The past few years have been tumultuous, worrying, and depressing. Events, both global, career-wise, and personal, have challenged my normally upbeat mood. While I’ve felt depressed at points, I know it’s different from a diagnosis of Clinical Depression.
Been there. Done that. More than once. Not fun.
If the past few years have been a struggle for you too, you may be wondering what are the symptoms that it’s full-blown Depression? To keep things positive, here are 10 signs it’s NOT Depression. (Vote For Pedro)
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Am I depressed?
Several patrons have asked about the difference between natural sadness and full-blown depression, so what is the difference?
Depression is classified as a mood disorder as in clinically depressed, meaning you’re seeing a doctor at a clinic and you’ve received a reliable diagnosis of depression. It’s to the point where you are suffering, but here’s the thing you may not realize that you are suffering.
Depression can come on so slowly so gradually you don’t even notice what’s happening. Now to be clear I am not a doctor although I did play a nurse in a Frantics comedy skit, my bedside manner was yeah so so.
So at points in my life I have been down, sad, feeling kind of depressed, for any number of reasons, good reasons. Usually.
I’ve also been clinically depressed a few times so I have some first-hand experience or first head experience.
Now to make sure that I’m not talking through my hat I avoid wearing hats and I consulted a list of depression symptoms from sources that I trust.
Symptoms of Depression
Symptoms of depression can include:
Trouble concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions
Fatigue
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and helplessness
Pessimism and hopelessness
Insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or sleeping too much
Crankiness
Restlessness
Loss of interest in things once pleasurable, including sex
Overeating, or appetite loss
Aches, pains, headaches, or cramps that won’t go away
Digestive problems that don’t get better, even with treatment
Persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” feelings
Suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts
*Source WebMD
The lists of depression symptoms are fairly consistent that’s what I found, they don’t vary much from site to site. That said I found these lists flat, even kind of abstract, when you’re depressed you’re not thinking or feeling things in a clear balanced way so you could read any one of these symptoms and go “um yeah, I don’t know, um sort of, I hadn’t noticed” they can seem ungrounded, so let’s ground the symptoms in a real life experience one that we can all share as human beings, The Queen’s Gambit.
Now in 2020 this amazing Netflix series about an orphan who becomes a chess prodigy garnered 60 million views in one month, that’s like half the population of the world… okay it’s one percent less than… it’s still it’s impressive.
If you haven’t seen it I’ll avoid spoilers but the sequence on the planet mars was amazing and who knew Khloe Kardashian could act, huh. If you missed it feel free to substitute a new program you love because you might be watching this later, so maybe it’ll be Sharknado 5 the dust devil’s revenge or Napoleon Dynamite 2, I want a sequel, sorry.
Also since depression only ever affects a percentage of the population and even for most of us who have experienced it the depression tends to come in bouts. Most of my life I’ve been happy and hopeful I’ll be you know a little anxious and scattered and worried all the time but it’s not there forever.
So here are 10 signs that you’re not depressed because most of us aren’t depressed most of the time.
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