Depression

Created: 03.08.2023

Updated: 19.12.2023

Approved by: General Practitioner, Dr Binita Parmar

Symptoms of anxiety and depression are the most common mental illnesses people come to get treatment for. Many people will experience periods of anxiety or depression during their lifetime.

Talking therapies have a particularly good effect on mild and moderate variants of anxiety and depression, which many of us will experience.

What is Depression?

Depression is best characterised by feeling sad over a long period. Often, people who are depressed will also have felt that they no longer feel as interested in or find little pleasure in things that one is otherwise very fond of. For example, you may quickly feel that the job, hobby or sport you do, no longer evokes the same positive emotions and do not make as much sense as they normally would.

The World Health Organization estimates that around 5% of adults suffer from depression. This means that approximately 280 million people in the world are currently suffering from depression. In other words, depression is a relatively common disorder. And there are different degrees of it, from mild to moderate to severe forms of depression.

Typical symptoms

When you have been persistently depressed for some time, you can quickly notice that it can be more challenging to get up in the morning and occasionally depression will lead to you staying at home.

Depression as a condition can contribute to influencing our feelings, thoughts, behaviour or actions. Most often, the symptoms appear in a smooth transition and cause you to quickly feel that things are meaningless, that things that go wrong are your fault, and that you are sometimes left with a difficult experience when you are social with others.

For many, depression can be experienced as so severe that they no longer appear as themselves. Many use most of their energy to appear as normal as possible, by either hiding or putting a lid on it. It often goes beyond one's closest relationships.

When does Depression start to become problematic?

During a depressive episode, one can therefore experience that it goes negatively beyond one's personal life, in relationships, in family life, in the workplace or with studies. It can also go beyond other important areas of our lives. Most often, one considers depression to have become problematic when it begins to prevent one from doing things one should be able to do. It can therefore be useful to seek help if you begin to see hints that it affects the important aspects of your life.

Treatment of Depression

As a rule, treatment for depression begins with a review of the factors and causes that may have led to the person becoming depressed. After exploring, you use talking therapies to process and change the factors that may have led to the depression. This can either be about changing negative mindsets, looking more closely at relationships or focusing on specific problems you are struggling with.