Why People with Obvious Signs of Depression Fail to Seek Professional Help

There are several types of depression each with its own signs and symptoms. Clinical depression is a type of depression that affects more people than the other forms of depression. This type of depression is also referred to as unipolar or major depression.

Symptoms of clinical depression can vary in terms of intensity from minor, mild to severe forms at which point the sufferer loses most of their abilities to function as a normal person. During the onset of clinical depression the signs tend to feel like the occasional low mood or “the blues” that most people undergo at some point in their lives.

However with time these feelings of sadness, hopelessness, fatigue as well as many other unpleasant signs persist for several days and even weeks. This is where the sufferer realizes that something is wrong and that they need to do something about their current condition if they are to get their lives back to normal.

In most cases, unless the affected person realizes that they are suffering from clinical depression, they find that they cannot appropriately carry out their normal day-to-day activities. This usually happens because depression affects a person’s mental and physical wellbeing and fills their lives with extreme sadness, desperation, fatigue, indifference, physical pain, diminished mental abilities in addition to emotional anguish. These are but some of the warning signs of clinical depression which can best be dealt with by professional medical professionals.

Common signs of Clinical depression include:

• Feelings of Hopelessness and Helplessness – Most patients tend to feel like nothing matters. They also feel like they are unable to support themselves or others.
• Loss of interest in daily routines as well as fun activities – This is a common warning sign of depression. The patient finds that they are no longer interested in most of their favorite daily routines as well as fun activities like hobbies, partying, watching sports etc.
• Loss of Mental abilities – Mental abilities like paying attention, memory, decision making and creativity tend to diminish considerably in many depression patients.
• Appetite complications – Depression causes the patient to drastically change their eating patterns. The change can either be loss or increase in appetite. In some cases the patient develops an intense preference or addiction to certain foods (e.g. sweet foods and snacks) while rejecting other types of food. The result of these new eating habits is an increase or decrease in weight.
• Unpleasant or Pessimistic Thoughts and Attitude – Unpleasant thoughts about self, others or about life in general can sometimes take control of the depressed individual’s mind. More often than not this contributes to thoughts of, attempts or completed suicide.
• Irregular sleep patterns – As is the case with appetite the patient either find that they are unable to sleep (insomnia) or sleep excessively (hypersomnia).
• Mental or physical fatigue – Another very common symptom of depression is lack of energy and immobilizing lethargy. The affected person becomes easily tired and may find it very hard to perform even the simplest mental or physical tasks.

It should be noted that the presence of most these symptoms does not necessarily mean that the patient is suffering from clinical depression. There are many physical illnesses that have signs that resemble those of depression. Unfortunately more and people are turning to self medication whenever they suspect that they are suffering from depression.

Research shows that most users of depression medication rarely consult with reputable medical professionals. Self medication has become very popular especially in the working class segment of the population. Other possible reasons for these habits include scarcity of time, rising costs of medical care and fear of stigmatization. Only after the symptoms have worsened or have failed to respond to self-prescribed medication do the sufferers seek professional help.