Common Symptoms
We can recognise common depression by symptoms including crying, insomnia, loss of sense of humour, listlessness, negative outlook, social withdrawal, desire to be alone, feelings of helplessness, inability to cope with even minor stresses, loss of sexual desire, loss of appetite, constant fatigue and lack of concentration. Because the origin of depression can be genetic, pharmacologic, glandular, infectious, nutritional, neo plastic, or neurological, the behavioural effects can appear as aggression or withdrawal, anorexia or overeating, anger or apathy, or many other types of types of responses.
Repressed anger for example, could be a cause of the depression. To not allow a child to express negative emotions, or perhaps if the child was to observe anger only in it’s violent form, he/she may learn to suppress and ignore it. He/She could then feel helpless and vulnerable – having not been able to express the anger, then use it constructively. And the easiest way to avoid any further unpleasant situations is to withdraw from the world.
A further example is ‘learned helplessness’. Being brought up in an overprotective environment where the person was neither allowed, nor taught to deal with the everyday world, can make him/her feel incompetent when he/she finally leaves that environment, and this can also lead to depression.
Note – The above information is not ‘all encompassing’ and if you think that you or someone else may be suffering from depression – seek professional advice without delay.