What Depression Looks and Feels Like

Depression is highly disguised. It is the man standing on the corner drinking his morning coffee, it is the CEO driving in his Jaguar to one of his many board meetings. It is mom or dad getting up early every morning to fix breakfast for the family. It is the little girl which did not make the netball team. It is the worker you sit beside in your cubicle whose smile never reaches her eyes. It is that policeman who simple has had enough in his life but still handles a gun daily. The face of depression is everyone. Depression looks like you and it looks like me.

There are millions of people suffering from anxiety and depression worldwide, and the thing is that the things that cause depression are always the same. Let’s take for example Jonathan Martin from New York who has PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) Jonathon has experienced some kind of trauma before which has continued to affect him mentally which eventually leads to stress, anxiety and of course depression. This trauma could be a car accident, a fight or even someone harsh words. Marie Myers from England has depression and has also suffered some kind of PTSD. She witnessed her father being shot and eventually died right in front of her.

Many people who suffer from depression and visited some kind of doctor are normally given a whale of pills to help them cope living with the depression, but many times the pills simply are not enough as the pills are just suppressants and doesn’t provide healing.

Fear of Failing

• Depression looks like the real fear of failing at any and everything. Many depressed people has a big fear of not succeeding. When they are faced with certain task or find themselves in situations where they do not receive a favorable outcome will plunge them into their own little dark corner. This little dark corner is where the demon of depression hides and hugs whoever comes to take refuge in that little dark corner.

Stress

• Stress is basically a negative overwhelming feeling of confusion in which you are unable to cope. Depression feeds on stress. Stress comes about because of many reasons. It could be a project at work that seems to not making the deadline. It could be a teenager being pressured into doing something bad. It could be a single mom struggling to pay the bills and keep the kids in school. Once a person begins to have continuous stress, they will begin to have a negative flow of emotions.

Mood swings and Sadness

• An hour ago you were very vocal in a social group, the next minute you become withdrawn and isolated. This is one example of a common type of mood swings. Even though there are a few conditions such as stress, Hormones, Pregnancy, Medication and PMS that can contribute to mood swings. Depression also plays a big factor in this area. Depression and sadness goes hand in hand, there is absolutely no one who goes through series of depression without feeling down out and bombarded with pitiful thoughts.

Fear of failure

• The fear of failing is very real when you are suffering from depression. You get worked up and anxious over your life and goals and develop a deep fear of failing that you procrastinate task, duties and goals or make excuses for not participating or partaking. Fear of failing can cause people with depression to be excluded from many opportunities such at work or even play.

Feeling Discontent

• Depression can lead to one having a deep feeling of unhappiness with their current circumstances. But one of the biggest problem about this is that the circumstances in a depressed person life can also be good and bad at the same time but because of the depression, every aspect of the person’s life seem like a dark cloud. Like a mother who suffers from depression which worsens when she is at work. But at the same time her husband works a great job, they have two spunky loving kids and a beautiful home. That mother may bring that depressive state at home and simply generalize her entire life as a whole state of depression.

Crying a Lot

• Depression looks like a lot of tears for many people suffering from this mental state. Their outlook on life is generally dismal and they become overwhelmed with all the negative emotions bundling in their minds and the tears is one way of releasing those emotional build-up. The crying is normally triggered from the thoughts and sometimes treatment by strangers, friends and even family who truly do not understand that the person is going through the state.

Sleepiness

• Depression looks like a person unable to get enough sleep and begins to suffer from insomnia. What would cause a depressed person to not sleep? This is caused by general discontent and unhappiness, fear and resentment in the individual’s life. The excessive depressive thoughts that constantly run marathons in the persons mind. Once the mind is unsettled, so will the body. Many people with depression end up taking sleeping pills to get rest at nights.

Unsettled

• Depression looks like agitation for many people. They become and seem unsettled and unorganized at times. This is stemming from other feelings such as nervousness, fear of failing, the feeling of discomfort among peers etc.

Not wanting To Go On Living

• The dangerous this about depression is that it can look and feel like suicide. At this stage the depressive thoughts get so bad the person believes that the best and only way to free themselves from being in such a horrible state is to simply not go on living. Sad to say, we have lost many people who did not receive the right help due to taking of their own lives.

Guilt

• Depression looks like guilt. This guilt is the continuous blaming of one self for the way their life is and the way they believe people persieve them. Thoughts such as, "Why am I so stupid? Why don't I no how to do this? Why don't I fit in? What did I do wrong today?" They inhale the guilt and feeling like they are to be blamed for the bad things happening around them even when they have no power to control such.