Depression is not sadness, and it does not lift because someone told you to think positively. It is treatable, and most people feel the difference sooner than they expect.
It might have arrived after something specific. A loss, a job, a relationship ending. Or it might have crept in with no story attached, which somehow makes it harder to explain to people.
You do not have to arrive with a reason. At Unmind Health you get a therapist who works with depression every week and will stay with it until it moves.
What is depression??
Depression is less about feeling sad and more about feeling very little at all. The volume goes down on everything. Food, music, people, the things that used to be worth the effort.
It shows up in the body before it shows up in the mood. Waking at four and not getting back. Sleeping ten hours and waking tired. The dishes becoming a genuinely hard task.
Then the cruel part. The voice that tells you this is not an illness, it is simply what you are like. It is not. That voice is a symptom, and it goes when the depression goes.
When to seek help for depression
Recognizing the signs and knowing when support can help
Two weeks is the usual marker. Two weeks of low mood or lost interest that does not lift, and it is worth talking to someone. Sooner if it is taking your sleep, your work, or your ability to be around people.
If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, do not wait for an appointment. Call or text 988 in the US,
any time. Then call us.
Types of depression
Major Depressive Disorder
Low mood or lost interest most of the day, most days, for at least two weeks, with the sleep, appetite, and concentration changes that come with it. The most common form and the most studied.
Persistent Depressive Disorder
A lower grade version that has been there for two years or more. People often do not call it depression because they think it is just their personality. It is not, and it treats well.
Perinatal and Postpartum Depression
Depression during pregnancy or in the year after birth. Far more common than anyone tells you, and treatable. See our Women’s Mental Health page.
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Depression that arrives with the dark months and lifts in spring. Predictable, which means it can be planned for rather than survived.
Situational Depression
A response to something identifiable. A bereavement, a redundancy, a move. It is not weakness, it is proportion, and short term therapy is often enough.
Bipolar Depression
The depressive side of bipolar disorder. It needs accurate diagnosis, because the standard treatment for depression alone can make it worse. If you have had periods of unusually high energy, tell us on the first call.
