Feeling Depressed? When Stress and Anxiety Add Up to Symptoms of Depression

 Is life full of stress or anxiety? It might be time to consider another explanation--check out these symptoms of depression. 

W’ve all been there, bogged down by temporary depression. But if that depressed mood sticks around,

 you might be dealing with a mental health issue. Use this list of signs and 

symptoms of clinical depression to chart your own mental health. 

This isn’t an official test or quiz to diagnose depression, but it can help to monitor your symptoms.

What are signs and symptoms of depression?

• Do you have trouble concentrating or remembering things?
• Do you have angry outbursts frequently?
• Do you find yourself losing interest in daily activities?
• • Do you feel as if your thinking has slowed?
  • Do you wrestle with feelings of sadness and discontent?
  • Do you find that even small tasks require a lot of energy?
  • Are you plagued by regret, getting hung up on past failures?
  • Do you struggle with suicidal thoughts?
  • Do you have trouble sleeping?
  • Are you irritable often?
  • Have you noticed a change in your appetite recently?
  • Are you agitated or anxious often?
  • Do you break into crying spells for no apparent reason?
  As noted above, these symptoms are not absolute indicators of the presence of mental illness or depressive disorders. This isn’t an official depression test or quiz. However, you can use this list to gauge your general mood and tendency toward depression. Even if you show a lot of these symptoms, it’s not too late to stop them from turning into depressive disorders and more serious mental illness. Know what your mind is up to, and you can control where it’s headed.
  How do stress and anxiety add up to depression?
  What’s the matter with a little stress or anxiety? What’s the difference between the two, and what is depression anyway? Stress, on one hand, is the body’s natural response to demanding situations. In stressful situations, our bodies release adrenaline that allows our bodies to run at heightened alertness, making decisions quickly and pumping out more energy. Most of the time, stress is a good thing for our mental health—it keeps us sharp.
  Still, we can have too much of a good thing when it comes to mental health. Over-exposure to situations that cause stress forces our bodies to run on ‘overdrive,’ constantly pumping adrenaline and causing our hearts to work harder than is healthy. This overwork can cause symptoms of depression.
  So what about anxiety? When we think of ‘mental illness,’ we usually think of bipolar disorder, serious depression, or schizophrenia. However, major anxiety, too, is part of mental illness. Anxiety is a force in which stressful situations breed fear rather than adrenaline. Stress drives us to complete tasks; anxiety drives us to walk away from those tasks. Both anxiety and extensive stress are symptoms of depression.
  About Depression: Temporary or Lasting?
  So what is depression, and what are the facts about depression? Is there a difference between feeling depressed and actually having “depression”? Clinical depression (also known as a major depressive disorder) is a complex condition marked by sustained instances of a depressed mood and loss of interest in life. It differs from having a depressed mood in that a major depressive disorder lasts for more than two weeks, evolving into a mental illness.
  Thinking Spiritually About Your Depression
  The Bible has a lot to say to people struggling with depression or the symptoms of depression. After all, the characters in the Bible are not perfect people. They are hurt, damaged, depressed, broken people-- and yet God chooses them to communicate His message of love to us. Wow!
  Sometimes, our depression relates to how we feel about our lives and our own senses of purpose. Here's the good news: a relationship with God can provide that purpose. The Bible teaches that you were created for a specific reason: to become better friends with the God who created you. That's what we're all about at followme.org-- helping each other realize and revel in that purpose.