Depression often sneaks its way into someone's life. It is a gradual process. It can be so that you suddenly wae up and realize that you have not enjoyed life for a very long time. If this feeling stays with you for a long time and you notice that you no longer can seem to feel happiness, it can be so tha you suffer from a depression. To be able to consider something a diagnosed depression, there are some criteria which need to be present. To help you with recognizing a depression, you will find some steps below which can help you to determine the severity of your depression.
Step 1: Evaluate your stress level!
Your stress level can say a lot about your depression. Oftentimes, depression starts with a high level of stress, causing us to start worrying. This can eventually lead to memory issues, focus problems, as well as mood fluctuations. This, however, is the first level of depression, which eventually can lead to a more severe depression if it is left untreated. To determine your stress level, you can take the free stress test here.
Step 2: Do I still feel happy?
A next stage of depression is that you can no longer experience happiness. Things which used to make you happy in the past, no longer seem to have any effect on you. You prefer staying in bed all day and not seeing anybody. Here we can already consider depression if this situation lasts for more than two weeks.
Step 3: Do I still feel anything?
In a last stage of depression, it seems like you can no longer feel anything. First, it was difficult to feel happy, but now it is also becoming difficult to feel unhappy. In this stage, stronger symptoms of depression tend to manifest, such as suicidal ideation.
Treating depression!
It is useful to treat your depression as early on as possible. This can be done in different ways, but generally does require some intense changes, such as that of your 'coping style'. Oftentimes, people think that depression can disappear on its own, but this is hardly ever the case. You have already taken a first step toward treating your depression by looking for information. A next step, which can help you to determine what it is that can help you, is taking the free depression test. This test namely tells you something about your depression level and also about how this depression affects your daily life.
