Depression is more than just feeling down or sad. Feeling depressed can be caused by situations you are in, e.g. grieving loved ones, losing a job, a relationship/marriage ends, etc., where after a period of time, life returns back to normal. However, for some, this depressed feeling is regular, ongoing and debilitating, where depression needs attention. In this case, the depression might be caused by chemical imbalance, hereditary causes, a long term health issues or substance of abuse, such as drugs and alcohol use, and it is a mental illness.

“John, in his mid 40’s was struggling to go to work, it seemed everything was very hard for him to do. He felt heavy and gloomy, miserable and sometimes could be quite moody. There were times where he couldn’t make himself get up in the morning to get ready to work, he felt tired all the time. He knew he was behind with his work and worried that he would be fired by his boss because he couldn’t perform his duties., however he was struggling to concentrate and was distracted with his negative thoughts, e.g. everyone in the office doesn’t like me, I was given a harder task, etc. When there’s a difficult task, he often procrastinated, then felt anxious and panicky when it was close to the deadline.
He didn’t understand why he was feeling this way, it seemed like a vicious cycle and that frustrated him. John’s depression impacted on his relationship with his wife and his 3 children. He was too embarrassed to tell people that he was struggling, until he had a melt down and was referred to his GP, who then asked him to go to Counselling”*

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION

Beside what has been said in John’s story, some people also experience:

• Loss of appetite or over eating
• Lost interest in life
• Consistently feeling down
• Avoidance and isolation
• Unable to cope with daily routine
• Unable to concentrate or stay focused
• Feeling heavy and sighing
• Always feeling blue
• Lethargic
• Etc.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT IF I DON’T DO ANYTHING WITH MY DEPRESSION?

If prolonged depression is unattended, you will slowly:

• Have a miserable life and will slowly develop a negative view, or seeing through negative “glasses” and will be unable to see anything positive in life
• Slowly you will have a distorted belief system on yourself and the world, like John
• Feel isolated and helpless
• Lose friends and other relationships, as you will push others away
• Be unable to allow yourself to be comforted, cared or loved because you close yourself from receiving anything and are unable to respond
• Be trapped into self-pity and blaming others or situation easily
• Be caught up in a vicious cycle – if you see things as depressing, then everything is depressing for you and that will add to your depression
• Spiral down in your confidence/self-esteem

SOME PRACTICAL STEPS

There are some practical steps that you can do for a start:

• Talk to someone regarding your problem, there is no shame in doing so and getting support from them
• Go to your GP for your depression level to be assessed properly and thoroughly
• Seeking help from professionals who work on depression cases
• Cooperate with the professionals when you need to take some medication to help your mood
• Have a routine each day, e.g. what time to get up, go outside under the sun for 15minutes, have breakfast, take shower and get change even though you don’t go anywhere, but that will help you feel good about yourself
• Have a time table for each day to help you achieve a small goal and to have a purpose in life each day
• Eat healthily and avoid alcohol, sugar and reduce junk food
• Have a routine sleep time, e.g. from 10.00pm to 6.00am
• Tell yourself that these depressed feelings will pass

Remember, how you feel will impact on how you see the world.
Now it is up to you whether you want to take the first step to get well and willing to make some changes, because no one can do it for you, except yourself!

If you are feeling depressed right now, but don’t have the courage to seek some help or if you are uncertain whether you need to seek professional help, or if you know someone who is depressed and you don’t know what to do, you can use the comment section below or email us or call us to express your concern and we will answer your concerns.

*The client’s name and details has been changed for the purpose of confidentiality.