“Depression” means many things to many different people. “Normal” in this case means “what average people go through.” Let’s look at what constitutes depression.
One kind of depression that most people often go through is the depression of loss. Nowadays, this might mean loss of a job. There can be a whole host of symptoms that one might experience if their livelihood is threatened. For some people it may be the loss of a love object—the death of a spouse or a friend. Not as trivial as it might sound even the loss of inanimate objects such as a favorite car can trigger grief. A person may feel gloomy, sad, worried, frightened, even hopeless. The stress of a job change is compounded in difficult economic times because the loss is not easily corrected by finding a new job. Very often people may feel this devastation for a time but find ways of coping with the problem. Other time the loss triggers a mood that one doesn’t readily overcome.
Sometimes there is no trigger and depression comes out of the blue. A first episode can occur at almost any age of life. Whether triggered or spontaneous a person cannot always talk themselves out of a depression. Even the encouragement of family and friends is not enough to bring back the joy in life. In severe depression the inability to enjoy any facet of life is called anhedonia or as one patient said “It’s the opposite of hedonism.”
Very biologically caused depressions often have physical symptoms: 1) A loss of appetite or its opposite, overeating; 2) waking up too early or sleeping all the time; 3) a loss of interest in usual activities or and agitation, just not being able to sit still. A particular feature of some biologic mood disorders is feeling worst upon waking, gradually getting better as the day goes on. The next morning one finds herself or himself back in the pit again.
When hit by one form of depression or another, one decides whether to get professional help based on many considerations. If it’s a first time event, the tendency is to try to ride it out, hoping that it will go away. Some say, it’s understandable that I’m depressed. I just have to think right and I’ll get better. Or some people just pull inwards and don’t have the energy to move, much less go to a psychiatrist.
Talking therapy and often medications can pull one out of a depression faster and in the case of recurring depressions keep them from coming back. If there is weight loss, inability to sustain oneself and/or suicidal ideation, it is all the more important to seek help sooner than later.
