You don't have to live this way...

“I wish I wouldn’t wake up tomorrow...there's nothing in my life worth anything anymore...I can’t enjoy the things I used to love so much, I don't enjoy anything...I’m exhausted all the time and can barely get out of bed...I can’t sleep, and when I do I still don't feel rested...nothing tastes good to me, I could stop eating forever...sometimes I see things or hear things that aren’t there...I think I might be crazy...Why bother?...Why care?...Why live?”

If any of this sounds familiar, you may be one of the tens of millions of people suffering from clinical depression. Usually described as feeling sad and not knowing why, or feeling afraid and not knowing what you are afraid of, clinical depression is so difficult to work with, it feels hopeless. Below is a list of some common signs of depression.

9 SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION:

1. Anhedonia – Unable to feel joy or happiness doing things that used to make you joyous or happy, or would make most people joyous or happy.

2. Sleeping Disturbance – Lying awake longer than fifteen minutes before falling asleep. Awakening more than once per night. Having vivid nightmares or night terrors. Never feeling really rested. Any of these can be a sleep disturbance.

3. Eating Disturbance – Anorexia or bulimia, binging, purging, loss of appetite, skipping meals without planning to, eating the same exact things day after day, all are considered an eating disturbance.

4. Decreased Energy – Not enough energy to get through the day with reasonable plans you have made, waking up exhausted or tired, too difficult to get out of bed, having less energy than most of your peers, all can be evidence of decreased energy.

5. Difficulties Concentrating or Thinking

6. Feelings of Guilt or Worthlessness – Nothing you do is good enough, ashamed of how little you accomplish or what you are doing.

7. Psychomotor Retardation or Agitation – Feeling “out of sync” with the world, as if you are moving too slow, the world is moving too fast, or vice versa.

8. Thoughts of Suicide – Including self-destructive acts like cutting or burning, wishing you would fall asleep and never wake up, passing thoughts of dying.

9. Hallucinations, Delusions or Paranoia - Seeing or hearing things that are not there, believing you are somebody or somewhere you are not, believing that other people are plotting against you, or planning to hurt you.

If you or someone you care for is experiencing one or more of there symptoms, I urge you to seek out assistance from a professional, licensed therapist...there is no need to suffer in silence and you DON'T have to carry this all alone anymore.