Help early signs of depression

[cattywampus]

before you were formally diagnosed, what signs or experiences made you suspect you might be dealing with depression? im especially curious how you distinguished those feelings from 'normal' ups and downs, or from the instinct to dismiss or minimize your own symptoms. and how did you find the courage to bring it up with a therapist or psychiatrist?

 

[_wishforwings]

For me I would say it was about in middle school, and I began to distinguish that it might've been more than just normal ups and downs because it went from just being slightly sad sometimes, to more of a daily sadness that was hard to ignore I guess? I asked one of my friends in like,, 5th grade about suicide which is probably also a sign, that kind of made it click for me after his reaction that it wasn't really a normal thing to be thinking already at such a young age. Also noticing that those same friends didn't really feel sadness or deep emotions in the way I did I guess? It's especially hard if you feel like you didn't really go through enough hardships to be feeling the way you do, it for so long made me feel like I had no reason to be depressed and was therefore faking it I guess?? I often minimized those feelings and didn't try to get actual help until high school, and tried 4 or 5 different medicines with little avail

 

[etherealgoddess]

before you were formally diagnosed, what signs or experiences made you suspect you might be dealing with depression? im especially curious how you distinguished those feelings from 'normal' ups and downs, or from the instinct to dismiss or minimize your own symptoms. and how did you find the courage to bring it up with a therapist or psychiatrist?

It's a chronic sense of emptiness. It's that sense where you're getting really stuck in your head. Entertainment gives you such a big high and relief. It's like every time you have entertainment, it's the biggest sense of relief. You're easily addicted to things. People find it insane how I can play video games for 12 hours straight when I'm having a bad day. Mentally healthy can't do the same thing for more than a few hours on a weekend. It's like the only thing that gets you off your ass to work is this massive sinking fear of whatever you're deeply scared of. You can't get off entertainment unless it's absolutely necessary to you for whatever reason.

It's like you're constantly zoned out. It's hard to sit still in the present moment. Even when life gets busy, a mentally healthy person can feel their surroundings.

And other warning signs are if you have anyone safe to talk to about anything who is actually close. If you don't have emotional vulnerability, it will make you disconnect from yourself because that side never has a safe way to come out. That deep part of you feels alone, and it hurts.

If you have a lot of childhood adverse experiences, you'll be at a much higher rate for depression, anxiety, and mental health disorders. Family is crucial for mental health because friends come and go and can betray your deep secrets and hurt you more. Family is usually the people you go to for deeper things. I've never really had that. I have a family member who is more supportive, but I really needed it a lot more 10 years ago. And now I have issues.

Another way to know if you're at risk is are you upset about little things that don't upset others? Like someone pissed you off, and you talk about it for 20 minutes, but your friend tells you you're making a big deal out of it? Or someone just doesn't respond to a message and you dwell on it all day thinking they rejected you when they've shown otherwise that they're consistent? You mess up on something and dwell all day? You overthink a lot?