“Life’s waters flow from darkness. Search the darkness, don’t run from it. Night travelers are full of light and you are too.”
– Rumi
Perhaps you’ve been sad for a long period of time. Maybe you’re fatigued or have difficulty accessing a range of emotions, including a sense of care. Or perhaps your symptoms have become so distressing that you feel a sense of hopelessness and even have started to have thoughts about death and dying. You just might be depressed.
According to the United States Center for Disease Control (National Center for Health Statistics; February, 2018; “Prevalence of Depression among Adults Aged 20 and Over, 2013-2016”), depression affected approximately 8.1% of American adults for the years of 2013 to 2016. Authors of this study indicate that due to study sampling issues, this number might be artificially low, as not all individuals who are depressed are properly identified. This makes depression one of the most common mental health issues to be addressed through counseling, and there remains a number of effective treatments.
Are you depressed? Depression can manifest through a number of different symptoms in all areas of life and may express itself at different levels of intensity (i.e., mild, moderate or severe) and frequencies (i.e., single episode or recurrent episodes). It can disturb thinking, feeling, behavior, relationships and physical health. Here is a list of symptoms which may indicate that it might be time for you to be assessed for the presence of depression.
Ruminations about past losses and difficulties; a disturbed self-concept & low self-esteem (i.e., believing that you are unworthy, a failure, etc.); a general “fuzziness” in your thinking that can include slowing down in responses and/or memory issues; a preoccupation with the “negative” and challenging aspects of living; difficulty creating and accessing a sense of purpose and meaning; difficulty foreseeing a hopeful future and even thoughts of death or suicide.
Difficulty accessing positive emotions, or any emotions; feelings of sadness, despair, or generally feeling “blue”; experiencing fatigue, lethargy or apathy; feeling “lost”; increased irritability.
Reducing the frequency and intensity of activities you once found pleasurable; increased use of substances or other self-soothing compulsive behaviors (e.g., binge eating, uncontrollable sexual activity, out-of-control spending, escaping into social media); frequently finding yourself “checking out” during the day; increased time spent housebound or bed-bound; engaging in reckless behavior without much care for the consequences; engaging in self-harm; disturbance of appetite (e.g., eating more than usual or significantly less than usual); disturbance of sleep (e.g., an increased need for sleep, difficulty falling or staying asleep); not performing as well, as you used to, at work, school or in your duties at home; general difficulty keeping pace with previous levels of energy or activity.
Becoming socially withdrawn and/or isolated; increase in arguments with coworkers, friends & family; feeling/being less invested in loved ones’ lives; feeling, and being, generally disconnected from others.
Stomach disturbance, headaches, disturbance in sexual functioning, sleep problems, lethargy, fatigue, slowing down of motor activity (e.g., speech, general physical movement).
If so, it may be time to be assessed for depression and explore your treatment options. Contact me today, for a free 15 minute consultation regarding your symptoms, goals and how we can work together to address these issues.