by Teddy Ward

Created on: January 06, 2010

I am not a doctor nor am I a therapist, I am not writing this article as a professional and it is not meant to be used by someone to try and diagnose themselves with any medical issues. However what I do have is first hand experience. I have been there and done that and because of this I wanted to share my experience with others in hopes that maybe it will help someone else realize what is wrong with them or someone they know and in turn be able to get them the help they need.

How do you know when you are depressed? Honestly I didn't know. I knew my life had changed, I knew that things weren't great and that I wasn't happy with a lot of areas of my life when I was depressed but I had no idea at the time I was depressed.  I just shrugged it off as being part of getting older and taking on more responsibilities and stresses in my life. I didn't realize until I started talking to family and friends about my feelings and thoughts that something might be wrong.  When I made the steps to get professional help I finally realized, though it took me a long time to accept it, that I was actually and truly depressed. 

Best guess is that I was suffering from depression for at least 2 or 3 years before the big turn in my life where I got help and actually realized and admitted it. Life through those few years was what I accepted as normal but what surely was not normal or not what normal should be anyway. My mind was a clutter of different thoughts and feelings. Even now after recovering from depression I still have a hard time sorting out all the different thoughts and feelings into describable words. 

A good first indicator for me was my mood. I spent a majority of my time crabby and upset about things. I would be short tempered and negative about most things. I realize that these types of behaviors though normal for some people it was very abnormal for me because as a general rule I was usually very happy, carefree, and positive in the way I lived my life. When things started to change years ago this should have been one of the big red flags that something was wrong. I am not talking a mood change for just a few hours or even a day or two but a change in my normal moods for weeks and even months at a time. 

The next indicator I should have paid more attention to was related to the first one I mentioned and that was my loss in interest in things that I normally loved to do. One of the things that I can use for an example was my love for reading

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>