Depression

Depression is something that most people are familiar with in some form. Just about everyone will experience it in some form during their lifetime. But what does it take for a clinical diagnosis?

A clinical diagnosis of depression has to have at least 5 of the following over a 2 week period:

• Changes in Sleep

  • A typical presentation in my experience will be an increase in the time spent sleeping, but it can present as insomnia (sleeping less than you usually would).

• Changes in appetite

  • This may present as an increased desire for sweet, carb heavy food or not feeling hungry.

• Loss of motivation/interest

  • This can look like less of a desire to do things, or feeling apathetic towards a task that you usually would enjoy.

• Unintentional weight gain or loss

  • This would be a noticeable change in weight, though putting a number to it can be tricky.

• Fatigue

  • Fatigue may only be present in certain situations or feeling drained after being “on” all day for work or school.

• Feeling worthless or guilty without cause

  • This may look like being overly self-critical, feeling that others are only tolerating you, feeling like you are a burden to others

• Changes in cognition (loss of focus, concentration or decision making)

  • These changes can indicate something that may require medical attention if they present suddenly or on their own. If this is the case, please seek medical care if you can.

• Changes in activity level

  • This may also look like a loss of motivation/interest. This may look like stopping regular exercise, spending more time in bed or cleaning less than you used to.

• Thoughts of death or dying

  • This is often looked at as contemplating about suicide, but it should be noted that it can also present as feeling like you don’t want to exist anymore, thinking about what death is like or wishing you were dead. These are not the same as suicidal ideation, though both can be present at the same time. If you are feeling like you are actually going to hurt yourself or someone else, please get in touch with your local mobile crisis or go to the emergency room.

Most of these symptoms can be present in other mental health issues such as anxiety, stress or grief. This is where having a mental health professional could be helpful to make sure that it is depression and not something else.

As a counselor, it’s part of my job to help you identify if there are changes. Most of the time, if you tell me that there are changes that is enough, but there may be some who don’t have the ability to tell if it’s gotten worse, because depression has always been there. In these cases, I might want to talk to your partner, a friend, maybe a parent (with your permission) to see if they’ve noticed anything.

If you’re concerned about depression, it might be a good idea to talk to a professional to help you .

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