How do you know if you're depressed if you can't get a professional medical opinion?

@bluecello I am really an advocate for seeking medical opinoins if you feel you have any mental disorders given the whole suspectibility issues, for example when you look for explanations for 2 symptoms and after looking feel you have 10. The advice that I tell people who feel like they need help are the 3 Ds: Distress, Dysfunction and Duration. Distress means whether these feelings or changes in behaviours cause you heghtened levels of sadness, anxiety or pain. Dysfunction means does these feelings or changes in behaviour interfer with your life for example, does it stops you achieving as much in your day as you would before, are you more introverted when you are an extrovert. Duration means has this gone on for a while. A week or a few days is not enough rather a couple of weeks or more. Above all of this if you have access to an professional please seek them

@SandyM thank you very much for the helpful response. I will try to seek a medical professional if I can, but I wanted to see if my concerns were even legitimate enough to spend the money on first.

I'm in the same situation; I think I am suffering from depression but cannot go see a doctor at the moment because of various reasons. That's why I try to read about it and connect to people on this site. Luckily I also have a very supportive boyfriend. After reading a lot about it it seems clear to me that what I'm going through is some sort of depression and I've started taking st johns wort herbs to relieve the symptons and it helps me a lot. I'm also planning on practising meditation (that really worked for me in the past) and excersicing.

So I think it might not always be needed to see a doctor, although in my case I think what I've been going through is probably a mild depression and a case of getting very stuck in life. There have been times where I felt really bad and started having suicidal thoughts. That's when I seriously thought about seeking professional help and I think that's when you really should too, when it becomes too much to bear and you're not safe anymore. Otherwise try and take babysteps by yourself and try to find friends or family who can support you. Take good care of yourself and stay safe <3