Can I be depressed and not know it?

Yes, it is very possible to be unaware you are depressed. That emotion could become your "status quo", so to speak, and just become "normal" for you.

Yes, you can be depressed without a doctor even finding out about it. It is hard but sometimes come out of it

When I was in the hospital there were a lot of people who just decided that they were depressed. They thought "I'm sad, I must be depressed." And of course, they took the antidepressants and they felt better...but then there were the kids that came in and the psychiatrist would talk with them and they discovered that they were depressed. Like they had no idea, they never even thought that depression was a possibility because they always 'felt so happy,' as they said. Like, it just really depends on the person. Depression can strike in anyone, and a big percentage of us will suffer from it at some point.

When you think about how you feel.... yes you can. If you are so mindful that you choose not to buy into your emotions, you may not be very aware of them. Just like pain.. if you are focused on something else you forget you even have pain. Bipolar is a good example.. people need this skill as sometimes emotions can be chemically driven ie an imbalance in the brain. If they buy into their emotions all the time, then life gets really rocky. If they decide to ignore their emotions and live their life they way they want, then certainly they can lose awareness. Sometimes people can be mildly depressed and not really aware. This happens when people do not know the symptoms of depression. There are many rating scales around.. the Kessler K10 is a short scale you can use to see if you are possibly depressed. If you are worried, its a good idea to talk to a mental health specialist about it.

I'm sure that's possible. Sometimes, at least in my case, I can almost trick myself into believing I'm happy when I'm really very troubled. I smile and go about my day and sometimes forget that it's a persona that I'm putting on. So yes, I do believe one can be depressed and not realize it.

Certainly! Depression is a double-edged sword that way: it barks at us and beats us down so much, and for so long, and often in such subtle ways, that we may not even realize we have been resigned to it for years. Additionally, because of society's stigma that people with depression are weak, flawed, different, or defective, we may not want to admit to ourselves that we are depressed, because naturally we want to be brilliant, beautiful people, not broken pieces. But it is possible to be a brilliant, self-sufficient, strong person - and have depression! The two are not mutually exclusive. As soon as we realize we can be amazing and still have depression, it becomes easier to see the signs of depression within ourselves. The more honest we are with ourselves, the easier everything in our lives becomes. The first step to managing our depression is acknowledging that it is hiding there. Go you!

Most symptoms of depression can be brushed off with excuses which makes it harder to differentiate between depression and just having a moment - educate yourself about the symptoms and be aware of your emotions - I know that it took me 2 years before I realized I had depression, and it took longer to realize the severity of it, but make sure to never falsely diagnose yourself, talk to a professional

It always amazes me how long it took me to figure out I was depressed...Statistically, between 8% and 12% of us will experience a period of depression before the year is out, according to the Office for National Statistics. But many will never be diagnosed. Despite increased awareness of mental health issues, people can live with a range of symptoms without ever realising they are depressed – Keep an Eye out for the usual suspects like low moods, constant tiredness, poor appetite and inability to concentrate in general..In addition, if you’re depressed you may simply be less motivated. “You know everything ends in failure, so there’s no point..We might just mistake all that as a phase or a bad days..However it is quite possible to not realise we're depressed and more often than not it's because we are reluctant to accept it...

Yes, sometimes it take people years to realize, and sometimes people may not want to admit they are. There is nothing wrong with being depressed, as it is a real mental illness.

Yes. It actually happens a lot. People are not always in touch with their moods and emotions. Sometimes you can be depressed but feel like nothing is different.