How to Diagnose Clinical Depression Symptoms

Depression is a psychological disorder and therefore cannot be addressed clinically. Once physical test have been conducted by a Medical Professional, then the following types of questions might be asked in order to evaluate the psychological condition and determine if there is a possibility of depression. Many times these symptoms are noticed by a friend or family member so it is good to be aware of them. If you think you or someone you know may be suffering from depression, do not self diagnose; you need a doctor for that.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Do you enjoy doing things? Often your favorite activities become extremely mundane and frustrating when you are suffering from depression.

2. Do you have a sense of hopelessness? Hopelessness is one of the major depression symptoms. This is the feeling that there is no point in getting out of bed in the morning.

3. Similar to hopelessness is a low self esteem. This is often the root cause of the hopeless feeling.

4. Are you having trouble sleeping? This depression symptom can manifest itself in many ways, including the inability to get to sleep, waking up in the middle of the night or even an urge to sleep during the day when your body is not really ready to sleep.

5. Similar to the last depression symptom, do you have a desire to sleep all the time? This is a symptom to so many different disorders that it is not necessarily part of the depression symptoms. Instead, many other symptoms must be in place for this to be considered.

6. Eating disorders are depression symptoms. If you have a desire to over eat or lack desire all together, it is possible that the condition involves depression.

7. Are you having trouble concentrating? When you are suffering from depression, it is often difficult to keep your mind centered on one thing. Often this causes trouble and frustration at work.

8. The most important one to watch for is thoughts that you would be “better off dead.” If untreated, depression can lead to unnecessary suicidal actions. This is by far the most important thing to be aware of. Even people in early stages of depression might exhibit this symptom even if they are still psychologically strong enough to resist it.

9. All in all, how strong are these feelings? Are you able to overcome them easily? The worse they are, the bigger the depression symptoms are. You may be suffering from depression or some other sort of disorder and it is best to see a doctor. If you are not suffering from many or all, you probably are not, but it never hurts to ask a doctor if you have a concern.

[deepthinkin]

on 11/15/2008 I agree with Gracie, this is an important article. With regard to seasonal depression, I've read that sitting in the sun for 15-30 minutes can can alleviate symptoms of depression. If you can't do sunshine, full spectrum light bulbs will do.

[Gracie1402]

on 10/28/2008 This is such an important article, especially with the winter season coming up (for those of us who live in cold climate during the winter) seasonal depression can be a real issue.