Symptoms and signs of depression

Because the source of depression is located within the brain and involves complicated interactions between different hormones and parts of the brain, the symptoms depression tends to exhibit can be vastly different from person to person. Because of this, it is difficult to find a straight answer to the question of 'what are symptoms of depression.' If however the symptoms of depression are not recognized and your depression goes untreated, the symptoms you are experiencing may worsen over time and lead to further and very serious complications and possible lead to suicide. Recognizing the signs symptoms of depression you are feeling is the first and biggest hurdle you have to overcome in your path to diagnosis and treatment.

What are the symptoms for depression? According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the common depression symptoms may include several of the following in varying levels of severity.

• Difficulty remembering details, making decisions and concentrating for a prolonged period of time.
• Feelings of guilt, helplessness and/or worthlessness and the tendency to blame yourself for failure
• Chronic fatigue and decreed levels of energy
• Insomnia, excessive sleeping or early-morning wakefulness
• Feelings of pessimism and seeing/assuming the worst in other people
• Irritability or restlessness
• Loss of interest in hobbies or activities that you once found pleasurable
• Loss of sex drive
• Overeating or loss of appetite
• Persistent anxious, sad or empty feelings
• Chronic unexplained aches and pains, headaches, digestive problems or cramps that do not ease with conventional treatment
• Thoughts of suicide or death

Depression Risks and Triggers

Thanks to various studies conducted over the past couple of years, there have been several risk factors identified for depression. While statistically speaking, everyone has the potential to contract depression, several risk factors and triggers have been identified and linked with depression. Many of these risk factors will be out of your ability to control and are not simple lifestyle choices. Even if you don't fit into these risk factors, traumatic experiences and severe life changes can play a role in causing depression in individuals. Some of the known triggers and risk factors that can cause depression include:

• Being a woman
• Having biological family with clinical depression
• Experiencing stressful life events such as death of a close friend or loved one
• Having biological relatives with a history or alcohol or drug abuse
• Having traumatic experiences as a child
• Having family members who have committed suicide
• Having few friends or other meaningful personal relationships
• Having a depressed mood as a child
• Having a serious and life threatening illness such as heart disease, AIDS and cancer
• Giving Birth
• Being poor
• A history of alcohol or substance abuse
• Taking certain medications for high blood pressure, sleeping aids or other medications

Depression Tests

For some people, depression signs and symptoms are so severe that there is no question as to whether or not they are experiencing depressive symptoms. Yet for others it might not be as apparent. For these other people they may feel miserable or unhappy without knowing exactly why they feel this way. The cause of these differences have many different factors of influence, including age, gender, genetic traits and the cause of depression in your body. If you think you are feeling the signs symptoms depression shows there are some online depression tests you can take that can help you discover what might be wrong with you. When you test for depression online, you should be aware that these tests are not clinical and cannot lead directly to a diagnosis of depression. This can only be done by a medical doctor. When a physician administers a test, they follow guidelines set and standardized by the National Institute of Mental Health. The test usually involves an oral questionnaire and blood tests.