Depression - Clinical depression “Do you have clinical depression?”

Clinical depression is different from other types of depression and in some ways can be more serious. Diagnosing depression as a whole can be rather difficult, with many of the symptoms being related to other ailments and a process of complicated tests will need to take place before clinical depression will be diagnosed. Once the patient has been diagnosed however, treatment will follow and this is the quickest path to resuming a normal life.

If you are worried and think that you may have clinical depression, then you should take a look at the following checklist. Clinical depression will normally have at least one of the symptoms in this checklist and the sufferer will experience more than one of the symptoms within a small time frame, normally two weeks.

· A feeling of sadness or just generally being rather down, which has both been observed by you and also by others that know you. You may feel sad or empty, have trouble functioning as you normally would and also feel as if nothing is really worth the effort that you put into it. Others may observe that you are more tearful than usual and also less responsive to conversation and the things that you normally enjoy doing.

· Clinical depression will normally leave the sufferer hating the things they normally like, or having a diminished interest in them. This may include work that was previously enjoyed, hobbies, taking pride in their appearance and their home. This will also be observed by people around the sufferer and the sufferer themselves.

· Weight loss is a common symptom of clinical depression and it is most reported when the person has not been dieting or physically ill. This is normally due to a lack of interest in food in general or a decrease in appetite.

· Lack of sleep, not being able to sleep or sleeping more than usual is another common side effect of clinical depression and can cause many of the other symptoms such as lethargy, weakness and lack of enjoyment in the things that the sufferer would normally enjoy. Clinical depression normally leaves the person with a complete lack of energy to do even the most simple and quick of tasks.

· Those suffering from clinical depression very often consider death and this doesn’t just include suicidal tendencies although this is very common too. Those that have clinical depression may think or talk about death more often than is normal and also have somewhat have a fascination with it, which is often observed by others rather than the sufferer themselves.

Although some of the symptoms accompanying clinical depression may be happening to you, there is no way that you can treat this by yourself at home and the only way to be properly diagnosed or treated is to speak with your doctor or other medical professional to get the right treatment. You cannot diagnose yourself, although you can use information such as this to see if there is a problem, and the only way to get a proper medical opinion is to make that appointment!