Oftentimes, depression can feel like you’re just really tired. You can’t seem to get yourself out of bed. You oversleep. Alternatively, you might have a lot of trouble sleeping at night, often because your mind won’t quiet down, and you can’t understand why you can’t sleep when you are so, so tired. Even if you manage to get enough rest, you might feel like you are sluggishly dragging yourself through even the most routine motions.
If you do drag yourself to work, chances are that you’ll feel frustrated because you can’t be as productive as you would like. Your brain is foggy. Your thoughts and even your physical movements are slow. It’s like you’re wading through a thick sludge of muddy sadness, and each time you try to take a step, more mud piles on you and it feels that much harder. You can’t concentrate, focus, or make decisions. Trying to just makes you want to cry … or go back to bed.
The lack of sleep, along with depression itself, can also cause physical changes. For example, you might notice that you’re eating differently. Some people don’t feel hungry at all. In contrast, many people eat all of the time, hungry or not, and gain weight as a result of depression. There’s often a craving for carbohydrates and other comfort foods.
It’s also important to look at the impact of these issues on your life. If the symptoms impair your life, then you’re probably dealing with depression.
For example, if your grades, work performance, or relationships are suffering as a direct result of these symptoms, then depression has its hand in your life. Depression seeps in, takes over, and makes it feel challenging to do the normal everyday things that you used to be able to do without difficulty. If it feels hard or impossible to do those things, then it’s important to get help.
Of course, all of this sounds awful. Undoubtedly, it also feels awful. However, even though depression increases hopelessness, it’s important for you to know that you can get through depression. There are tried and tested methods to help people overcome this challenging time. You already have a lot of strengths, skills, and experiences that will help you as you recover from depression. It’s not hopeless at all. You might not be able to feel it right now, but there truly is a lot of hope for your future. We can help you find it.