. However, this continual oversleeping often leads people to eventually experience insomnia at night.

7. Feelings of guilt and worthlessness

Shame is a huge factor in depression. When people are depressed, their inner critic grows louder, trying to convince them that they aren’t worthy or good enough. These feelings of shame are perpetuated by the behaviors they engage in when they’re depressed – isolating, oversleeping, calling in sick from work or school, etc.

How Effective Treatment Can Help

Depression symptoms can leave you feeling lost and alone, but luckily there are a wealth of ways that effective treatment can help. Therapy is the best course of action to take if you’re suffering from depression. It changes your thoughts and belief patterns, which therefore change the behaviors. Therapy also allows you to get to the root of your problem. In order to overcome depression, it can be extremely helpful to know where it stemmed from in the first place. When you know this, you can also develop coping skills to combat the intense depression symptoms. Positive coping skills will become second nature as you continue to get help.

Don’t wait to get professional treatment for your depression, take your life back today.

Therapy can really help ease and heal from depression. Click here to learn more about depression treatment.

About the Author

Kate Kendrick is a psychotherapist and relationship counselor in private practice in Longmont, CO.  She works with adults who are struggling with depression, existential issues, anxiety, PTSD, grief, and marital/relationship problems.