Signs of Clinical Depression

What are the signs of clinical depression? How can someone recognize clinical depression in a friend, relative or co-worker? How do depressed individuals indicate that their great sadness has, so to speak, "taken them over the edge"?

The patient with clinical depression feels empty and discouraged. He or she has lost interest in activities that used to give him or her great pleasure. Clinical depression robs an individual of any enthusiasm.

Some people with clinical depression seek to find relief from their sadness in food. They start eating much more than they had previously. Some depressed individuals show no interest in food. Their depression has blinded them to the appeal of a well-prepared and tasty meal.

Sometimes clinical depression causes a person to seek escape by sleeping most of the time. The patient is not suddenly lazy; he or she simply does not want to face life's ups and downs. In sharp contrast to the above behavior, some depressed patients find it almost impossible to sleep. They suffer through long and restless nights.

Sometimes the patient with clinical depression seems to lack the energy to do even simple daily tasks. When that individual does try to do something, he or she acts very slowly. Sometimes the individual with clinical depression seems like a "ball of energy." He or she finds it difficult to sit still.

The individual with clinical depression would be expected to admit to feeling helpless or hopeless. A severely depressed person tends to feel worthless and inadequate. He or she has trouble concentrating, and he or she often becomes forgetful.

Clinical depression destroys the individual's ability to think clearly. The individual with an unbalanced brain cannot demonstrate logical thinking. Muddled thinking clouds reasoning, and it acts like an obstacle in the decision making process. Because the individual with clinical depression cannot think clearly, he or she is unable to make sound decisions.