How Do I Know If I’m Depressed?

Frequent Symptoms of Depression

• Poor or low self-esteem
• Isolating yourself from other people
• Feelings of hopelessness or helplessness
• Inability to sleep well, loss of appetite, or weight gain or weight loss
• Low energy
• Loss of interest in your normal everyday activities
• Difficulty making decisions
• Difficulty concentrating
• More serious depression: thoughts about death or suicide
• Feeling as though your life has no meaning or that you have lost your sense of balance in life.

You may have some or all of these symptoms. There are different types of depression.

About Depression

According to research on depression, psychotherapy/counseling is, in most cases, the best form of help for your depression. When depression includes physical symptoms, for example, loss of sleep or low energy, or you would like to take medication for your symptoms, medication can be considered. Daily exercise is also very helpful for depression.

Some Types of Depression

• Depression stemming from growing up in an abusive or alcoholic family environment:

• Adult Children of Alcoholics

• Some people experienced abuse as a child or came from dysfunctional or alcoholic families and may have been emotionally hurt by their childhood experiences and as a result have poor self-esteem or have gotten into some unhealthy patterns in adult in relationships. Growing up in  this type of family environment,usually there was no way to learn the necessary skills to make one’s self happy as an adult.  These issues can lead to depression. Psychotherapy is quite helpful for this type of depression.

Depression that has a message: Some depressions have a “message.” The depression may  be trying to tell you that something is not right or is missing in your life. This depression may be your mind’s distress signal and it is telling you, you need to identify what is missing and make some life changes to bring it into your life. For example: Would it be more time ? A relationship or  friendship ?Would it be a new job or vacation ? Psychotherapy/Counseling will help you understand the “message” that your depression is sending you and support you while you make important life changes.

Depression stemming from low self-esteem or lack of self-confidence: Sometimes you doubt yourself so often and have so much difficulty making decisions that you get in your own way and cannot seem to figure out what would make you happy. In this type of depression you often find yourself people pleasing and yet you are afraid to do anything else- these habits are hard to break Codependence. Psychotherapy/Counseling can help you by supporting you, and helping  you sort out your own priorities and act on them.  This helps you build your self-esteem.  Often people with type of depression feel anxiety as well.

In psychotherapy, you talk about yourself, express your own feelings and thoughts, and discuss life experiences. You identify the changes you need to make to increase your happiness and with the support of the psychotherapist, you go about making these life changes. You develop healthy, positive self-esteem, self acceptance, and a stronger sense of self.

In psychotherapy, it has been my experience that most people make profound life changes for the better as they learn to lead life from the inside out. That is many people learn how to direct their life according to what is best for them. Many of these life changes are in the form of more rewarding relationships, meaningful work, and the simple everyday enjoyment of life.