What is depression?

Depression is a commonly used term that can mean a variety of things, often the terms low mood, feeling blue and feeling down describe a similar experience. Depression is often the clinical term used to describe feeling low in mood. Everyone experiences ups and downs in their lives, however for some these downs can persist and this is often what we mean by the term depression.  Depression refers to a range of thoughts feelings and behaviours and can last for different lengths of time for different people. While most people experience low mood, it is when it persists and starts to interfere in your life that it can become a problem. Some of the most common experiences associated with depression are:

• Feeling sad
• Feeling lonely
• Being tearful
• Lacking confidence
• Lacking self-esteem
• Being pessimistic
• Not sleeping properly
• Changes in appetite (increase or decrease)
• Feeling worthless
• Feeling that life is not worth living
• Excessive worrying about things
• Negative thinking
• Feeling no one likes you
• Feeling like harming yourself
• Feeling tired or lacking energy
• Having difficulty in concentrating

Often these signs may persist over a period of time, can be very difficult to deal with, and can be very difficult to shake.

Causes of depression

There can be many causes of depression and quite commonly it is a reaction to something that has happened in your life. While sometimes there may be an obvious reason, such as someone close to you dying or being bullied, sometime it is not so obvious and may be caused by a build up of stress over time. Stress can be caused by a variety of reasons, such as change in living situation, friends, financial situation, pressure of course work and relationship problems. There is also some evidence to suggest that it may be inherited from a family member which results in you being more prone to developing it. It may also be caused by changes in hormone levels. Whatever the reason everyone has their own unique life story and for everybody the causes may be different. It may be useful to look back at when you started feeling low in mood and identify any factors which may have contributed to it in the previous 12 months. It is important to remember that feeling low in mood is not your fault.

Working through depression

Often depression is described as being part of a cycle that you need to break. It is about taking small steps and finding strategies that might work for you. Often when feeling low in mood you end up in a spiral of negative thinking, whereby you feel nothing you do is ever good enough, believing that you are a failure, that you are not a nice person or believing others are fed up with you or upset with you. Some people turn to alcohol or drugs to try relieve this but this often makes the situation worse, particularly the next day which may result in you feeling anxious, being paranoid and worrying that you upset those around you.  Sometimes people who experience low mood have very high standards for themselves which may be unachievable; this can be described as perfectionism. You may be highly critical of yourself and put yourself down, this is often a coping strategy, as by putting yourself down you are protecting yourself from others doing it.

The research shows that a number of therapies may help alleviate depressive symptoms such as supportive counselling, group therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy. If you feel this may help you please see the resource page for useful contact details.

There are many strategies which you may be able to use right now.

It is important to talk to someone about how you are feeling; the forum on this website is designed to allow you to share your experiences with others who may be able to understand how you feel. There may be others in your life that you can talk to such as a family member or friend, it is important to gain support from some source. Sometimes people find keeping a personal diary to write down their thoughts and feelings helpful. It may be useful to reflect upon your life to see if there were any triggers to your low mood; learn to recognise the patterns in your life and try identify situations when you have coped well. Everybody has strengths but sometimes when you are feeling low you forget about these. Identifying them and reminding yourself of them can help break the cycle of negative thinking. It is important to understand you are not alone, there are many others experiencing similar difficult emotions, if fact depression is very common and it is believed that 8-12% of young people experience low mood. The power of positive thinking cannot be underestimated, by recognising that you may need help and being willing to look for this help you have made a start on relieving your low mood, you need to learn to believe that your situation will improve.

Suicide

Suicidal thoughts sometimes accompany low mood. If you are feeling suicidal it is important to seek immediate help by telling a friend or family member, contacting the Samaritans, your GP or the student counselling centre. You may feel like life is not worth living but if you feel you may act on those feelings you need to do something about it urgently. When feeling low in mood it is often difficult to see a way out and you may begin to believe that things will be like this forever, this is part of the negative thinking associated with depression and with help you should be able to overcome your difficulties. You need to learn how to work through your suicidal thoughts by challenging them; suicide is not the way out.

Self harm

Sometimes people may feel like harming themselves and may do this without the intent to die. The most common means are by cutting or burning your skin, but other ways include starving yourself or binge drinking. Self harm is a coping mechanism and is often described as the physical manifestation of emotional pain. When you self harm you may feel a sense of relief as it may help you deal with difficult and overwhelming feelings. If you are harming yourself it may be useful to think about why you are doing it and try identify any specific triggers to your self harming. You could also look at developing alternative coping strategies, and ask yourself are there any others methods you use to cope in difficult situations.  Sometimes trying to think of safer ways of expressing yourself may help, for example if you are feeling angry try punching a pillow, if you want to cut yourself rub a bit of ice on the spot. These are simple examples but have worked for some people.