How do I know if I have mental health issues like depression or if I’m just being lazy?

Thank you for reaching out! I know how difficult that can be! If you're experiencing a lack of motivation, this can possibly be attributed to depression, especially if you've previously had more motivation. Life can be overwhelming, especially in a high stress situation like college. That lack of motivation can often hurt self-esteem and you may turn it negative and just write it off as laziness. Just seeing it as laziness is an internal reaction towards how you're feeling and your lack of motivation potentially due to depression. There could be other reasons behind the way you are feeling but it is infinitely more complicated than just feeling like you're being lazy. If this feeling that you're having is having an effect on your personal relationships, it is likely going deeper than just a simple answer. 

Depression shows up in many different ways and sometimes it is difficult to notice or understand that this is what is going on. 

Symptoms of depression include lack of motivation, feeling hopeless, sleep disturbances, loss of interest in things you normally are interested in, and many more different symptoms. 

It is important to know that you are not alone in how you are feeling and there are ways to treat depressive symptoms and to get back to feeling more like yourself. 

Depression can show up due to a change in your life, high stress situations, trauma, or unfortunately simply no particular reason at all but it is important to remember that you are more than how those depressive symptoms are making you feel. 

Reaching out for help when you're feeling like this can feel overwhelming at first, especially if you are feeling the lack of motivation in your life, but reaching out is a great first step to figuring out what is going on and moving forward towards a path of feeling better.

If you would like to work on understanding how you're feeling, figuring out if you are experiencing depression, or working towards getting back to feeling like yourself, that is something that can be worked on through therapy. Let me know if you have any other questions!