The words, "I'm so depressed", run easily off our jaded, 21st-century tongues. But how do you know whether that lingering melancholy is real depression?
Occasional, feeling gloomy is not pathological, it’s part and parcel of the human condition. In fact sadness is a normal reaction to life’s struggles, setbacks, and disappointments. It plays an important part of our emotional development by helping us to let go of situations and people and move on to new goals.
But real depression can be devastating and in its worst form, a major depressive disorder, it’s marked by an all-encompassing low mood, thoughts of worthlessness, isolation, and loss of interest or pleasure in most or all activities. But this clinical description misses the deep, experiential horror of the condition; the suffocating sense of despair that can make life seem too hard to bear.
Do you recognise this in yourself? If you do then you maybe depressed.
Real depression, the type we refer to on this page, is not really about sadness but a feeling that life isn’t worth living when you feel empty and apathetic. If you’ve had these feelings for more than 3 months then the chances are that you are really depressed. Those of us who have suffered from real depression just know if we’re depressed, nothing can cheer us up and there doesn’t seem to be any purpose to life and, sometimes, we just want to end it.
You’re not alone. We know how you feel because we’ve been there too. We know that there’s no quick fix which is why we’ve made sure the Beat Depression Program is steady, thorough and goes in deep. We look at the reasons you’re depressed and help you to understand why you feel the way you do. The program untangles the mystery of depression and then, step by step, takes you through a series of tasks designed to heal yourself and uncover strengths perhaps you didn’t know you had. And, all this can be done in your own home.
May we suggest you fill out our short self test which can help determine if you are depressed? Please remember, this is not a substitute for a medical examination but a guide to help you assess your current emotional state.
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If you feel you are suffering with depression, |
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