How would you describe depression?

For me, depression is like a tiny monster within me that feeds on all of the negative thoughts, feelings, and events in my life. Every negative thought, feeling, and event makes it grow stronger and larger until it has reached maximum size. At this point, it completely consumes me and I'm unable to do anything. I lose all motivation and hope for the future. The best way to defeat the monster is to regain hope. I have to cling to positivity and remind myself of the positive events in my life. Once I have defeated the monster, it goes back to being small and hides within me, waiting to feed on negative thoughts, feelings, and events.

Depression feels like you've lost control of your thoughts and life. You lose your sense of self and every day feels like a bad day. And you have bad days every day over a long period. It gets bad to the point it even interferes with your daily life. You have no motivation to get out of bed, do what you love or engage in social activities. The worst part is you realise your mental health isn’t great but you feel powerless to do anything about it. Depression messes with your sense of worth and self-esteem. It brings your spirits down, makes you feel alone and leaves you with low self-esteem. You may feel like you have no social support and no one, including your family members, cares about you. I’m not saying you’ll never be happy or that you’ll never smile again. You will laugh and smile sometimes but for the most part, the feelings of depression do not go away. You are not alone if you face depression. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 10% of Americans face this condition, and the struggle is prevalent all over the world. Having some basic information about depression can help you in the long run. Depression is also called major depressive disorder and it is one of many mood disorders. There are different types of depressive conditions. Some of them are dysthymia, postnatal depression and seasonal depression. People experience depression in different ways and at different intensities. The diagnosis of depression relies on the symptoms and the severity of the symptoms. Based on that, people are either diagnosed with a form of mild depression (dysthymia), moderate depression or severe depression. A major depressive episode (MDE) is more common in people with severe and intense depression symptoms. In a major depressive episode, sufferers have a depressed mood for two weeks or more. Some other symptoms are feelings of emptiness, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. These symptoms may be reported by the individual facing them or may be noticed by their partners or friends. Some people who face depression also face substance abuse. Depression is also found in bipolar disorder. In that case, it is called bipolar depression. Unlike past beliefs and myths, bipolar depression is very different from regular depression. Most people dealing with bipolar depression are not helped by antidepressants. Antidepressants are drugs used to ease the symptoms of regular depression. Psychotherapy is another method used to treat and ease the symptoms of depression.

Depression is a disease. So,there is a big difference between depression and sadness . Are completely different situations . Being sad is natural to humans , it is something that happens due to the fact that we are beings with emotions . But , having a depression , encompasses not only be sad , but other things . Our immune system is affected. People with depression sleeps too little or too much, eat too much or do not feel in the mood to eat . Cry for everything or nothing . Think of death several times a day . Feel a different pain of grief. Can not produce certain important things in your body . The health diminishes , indeed , depression is a mental illness . When you feel with some of these symptoms , please head over to a doctor . Being depressed can destroy your life. Take care of yourself.

I would describe depression as a tidal wave. For me, from my own experience, I felt like I was drowning in negative emotions and thoughts. I found it difficult to breathe and at times wanted to stop trying to pull myself to the surface. Though with professional help, I found it easier to push myself to the surface and when I finally did - I could breathe again and start putting myself back together. Depression is a serious mental illness and should not be dismissed.

I would describe it as numbness. It's like you can't care or feel. And it's drak , cold , and lonely

It's like being trapped in a your own personal sink hole. Everyone around you is trying to get away leaving you alone. You have no where to turn so you just stand still in shock. As you stand there you sink farther and farther. Eventually you're so deep people begin to see you're not around as much. They see you stuck in this whole and they know they can't get you out. You've pushed everyone so far away and now they can no longer reach you to help get you out. You're more alone than ever and you've done it to yourself. You give up hope because you don't want to go back there just for this to happen again. So you stay put. The only problem is if you don't try anymore you sink farther and the light at the end gets smaller and smaller. You can barely see the light anymore and you don't know what the point is anymore. So you sink even further until that light closes just as yours eyes do. Never to be opened again. Your personal sink hole was your personal grave.

Slipping into depression feels like falling down a dark bottomless shaft, wondering if and when your fall will ever be caught. And as you look back to where you fell from--which is where you know you need to get back to--you can see it receding further into the distance, the proverbial light becoming dimmer and dimmer, while the shaft into which you are falling becomes deeper, darker, and all the more enveloping.

Imagine you're in the ocean when all of a sudden the waves begin At first it is easy to keep yourself above the waves, you can still see the shore, the waves start getting bigger and you are starting to grow tired, it is much harder to keep yourself up as the waves are growing stronger, you look around you the shore and all the people on it are no longer visible, you are alone and fighting to stay up, and although you keep fighting you are running out of energy and the thought that you might not make it start to cross your mind but then the waves start to lighten up, and you can see the faint outline of people and the shore in the distance so you begin to swim towards shore, things are looking up, getting better, then a storm hits and you get swept up in the waves, further away from the shore yet again waves are throwing you around, making you disoriented and lost, exhausted and tired you wonder why you should still try , you don't know where you are, you are alone. Then you see another shore, it clears up and you think you can make it but yet again as soon as you get close more waves and you have no energy left to fight anymore this is what depression feels like

I think everyone has their own version of depression. We're taught to notice the signs: feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, loss of interest in daily activities, appetite or weight changes, sleep changes, anger or irritability, loss of energy, self-loathing, reckless behavior, etc. but not everyone experiences those things. I was diagnosed with clinical depression not too long ago; I don't know how exactly to describe it, but for me it's sort of this overwhelming feeling of inadequacy.

Depression is a constant feeling of sadness that can make a completely normal day turn into one of the worst days you've had.