How do I know if I’m depressed?

There are many reasons why we may suffer from depression-- situational, genetic, environment, and types of thought processing are some of them.   Depression can be caused by situations like losing a loved one, getting fired from a job, or going through a divorce.  Depression could be from our family genetics.  Parents and grandparents, aunts or uncles or siblings may have suffered from low moods and other symptoms included below. This could be a biological component or learned behavior or both.  The environment usually includes people and places in our immediate life.  The culture of people in our surroundings. Neglect, overall toxicity in relationships and substance abuse can be other causes of depressed moods.   Finally, our thought processing could be another culprit -- ask yourself Could it be my perspective or outlook on situations?  Do I have cognitive distortions, do I have irrational unproven thoughts?  For instance, Polarized thinking; which includes all or nothing thinking, seeing things in black and white, Mental Filtering like disqualifying the positive; do I dwell on the one negative thing that happened and not look at the other 5 positive things that are occurring simultaneously?  Do I blame, label, catastrophize, jump to conclusions, personalize do I think with shoulds -- I should have this, I should accomplish that, I should be that.  There are also many cognitive fallacies like control, fairness, change and reward.  If I can control this everything will be fine. Life should be fair or if I change this one thing about somebody or something everything would pretty good. Lastly, the reward fallacy that if I work really hard then I deserve this thought.  Do you suffer from low feelings of self-worth with thoughts like I'm not good enough or I'm unloveable?  

The depressive symptoms include: Persistent sad, "anxious" or empty emotions. Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies or activities; including sex. Difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions. Decreased energy or fatigued or slowing down. Low appetite or weight loss or overeating and weight gain. Restlessness or irritability, feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, pessimism.  Insomnia, early morning awakening or oversleeping.  Thoughts of death or suicide and/or attempted suicide.

Difficult situations can lead a person to feel sad, lonely, and scared. These feelings are normal reactions to life's stressors. Most people feel low and sad at times. However, in the case of individuals who are diagnosed with depression as a psychiatric disorder, the manifestations of the low mood are much more severe and they tend to persist.

There are many ways you can address low moods: changing your environment, avoiding toxic relationships, and observing your thoughts to see if they are negative and reframing things in a more positive way. You may want to consider contacting a trusted physician or nurse practitioner to test your blood work for things like hormone levels, cortisol levels (stress and inflammation may negatively influence your moods), vitamin levels for nutritional deficiencies. Find out are you absorbing your vitamins? What kind of diet are you eating? We have learned that processed foods - saturated and trans fats are negatively impacting our bodies causing fatigue and low moods amongst many other health problems. Exercise, some sort of meditation, religious ceremonies, all can be good coping tools to uplift your moods. Things like Emotional Freedom Techniques: Tapping can give you some release of anxiety. Healthy community of friends and family and a sense of purpose are also very powerful tools to cope with depression. 

Trauma from your past whether from relationships, situations and environments is very important to be aware of because those relationships, situations or environments that may have caused you grief, horror, fear and/or shock in the past could be causing you to react in many different ways. Some signs or symptoms may be feeling numb, or highly sensitive and unable to cope with typical life stressors.  You may have an unusual reaction to typical situations due to trauma. I recommend talking to a licensed mental health provider about all these things to help you move forward and in a positive light in your journey. 

Put your hands on your chest and take a deep breath repeat after me; I am ok just the way I am. I am safe.

Asking for help is a strength and will empower you in your journey.