how do you know if you have depression?

Psychological symptoms include:

continuous low mood or sadness

feeling hopeless and helpless

having low self-esteem

feeling tearful

feeling guilt-ridden

feeling irritable and intolerant of others

having no motivation or interest in things

finding it difficult to make decisions

not getting any enjoyment out of life

feeling anxious or worried

having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming yourself

Physical symptoms include:

Moving or speaking more slowly than usual

change in appetite or weight (usually decreased, but sometimes increased)

constipation

unexplained aches and pains

lack of energy or lack of interest in sex (loss of libido)

changes to your menstrual cycle

disturbed sleep (for example, finding it hard to fall asleep at night or waking up very early in the morning)

Types:

Postnatal depression. Some women develop depression after having a baby. Postnatal depression is treated in similar ways to other forms of depression, with talking therapies and antidepressant medicines.

Bipolar disorder is also known as 'manic depression'. It's where there are spells of depression and also of excessively high mood (mania). The depression symptoms are similar to clinical depression, but the bouts of mania can include harmful behaviour such as gambling, going on spending sprees and having unsafe sex.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Also known as 'winter depression', SAD is a type of depression that has a seasonal pattern usually related to winter.

Depression is a horrible thing to live with. If you had it, you would know. People use the term 'depression' loosely, and mistake it for just being down in the dumps. We all have bad days. I personally suffer with severe depression, and 9 days out of 10 feel suicidal. You can also be a manic depressive. These suffer intense mood swings, and can be on top of the world one day, and suicidal the next. If you feel like just bursting into tears for no reason, that's often a sign of depression. Does getting out of bed feel like an almighty mission? That's another. If you think you might be getting depressed, talk to your doctor and nip it in the bud. There is no shame in taking pills to combat sadness. If you had a broken arm, you'd need a plaster. It's a healing/preventative measure that people shouldn't be ashamed of.

There are tests you can do online, I've been asked to do very similar tests at the doctors, it might help you to see how you answers relate and to print out your answers to take to an understanding doctor to see what the best treatment for you is.

You don't have to be depressed to be negative about situations.