Symptoms of someone who is depressed

It is important to talk to your doctor before you stop taking medication, because stopping suddenly can cause problems.

Regular exercise can help with your mood if you struggle with depression. Some GP surgeries will put you in touch with local exercise schemes. Electroconvulsive therapy ECT is a procedure sometimes used to treat severe depression.

In this treatment, an electrical current is briefly passed through your brain while you are under general anaesthetic. This means you are not awake during the procedure. You should only have ECT if you have severe depression, it is life-threatening and treatment is needed as soon as possible. Or you may be given ECT if no other treatments have worked. Transcranial direct current stimulation tDCS This treatment involves using a small battery-operated machine to pass a low current through your brain to stimulate activity.

You are awake during the procedure, with daily sessions for several weeks. NICE state that there is not a lot of evidence for how tDCS works for depression, but there are no major safety concerns.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation rTMS rTMS uses electromagnetic coils to deliver pulses of magnetic energy to specific parts of your brain. This stimulates the brain and may help to reduce depression and anxiety.

You are awake during the procedure and can leave hospital the same day. If this is offered, you may have daily sessions for several weeks. Complementary therapies are treatments which are not part of mainstream healthcare.

They can include aromatherapy, herbal remedies, acupuncture, massage, meditation and yoga. These treatments may help improve your emotional wellbeing and may help with side effects. But your doctor does not have to give you these treatments. And the treatments may not be available in your area. Different treatments may be available in your area. Your doctor might think these suit your symptoms more than the recommended treatments. NICE recommend that depression is treated in different steps depending on how severe the condition is for you.

The steps are as follows. This is when your symptoms have not improved after at least 2 standard treatments. This can also be known as treatment-refractory depression. What treatment is available for treatment-resistant depression? There are treatment options for treatment resistant depression. Even if antidepressants have not worked already for you, your doctor may suggest a different antidepressant from a different class. Sometimes your doctor can prescribe a second type of medication to go with your antidepressant.

This can sometimes help the antidepressant work better than it does by itself. Where antidepressants have not worked, your doctor may suggest talking therapies, ECT or brain stimulation treatments. See the previous section for more information on these. What is an implanted vagus nerve stimulator, and how is it used in treatment resistant depression? This is given for treatment-resistant depression to reduce symptoms with the aim of improving mood by regular stimulation of the vagus nerve.

However, there is not currently a lot of evidence about how well this procedure works for treatment-resistant depression. An advocate is independent from the NHS. They are free to use. They can be useful if you find it difficult to get your views heard. There are different types of advocates available.

Community advocates can support you to get a health professional to listen to your concerns. And help you to get the treatment that you would like. You can ask an advocate to help you make a complaint. Advocates that do this are called NHS complaints advocates. You can search online to search for a local advocacy service. You can email us too at advice rethink.

We will look for you. Talk to your doctor about your treatment to see if you can resolve the problem with them first. You are not legally entitled to a second opinion, but your doctor might agree to it if it would help with treatment options.

It is best to try and solve the problem with the team or doctor first. If this does not help you can make a formal complaint. If you are unhappy with their response to your complaint, then you may be able to take this up to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

You can learn to manage some of your symptoms by looking after yourself. Self-care is how you take care of your diet, exercise, daily routine, relationships and how you are feeling. You will learn how to notice when you are becoming unwell and know what your triggers are. Our diet affects our physical health. Depending on what you eat you could develop problems like obesity, heart disease and diabetes. In the same way, the things we eat may affect our moods and mental health.

Some people deal with their depression by eating high-fat and high-sugar foods. Also, seasonal affective disorder SAD can make you crave sugary carbohydrates like cakes and biscuits. The UK Chief Medical Officer recommends that men and women should not regularly drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week. This is to help keep the risks and affects from alcohol low. If you have depression, making these changes may not have an instant impact on your mood.

However, they can be important for long-term recovery. Exercising regularly can help your mood. You can exercise any way you like, so long as it safely increases your heart rate and makes you breathe faster. Exercise can also help if you have problems sleeping. Getting proper sleep may be important for your mental health. How much you can do depends on your age, physical health and fitness.

If you do not exercise already, start with small amounts and fit this into your daily routine. You can then slowly increase the amount you do. This approach may help with your motivation. Or jogging for 5 kilometres. Some other ideas are listed below. Some mental health medication can cause problems with weight gain. Exercise could also help you manage this. To help, you could look at the NHS week diet and exercise plan which you can find here: www.

You should speak to your doctor if you have any concerns about gaining weight due to medication. You should also speak to your doctor if you have any concerns before starting to exercise.

Having depression can cause other problems. It can affect your mental health as well as your physical health, and it may affect other areas of your life too.

For example, depression may cause:. Some people might also drink more alcohol to try and relieve depression. However, as we said in the previous section above, this can actually make depression worse.

You can get support if you are a carer, friend or family member of someone living with depression. Being a carer might mean you can claim certain benefits that might help you and the person you care for.

For more information, please see the Mental Health and Money Advice services website: www. You could also get in touch with carer support groups or sibling support groups. You can search for local groups in your area online or ask your GP.

As a carer you should be involved in decisions about care planning. There are rules about information sharing and confidentiality which may make it difficult for you to get all the information you need in some circumstances.

You might find it easier to support someone with depression if you understand their symptoms, treatment and self-management skills. You can use this to support them to get help and stay well. Below are some initial suggestions for providing practical day to day support to someone with depression.

You could also try and find out about self-help or support groups in their area. Your local IAPT service may be a good place to start. It will help to keep details of their mental health team and discuss a crisis plan with them. Counselling Directory This website has lots of information about depression and other self-help resources. Website : www. Overcoming This website has information on self-help guides you can buy for a range of different conditions. They are not free resources but can read reviews of different books here.

You may be able to get some of the books cheaper if you buy them second hand. Telephone : Email : overcoming littlebrown. It has a selection of different resources that can help with depression. Mood Swings Network This service provides a range of services for people affected by a mood disorder such as depression, including their family and friends.

Email : info moodswings. The Conservation Volunteers This organisation helps people to get involved in local conservation projects and has Green Gyms. Do-it This is an organisation that supports people to get into volunteering across the country. Pandas Foundation This organisation provides advice and support for people struggling with pre- and post-natal depression.

Email : info pandasfoundation. Cruse Bereavement Care This organisation provides support for people struggling with bereavement. They offer support by telephone and in local centres across the country. Telephone : Monday and Friday 9. Donate Search Menu. About us About us. See our contacts page Looking to contact us? Covid support. Supporting yourself Read more Supporting yourself. They may help improve the way your brain uses certain chemicals that control mood or stress.

You may need to try several different antidepressant medicines before finding the one that improves your symptoms and has manageable side effects. A medication that has helped you or a close family member in the past will often be considered. Antidepressants take time — usually 2 to 4 weeks — to work, and often, symptoms such as sleep, appetite, and concentration problems improve before mood lifts, so it is important to give medication a chance before reaching a conclusion about its effectiveness.

If you begin taking antidepressants, do not stop taking them without the help of a doctor. Sometimes people taking antidepressants feel better and then stop taking the medication on their own, and the depression returns. When you and your doctor have decided it is time to stop the medication, usually after a course of 6 to 12 months, the doctor will help you slowly and safely decrease your dose.

Stopping them abruptly can cause withdrawal symptoms. Please Note: In some cases, children, teenagers, and young adults under 25 may experience an increase in suicidal thoughts or behavior when taking antidepressants, especially in the first few weeks after starting or when the dose is changed. This warning from the U.

Food and Drug Administration FDA also says that patients of all ages taking antidepressants should be watched closely, especially during the first few weeks of treatment. If you are considering taking an antidepressant and you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breastfeeding, talk to your doctor about any increased health risks to you or your unborn or nursing child.

To find the latest information about antidepressants, talk to your doctor and visit www. You may have heard about an herbal medicine called St.

John's wort. Although it is a top-selling botanical product, the FDA has not approved its use as an over-the-counter or prescription medicine for depression, and there are serious concerns about its safety it should never be combined with a prescription antidepressant and effectiveness. Do not use St. Other natural products sold as dietary supplements, including omega-3 fatty acids and S-adenosylmethionine SAMe , remain under study but have not yet been proven safe and effective for routine use.

For more information on herbal and other complementary approaches and current research, please visit the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health website. Examples of evidence-based approaches specific to the treatment of depression include cognitive-behavioral therapy CBT , interpersonal therapy IPT , and problem-solving therapy. If medications do not reduce the symptoms of depression, electroconvulsive therapy ECT may be an option to explore.

Based on the latest research:. Other more recently introduced types of brain stimulation therapies used to treat medicine-resistant depression include repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation rTMS and vagus nerve stimulation VNS. Other types of brain stimulation treatments are under study.

If you think you may have depression, start by making an appointment to see your doctor or health care provider. This could be your primary care practitioner or a health provider who specializes in diagnosing and treating mental health conditions. Clinical trials are research studies that look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat diseases and conditions. The goal of clinical trials is to determine if a new test or treatment works and is safe. Although individuals may benefit from being part of a clinical trial, participants should be aware that the primary purpose of a clinical trial is to gain new scientific knowledge so that others may be better helped in the future.

Researchers at NIMH and around the country conduct many studies with patients and healthy volunteers. We have new and better treatment options today because of what clinical trials uncovered years ago. Talk to your health care provider about clinical trials, their benefits and risks, and whether one is right for you. Unless otherwise specified, NIMH information and publications are in the public domain and available for use free of charge.

Citation of the NIMH is appreciated. Statistics NIMH statistics pages include statistics on the prevalence, treatment, and costs of mental illness for the population of the United States. Help for Mental Illnesses If you or someone you know has a mental illness, there are ways to get help. Clinical Trials If you or a friend or family member are thinking about taking part in clinical research, this page contains basic information about clinical trials. Stakeholder Engagement Find out how NIMH engages a range of stakeholder organizations as part of its efforts to ensure the greatest public health impact of the research we support.

There is a strong link between mood and sleep. A lack of sleep can contribute to depression, and depression can make it more difficult to sleep. Research suggests that chronic sleep deprivation can lead to depression.

This may be due to neurochemical changes in the brain. Some people with mood disorders may use alcohol or drugs to cope with their feelings of sadness, loneliness, or hopelessness. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America ADAA report that in the United States, around 1 in 5 people with anxiety or a mood disorder such as depression also have an alcohol or substance use disorder. Conversely, the same number of those with an alcohol or substance use disorder also have a mood disorder.

Feeling excessively tired is a very common symptom of depression. Although everyone feels tired from time to time, people who have severe or persistent tiredness — especially if it accompanies other symptoms — may have hidden depression. However, it can be difficult to keep up this forced happiness, so the mask may slip and a person may show signs of sadness, hopelessness, or loneliness.

People with depression may also be more pessimistic. Studies suggest that those with major depressive disorder often have a more negative view of the future. Being more realistic or pessimistic than others may be one sign of depression, especially if the person has other possible symptoms of depression. When a person trails off during conversations or loses their train of thought, it can indicate issues with memory and concentration, which is a common symptom of depression.

A study suggests that these difficulties with concentration and focus can worsen the social impact of depression by making work life and personal relationships more challenging. Disinterest in activities that a person used to enjoy can be one of the first signs that other people notice when their loved one has depression. Depression is a mental health condition, but it can also have physical consequences. In addition to weight changes and fatigue, other physical symptoms of hidden depression to look out for include:.

Research also indicates that those with major depression are more likely than those without the condition to experience:.

Many people do not associate anger and irritability with depression, but these mood changes are not unusual among those with the condition. Instead of appearing sad, some people with hidden depression may display irritability and overt or suppressed anger.

According to Dr. Scientists do not yet know the exact cause of depression. However, many experts think that several factors play a role in its onset, including:. People who believe that they may have hidden depression should speak to their doctor or a mental health professional. These professionals can help make a diagnosis and recommend a course of treatment.