Depression Symptoms: 5 signs you’re struggling

Intro

Depression can change how we think, feel, and function daily. It can make the simplest of tasks seem incredibly daunting and take all the joy out of the things we love doing. When we’re struggling with depression it can negatively impact areas of our life like our job, how we sleep, what we eat, and what we do for pleasure. A lot of people who suffer from depression describe it as living in a black hole. Understanding depression symptoms can often be someone’s first step on the road to recovery. Personally, the depression symptoms I had left me feeling empty, constantly exhausted, and I found no joy in anything I did. Getting up in the mornings became increasingly harder and day-to-day tasks became a lot more challenging.

In this blog post, I’m going to talk about the main depression symptoms I was suffering from and how they affected me. But remember, depression symptoms can vary from person to person.  I hope from writing about my own experience, it will help those similar to me begin to understand if they’re suffering and need to reach out for help.

In life we experience lots of ups and downs, and from time to time feeling down or sad is okay, it doesn’t mean you have depression. But when feelings of hopelessness and despair won’t budge, that could be a sign you’re struggling with depression and need to speak to a doctor.

5 depression symptoms:

1. You feel hopeless and helpless

When we’re suffering from depression, we often have a bleak outlook on life. We feel nothing will get better and there is nothing we can do to get better or improve our situation. We feel no one will be able to help us, so rather than talking about it, we bottle up our thoughts & emotions. The more emotions we bottle up the worse these feelings get.

My experience:

When I was suffering from depression, every day was a struggle. I had no idea what was going on, I just felt as if life was caving in around me. It didn’t matter what I said or did. I constantly felt down and felt there was nothing I could do to improve my situation. This then allowed me to make even worse decisions, like getting fucked up to try and numb the pain. Of course, this doesn’t work. Rather than trying to see the good in different situations, I was always seeking out the negatives. And when you’re only seeking out negativity, you only see and feel negativity. This was then reaffirmed to me that I was indeed helpless and hopeless. I felt that every day was pointless as I could do nothing to feel better. I just wanted to sit alone. I’d dwell on all the mistakes I had made and think about how fucked up of a situation I was in.

2. You always feel tired/lack energy

You could have slept for 10 hours straight but when you wake up it’s like you haven’t slept at all. When we’re struggling with depression, we can constantly feel tired or feel like we lack the energy to perform simple tasks, like getting up and ready to go to work. And sometimes even though we feel incredibly tired, we have trouble getting a good nights sleep.

My experience:

When I was caught in my black hole, I always felt tired. I’d wake up it felt like I hadn’t slept at all, and it was a real challenge to get myself out of bed. After I finally managed to get up, it would feel like I didn’t have the energy to do anything. So I’d just sit around watching TV. Going to work became an increasingly more difficult task as I had no idea how I could make it through the day. So I began calling in sick. Sometimes I didn’t even have the energy to do that. This ended up getting me in trouble with my manager. It felt as though I was carrying around a massive weight with me. All I wanted to do was mope around sleeping as much as possible. I’ll speak about it more in the symptom I talk about below, but simple tasks became more & more difficult as I felt I didn’t have the energy to get them done.

3. Simple tasks become daunting & overwhelming

You know when you’re a bit hungover and it’s a real struggle to get out of bed and then an even bigger struggle to bring yourself to do the tasks you know need doing, like the washing or taking out the rubbish? Well, this is what it can be like every day when we’re struggling with depression. Simple tasks become overwhelming and daunting. It’s as if you’ve got no energy to bring yourself to do the tasks you know need doing. We sit there overthinking what needs to be done. Building simple tasks up into monumental challenges that make it even harder to complete.

My experience:

When I was at my lowest point, every task I faced was a real battle. From the minute I woke up, I didn’t want to get out of bed. As I couldn’t even bear the thought of getting washed and dressed. It felt like there was a massive weight holding me back from the things I needed to do. And I didn’t have the energy to carry that weight with me. I would lay there thinking about what needed to be done, building each task up in my head. Making it harder and harder for myself to do anything. It didn’t matter if I knew doing these things would make me feel better. Just the thought of having to do these tasks was enough to make me want to curl up into a ball and wish the day away.

4. Loss of interest in doing things you love

In life, we all have things we LOVE doing. Be it playing sports, doing arts & crafts, meeting up with friends, or going to parties. But when we’re struggling with depression, it can take all the pleasure and fun out of the activities we love doing, so we stop doing them. Sometimes without even realising it.

My experience:

Growing up I was an extremely active and social kid. I was always playing sports like rugby & cricket, learning new tricks on my skateboard, or going out with my pals and having a good time. However, when I began to struggle with depression, I stopped doing all these things. They no longer felt fun or enjoyable to me, they felt like chores. And no one really likes chores. I swapped playing sports for sitting on my arse watching TV and swapped going out with my mates to drinking alone to try and numb the pain I was experiencing. Not only did I stop doing the things I loved, but I also alienated myself from the people I cared about. I had lost all interest in doing pleasurable activities, all I wanted to do was be by myself, doing nothing, and wishing the days away.

5. You’re using more substances to cope

Depression makes everything harder, and life becomes a lot less enjoyable. When we’re suffering from it, we can start using different substances like drugs and alcohol to try and numb the pain or get through our day. And while these substances may offer a short-term escape, they are NEVER beneficial in the long term and only make our situation worse.

My experience:

When I was at my lowest point, I was addicted to multiple substances including Xanax and alcohol, I was also a reckless gambler throwing money down the drain. Basically, I was doing anything that offered me short-term relief to escape the bullshit reality I had created for myself. If Id managed to get through a day at work, the first thing I would do when I got home was open a beer and that beer would turn into lots. This continued until I was fully dependent on alcohol & Xanax. I then stopped going to work and lost my job because of it. I couldn’t face being sober as that meant having to deal with my issues. So the easiest thing for me to do was to get fucked up and try to forget what was happening. Eventually, though, you sober up and all those horrible thoughts and feelings come rushing back and you’re in the exact same place you were before.

Remember, alcohol & drugs are never a solution to your mental health issues. If you’re someone who’s self-medicating to numb the pain, then take this as your sign from the universe that you need a helping hand. Reach out to your doctor and talk about what’s going on. If I can do it, so can you! To understand more about the signs of substance abuse, check out this blog post.

Summary

5 depression symptoms:

1. You feel hopeless & helpless – We feel nothing will get better and we can do nothing to improve our situation.
2. You always feel tired/lack energy – It doesn’t matter how much rest you’ve had, you always feel tired or lack the energy to perform daily tasks.
3. Simple tasks become daunting & overwhelming – Simple tasks like brushing your teeth turn into monumental challenges you struggle to do.
4. Loss of interest in doing things you love – Depression can take the pleasure out of things we love doing like, playing sports, so we stop doing them.
5. You use substances to cope – We try to self-medicate with things like drugs & alcohol to try and numb the pain.

Conclusion

If you feel that you’ve been suffering from any of the depression symptoms spoken about here, for 2 weeks or more, PLEASE speak to your doctor straight away. You’re not alone, you can and will get better. Speaking to a doctor can be a daunting and challenging task. But, when you do talk, you will have taken the first step along your healing process. And you’ll feel like a massive weight has been lifted from your shoulders. Remember, you’re an amazing human being with huge potential and lots of life to live. You’ve got this!

To further understand depression, check out this helpful blog written by medical professionals.