Depression

Symptoms

Symptoms of depression can be very different from person to person. However, as a general rule, if you are depressed you feel hopeless, sad and lacking interest in things that used to make you feel happy.

Depression symptoms are bad enough to interfere with work, social life and family life, and can persist for weeks or months.

Doctors describe depression in one of three ways, depending on how serious it is:

mild depression – it has some impact on daily life moderate depression – it has a significant impact on your daily life severe depression – this makes it nearly impossible to get through your life day to day

A few people with severe depression may have symptoms of psychotic depression.

Below is a list of depression symptoms – it’s unlikely that one person would have all of them.

Psychological depression symptoms include:

continuous sadness or low mood losing interest in things losing motivation not getting any enjoyment in life feeling tearful feeling guilty feeling anxious feeling irritable finding it hard to make decisions feeling intolerant of other people feeling helpless feeling hopeless low self-esteem feeling worried thinking about suicide thinking about harming yourself

Physical symptoms include:

speaking or moving slower than usual aches and pains that can’t be explained losing, or sometimes gaining, appetite or weight constipation loss of interest in sex disturbed sleep (having trouble falling asleep, for example, or waking up very early) loss of energy changes in your menstrual cycle (the time of the month when you get your period)

Social symptoms are common too. These include:

avoiding talking to or spending time with your friends taking part in fewer social activities neglecting interests and hobbies doing poorly at work difficulties with your family or home life

It’s not always possible to tell that you’re having symptoms of depression right away – it can start and progress gradually. A lot of people don’t realise they’re ill and try to carry on and cope with their symptoms. Sometimes it takes a friend or family member to notice that there’s a problem.


People who have severe clinical depression feel sad and hopeless for most of the day, and feel no interest in anything. They feel this way practically every day, and getting through the day feels nearly impossible for them.

Other symptoms include:

fatigue (exhaustion) losing pleasure in things inability to concentrate difficulty making decisions sleep disturbance appetite changes feeling guilty feeling that they’re worthless having thoughts about suicide, or death

Read more about the different types of depression symptoms here.


Moments of psychosis are known as psychotic episodes. The person experiencing a psychotic episode will have:

Delusions – beliefs or thoughts that are likely to be false. Hallucinations – hearing, seeing or sometimes smelling, feeling or tasting things that aren’t there. Hearing voices is a common type of hallucination.

Hallucinations and delusions almost always reflect the deeply depressed mood of the person experiencing them. They may believe they have committed a crime or that they are to blame for something.

People with psychosis also commonly experience something called psychomotor agitation. People experiencing this cannot sit still or relax, and fidget all the time.

The opposite symptom can also happen – psychomotor retardation can cause a person’s thoughts and the movement of their body to slow down.

People who have psychotic depression are at a higher risk of thinking about suicide.