Major depressive disorder or depression is a mental and mood disorder characterized by low self-esteem and mood. It’s a severe psychiatric illness that affects a person’s thinking and behavior. The significant part of a person affected is a person’s mood, which ends up becoming low and is accompanied by pain. This negativity comes with a slew of symptoms, and the signs are pretty obvious early on. One symptom leads to the next, and this is where the general disorder of depression comes into play. When a person’s mood becomes low, this can be a sign of sadness or the person can be struggling with depression. The emotions of depression are bad, but these are the worst symptoms of depression.
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Finding reasonable ways to cope can be a challenge because coping mechanisms are a hard thing to wire. Like anything it takes practice, but with time, you can find significant improvements. However, it does not mean that the negative symptoms of depression cannot be a challenge to overcome. They can actually ruin a person to the point of suicide. These are the 15 worst symptoms of depression.
Worst Symptoms of Depression
1. Laziness or Lack of Motivation
While laziness can be classified as something entirely different than depression, they share many of the same features. They are often compared or confused, but it does not mean that you are not lazy just because you are depressed. There is a different kind of laziness involved with depression that is certainly more severe than typical laziness. You may feel a distinct lack of motivation accompanied by an extremely low mood you have little control over. This cannot be called laziness, but laziness is a feature of being horribly depressed. It can be called the extreme or depressed form of laziness that is controlled by a low mood and and severe hopelessness.
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The best way to fix this is by changing your habits. Depression is essentially your mind and body being exhausted and caught in a negative cycle of thinking. It’s a sign things have to change, but change is certainly hard. Having to make a change can be part of the issue, but it’s something you should try not to fight. Eating a better diet and exercising are some good changes you can make to help you go in a better direction. Writing down your goals and exercising a small positive change helps as well.
2. Hopelessness, Shame, and Guilt
Along with other feelings like helplessness, guilt, and shame, you will feel a strong sense of hopelessness. The reason for this is because you are being controlled by the negative feelings more than usual. Depression or major depressive disorder has a tendency to bring out the worst in our thoughts. It’s even comorbid with a lot of other psychiatric disorders that exacerbate it further. Feelings of guilt and shame can further confuse a person with depression into thinking more negatively.
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This negative thinking can end up leading to suicidal ideations or even suicide. The more someone is wrapped up into the negative vortex of negativity, the worse it can become. The actual cause of depression can certainly be in part caused by hereditary traits in a person’s brain chemistry. It does not mean that they will be depressed, but things like shame and guilt can worsen it. They are all a symptom and certain cause of depression, and they should be taken into consideration. Try your best to avoid exposing yourself to feeling too bad or embarrassed about something, as it is no good.
Worst Symptoms of Depression
3. Irritability and Pain
Along with the other feelings of depression, you will feel a strong sense of irritability and anger that you cannot pinpoint. Others may find you more aggressive and less willing to cooperate, as depression as a massive impact on lability. The same can be said for feelings of pain and aching around the body that you cannot understand. This can lead to things like health anxiety and fear of social interaction. If you are depressed, you are more likely to become annoyed with the smallest of things. This can end up leading to a cycle of anger and guilt that takes you deeper into a depression.
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These feelings can end up making you, to yourself and others, less reliable and consistent. The best thing you can do is learn to question your emotions by understanding them. If getting up in the morning is a chore, there are things you can do to make a difference. As cliched as it sounds, trying to set a routine, better diet, and exercise are great ways to go. While it is sounds like a pain, there are only so many ways you can help yourself. If you would rather be miserable, that is entirely on you. It’s certainly better than sitting around waiting for the worse to happen, only to later rely on medication.
4. Impulsiveness and Reckless Substance Abuse
Like many disorders, becoming depressed can lead to impulse control problems. These impulse control problems can lead you down a path that. Since your sense of control is lacking because of your moods, you may feel a need to escape. This can lead to substance abuse or erratic behaviors, especially if struggling with the psychotic variants of depression. You can end up losing yourself to your compulsive habits just so you can reach that next high in your life. The unfortunate fact that something like depression feeds into it’s own symptoms is what makes it dangerous. These symptoms are also highly present in borderline personality disorder. It can become so bad, that they have professionally specified a substance abuse disorder.
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It’s no different than any other disorder, because one symptom can always help make another symptom worse. This is the definition of impulsiveness, as it feeds into a person’s negative affectivity. In turn, this can cause further depression if a person decides to dabble in drug usage and overall reckless behavior. This can extend to your driving, eating, sexual, and drinking habits, making you the worst for it. One of the best things you can do for this problem is actually sit down, think, and write down what you want to do. Think about what actually makes you happy and what your short and long-term goals are. The more you reflect on positive changes you can make in your life, the better off you will be.
Worst Symptoms of Depression
5. Lack of Desire
Anhedonia is the technical term for the inability to experience pleasure, and it is a key feature of clinical depression. No matter how bad the depression is, there will be a degree of this no matter how you slice it. This can bleed into an inability to find pleasure in sex and any other daily activities the person used to enjoy. This goes in lockstep with the lack of motivation, which is typically caused by a shock to the system or traumatic event. The feelings can be short-term via drugs or last a long time because of the lost of a loved one. It can mean that there was something that always needed a fix, and you were relying on the wrong things to begin with. Many people are just not prepared for the devastating emptiness that something can cause until it happens.
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The best way to deal with this is by trying something different, and this should include a better diet and exercise. If you feel stagnate, it means that you are probably stuck in a nasty cycle. No matter the cause, you should give a different routine a go, because it can make all of the difference. It’s the solution no matter how you break it down, because a positive change is necessary.
6. Anxiety and Low Self-Esteem
Depression is often comorbid with other mood. anxiety, or personality disorders. Since depression can often lead to feelings of worry, guilt, and shame on it’s own, you may feel anxiety. Anxiety is a feeling of excessive worry that is described as irrational, given the situation. Many people with depression deal with it, but it is also common among people who are not. Anxiety worsens depression because of the fact that a person performing with a low mood will likely feel less control. The depression counteracts feelings of concern and realistic change, but it does not rule out anxiety.
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The other symptom is low self-esteem, which is often horribly affected when dealing with depression. A person can feel entirely out of place and completely inadequate. This is worsened by the anxiety because of anxiety’s effect on a person’s confidence. The best way to deal with anxiety is not a medication, but exposure therapy. This requires take small steps in overcoming your fears and worries by exposing yourself to them. The only way out of the mental mess you are in is by gaining the character to overcome your worries. It takes practice, like anything else, but it is certainly something you can overcome. In the end, you will be stronger for it, and it gives you more skill when you have the strength.
Worst Symptoms of Depression
7. Apathy and Appetite
Apathy is a general lack of concern over just about everything, and it’s a common symptom of depression. This does not mean that the person does not care, but it can certainly lead to bad bathing habits and worsening symptoms. Apathy is a hard thing to change, but it typically changes over the course of hours and days. The problem is that the fluctuation can create too much dissonance, and thus, it can creates less trust in your ability to stay consistent. It can lead to gaining or losing weight as well, and this is where depression can affect the appetite.
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Appetite can be highly volatile with depression, as it can cause under or overeating. Those struggling with depression can understand, as it can cause a significant fluctuation in body weight. There will be times where eating is the only option to drown out the miserable emotions. Other times, you are so depressed, you would rather not eat at all. Since these typically happen in tandem, the back and forth is fairly short-term. Some days you feel like eating a lot, and others day, you will not.
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If you are going days and days without eating, that’s where it can become a problem. Binge-eating is the opposite of this, and it can present problems as well. Putting your body through this constant push and pull is unnecessary and dangerous. It can lead to further problems down the line, and it’s something that should be stopped. It will require a bit of self-control, but it is worth it, as you will appreciate your meals all the more.
8. Too Much or Little Sleeping
Insomnia or hypersomnia are very common among those who struggle with depression. Insomnia is the more well-known variant that involves an inability to sleep. Hypersomnia is where a person sleeps too much, which happens once the person sleeps. The two are typically both present, but they can switch between the two depending on their depression and sleep cycles. If a person is having a day where anxiety is bad, they may find themselves unable to sleep. This in turn can lead to getting less sleep and being unable to keep asleep.
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With hypersomnia, a person can end up falling asleep and not wanting to get up from their bed. They may even sleep for longer than normal hours, which can worsen depression through a botched schedule. This is where making plans can really come in handy, because it can stop negative thoughts in the tracks. Rumination is a huge part of this problem, and if you can find a way to keep yourself busy, you can get better. Think of ways you can improve your day, and much of this can fall into place. It’s not going to be an immediate fix, but it will be a step in the right direction.
Worst Symptoms of Depression
9. Hallucinations
While hallucinations are not necessarily a common feature of depression, they can certainly be present. A hallucination is essentially seeing something that is not there, and a lot of things can contribute to it. The biggest thing to understand is if you have psychotic depression or not. These symptoms can worsen over time, like other symptoms, and should be somethin to look out for. While a person struggling may have a hard time understanding what’s going on, it can be frightening.
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Hallucinations are not awe-inspiring and colorful images, as they usually have fear as an element. With depression in particular, they can be particularly stressful for the sufferer. There are anti-psychotic medications that can help, but this should be a last resort if a prognosis is not for sure. The last thing you need is to make it worse with a medication by relying on it for the rest of your life. It’s not to say that it will happen, but it is a possibility. The best thing you can do is understand your surroundings a
10. Overthinking
Rumination is a common part of depression and involves excessive thinking and worry. This is similar to anxiety, but rumination is it’s own thing. Rumination doe not necessarily involve anxiety, but it is often accompanied by it. The obsessive nature of rumination is also common in mental disorders like OCD and body dysmorphic disorder. The cause of rumination is unclear, but it could be part of the reason that depression is at least worsened over time.
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The best thing you can do is try to get outside of your own head. Try to be productive without letting the small details become overwhelming. If something bad happens, do not let the fact that it happened to you get the best of you. It can be a great way to stop the depression in it’s tracks, and all it requires is a little strength.
Worst Symptoms of Depression
11. Fatigue
Fatigue is a very common symptom of depression that involves weariness, tiredness, and lack of energy. When you wake up, you will feel as though you are unrested, and it contributes to low motivation. The more you feel depressed, the more you become fatigued, thus continuing a nasty cycle. At some point, it feels like waking up or doing anything is a chore, and you might as well give up. Fatigue can affect a person at any point, even if a person is getting enough sleep. This can always be another issue, such as low blood sugar, but even diabetes can cause depressive symptoms. Assuming you are taking care of your health and it is not a diabetic problem, it all starts with small changes.
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This means you should always be keeping a good eye on your health, but be sure to avoid excess worry. The best way to overcome this is, again, by changing your schedule enough to elicit a change. Changing your life habits and keeping yourself aware of what makes you feel a certain way and forcing a slow but sure change. Start with a good change in diet and exercise, especially if you are not getting any. It’s always worth making some small adjustments, but if you are exercising, you are probably less depressed.
12. Isolation
Isolation is one of the most telling and significant signs of depression. It’s typically a good indicator of just how depressed someone is. If a person is being apathetic, they can hide it, but it’s not quite the same with being socially isolated. This is often a choice made by the individual because of their anhedonia and and apathy. The more a person finds that they are irritable and a liability, the more they will avoid others. It can be a general disdain for others or an anxiety that keeps them from performing their best. It’s also important to note that social isolation can be a cause of a person’s depression, as it almost always make a situation worse. Even if a person wants to be alone, it almost never makes it better.
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The more you are socially isolated, the more you are cycling your own negative thoughts without external input. If you are depressed, having some social contact is almost always recommended. The more a person feels alone, even if they do not admit it, the more likely they are to act on their own emotions. Social isolation always has to do with feeling withdrawn from others, but it is often because of something else lacking in their life. Being socially withdrawn to heal from time to time is alright, but to go lights out all of the time, is unhealthy. It’s also almost always done for the wrong reason.
Worst Symptoms of Depression
13. Suicide
Suicide is a tragic and unfortunate truth of people who deal with depression because of all of symptoms they deal with. It can be because the death of a loved one or feeling that no one cares about them, but it is true. If you are depressed you are more likely to commit suicide that the average person. While most people who deal with depression do not do it, it’s certainly a thought that goes through their head. Some people can deal with these negative emotions better than others, but it’s painful nonetheless.
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If you or someone you know is talking about suicide, be sure to help give them the proper care that they need. It’s not to say that you should contact the authorities, because most of the time, all they need is a solid ear. The last thing a person who is depressed needs to hear is that they need professional help. It’s typically a shorthand response that does little gain. It will not only not help them, it can make it much worse. If anything, recommend a suicide hotline, therapy, or talk with them if you have the experience. The same can be said for you if you are struggling, and there are people out there who understand. Self-help through pep-talks and motivational
14. Forgetfulness
When you are depressed, you are more likely to be forgetful than a person not dealing with depression. Depression has a way of making your memory less clear and vivid, as much seems to go unnoticed. In a depressed state, you are less involved and concerned over certain things and life in general. If you do not have the same level of input or care, you are less likely to have the practice. This level of disconnection is very common in those struggling with depression, and it’s one more reason a person should seek help.
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This lack of general concern can lead to problems later on, especially if you do not learn how to manage your time. It can also worsen symptoms of depression and risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This is why it is important to work your brain every day, so as to not forget the little things in life. Just be sure not to overthink, because that does not help your memory whatsoever. This is where writing can help, and even memory puzzles can come in handy. This is probably the last thing you want to do when you are depressed, but they help long and short-term.
Worst Symptoms of Depression
15. Delusions
Delusions or psychotic thinking are oftentimes a central symptom of depression, as apathy and anxiety contribute to it. Psychosis is the severe form of losing track of reality, but just about everyone can deal with a delusion from time to time. It’s a matter of just how expansive the delusional thinking actually is, and this is where people can run into problems. If the delusional thinking involves episodic referential delusions as a symptom, this can be considered psychotic depression. The depression is causing the symptom because it was not seen prior to the depression.
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Something that separates it from schizophrenia is the lack of thought disorders such as thought blocking and disorganized speech. Regardless, delusions are often a cause and tag along with depression, even if it not significant enough to warrant worry. It’s also important to not that these same symptoms can be signs of bipolar depression as well. If any of these problems ring true to you, be sure to get the help that you or someone else needs.
Worst Symptoms of Depression
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