Why am I constantly sad?
Why do I feel guilty about everything?
Why can’t I enjoy things that once were pleasurable?
I’m unable to concentrate on anything!
All but me can deal with such trifles!
I am embarrassed by feeling sorry for myself!
Have such thoughts been occupying your mind for over 2 weeks? Maybe you have doubts whether sadness you’re feeling is something natural or it is a signal for developing depression.
Sadness as one of basic emotions is rooted in evolution. It gives our organism a chance to rest, recharge power that was mobilized for too long. Sadness is an opportunity to feel everything that was suppressed instead of experienced. Sadness that manifests itself in the face and posture is a signal for submission and temporary “cease- fire”. Lowering of mood, which accompanies depression, evolved in order to subconsciously help in avoiding dangerous situations.
However, we do not know where this sadness comes from- whether from some kind of illness or from stressful situations such as job problems, overload by responsibilities, loss of somebody important in our life. Sometimes it is hard to say what the real reason of a sadness is. How can we recognize when sadness is a natural reaction and when it is the right time to ask for professional help.
The amount of people feeling depressed in population has been rising recently. Depression takes the 4th place on the list of 150 disorders and affects people of all walks of life. It is suffered by your neighbour, workmate, but also by such famous people as Jim Carrey or Woody Allen.
Everyone of us is sometimes sad. However, natural, “healthy” sadness differs from pathological sadness in terms of disturbance in every day functioning. Despite having low energy, natural sadness does not deprive us of our life goals and does not last for too long.
Depression takes positive emotions away from us. We are unable to fulfill our responsibilities. Even if we do so, we put a great deal of effort in it. The easiest decisions seem to be impossible to be made. Sleeping problems take the form of early morning awakening (around 4 a.m) and difficulty returning to sleep. We experience a loss of sexual needs and taking care of our appearance is almost impossible.
The type of depression described above is familiar to us from mass media or a word of mouth. But sometimes depression can be mistaken for neurosis. In that case the fatigue can be accompanied by back pain and headaches. We are often irritated, tense and burst with anger. Symptoms like feeling nervous are usually ascribed to neurosis, but in fact they are the sign of depression in disguise.
Diagnosing of depression and admitting we may have a problem are not easy. We find many excuses: “Everyone sometimes feels sad or tired”, “I don’t want to trouble my family”. We hate being in a state of helplessness, lacking of influence, having doubts. Demands we often hear
- Be reliable!
- Don’t cry! You’re not a baby!
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Get control over your life!
Sometimes it is not us, but our family who notices symptoms. That implies necessity to take care of ourselves and to ask for help.
Allow yourself for helplessness. It is a chance for fighting depression.
Embarrassment is not asking for help, but rejecting it if help is available.
Asking for help is not a reason for embarrassment but rejecting help when it is available definitely is.