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The signs or symptoms of depression include:

 A “depressed” mood, which means the person feels sad, empty, or hopeless.

• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities, which means the activities or things the person used to enjoy are no longer interesting or fun to them.
• Changes in appetite—eating too much or not enough, which causes weight gain or weight loss.
• Sleep disturbance—sleeping more hours than usual or experiencing insomnia (difficulty falling or staying asleep) almost every day.
• Feeling very restless and fidgety or feeling very slowed down.
• Low energy—This means that the person feels sluggish and might have difficulty getting out of bed, moving around, and completing their usual daily tasks.
• Feeling worthless or feeling very guilty (the person blames themselves for things).
• Difficulty concentrating or becoming very indecisive—Difficulty concentrating means that the person might struggle to focus on a specific task, like studying or doing homework. Indecisiveness means that the person might have difficulty making decisions, even simple decisions like whether or not they should call in sick from work or school.
• Thoughts of death, thoughts of wanting to die, making a plan to commit suicide, or making an attempt to commit suicide.

 Depression is much more than just feeling sad or down. It’s an illness that not only lasts for 2 weeks or longer, but it can sometimes go away and then come back months later. A person who has this disorder can have difficulty working or going to school. This happens because depression can make it hard to do even simple things like get out of bed and get dressed.

 People who don’t understand depression might think that it’s something the person struggling with can control or “stop.” Sadly, people who have depression are sometimes told that it’s “all in their mind” or that they have the ability to just “think positive” and make it go away. The truth is that telling someone with depression that they can “think happy thoughts” and their depression will disappear is the same as telling someone who just broke their leg that they can get up and walk if they set their mind to it. Depression is an illness or an injury like any other physical or medical issue, but the difference is that since it’s an illness of the mind, we can’t see it like we do a broken bone or a blood test result that shows a specific disease.

 There are many good treatments available for people who have depression. Treatment can prevent depression from coming back or at least, it can help the person cope with symptoms. Some people are prescribed medications by their doctor for depression while others go to a mental health professional for therapy. Sometimes both medications and therapy are recommended to treat depression.