When we think of depression, we typically think of the classic signs: sadness, “feeling blue,” hopelessness, or despair. But anyone who has ever suffered from depression knows that it’s so much more complex than just feeling “down.”
It’s so complex in fact, that you may be suffering from depression and not even know it.
Depression doesn’t always present itself in the form of debilitating sadness. But without enough knowledge about some of its other symptoms, it can be easy to write-off depression as the reason for what you’re experiencing, simply because you aren’t “sad.”
Here are 5 signs you may be suffering from depression:
1. Unexplained Weight Gain
Comfort foods can raise serotonin levels in the brain, seemingly boosting your mood, when in fact you may be stuck in a cycle of emotional eating. Maybe you haven’t felt like shopping or haven’t been in the mood to make a real meal for dinner. So, you settle for a brown paper sack from the most convenient drive-thru on your way home from work or decide to just eat ice cream instead.
Doing that on an increasingly regular basis will surely lead to weight-gain, and doesn’t do anything but provide a short-term mood-boost to your brain. The underlying need for comfort food still remains, and in return, you’re stuck buying pants with a bigger waist-line.
2. Short Spurts of Anger and Irritability
Perhaps even the littlest things send you into an overwhelming rage, or you’re “short” with the people you interact with on a daily basis. You may not be “feeling blue,” but rather grouchy and unpleasant for no real reason at all. According to prevention.com, a study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found that “54% of people with depression reported feeling hostile, grumpy, argumentative, foul-tempered, or angry.”
It may just be a bad week with a lot of stress and a lot of feelings. But if you’re experiencing short spurts of anger and frustration on a regular basis, it very well could mean that you are suffering from depression.
