Mental health is as important as our physical health. But the unfortunate stigma around it has really kept us from being able to discuss it in order to identify when we may be slipping into a bad place. This is exactly why this Reddit thread where people have shared subtle signs of depression we often end up ignoring, is so important.
Here, take a look at things some of us may be overlooking:
1. “Complete lack of interest even for your hobbies.”
2. “Not eating a thing all day and not feeling hungry. A very vicious circle. Sleeping simply to pass time. This is easier than being stressed at not doing anything productive. No hope for the future. Just lock me in a room and throw away the key.”
3. “I’ve always been a snacker. A couple weeks back I realized I hadn’t eaten all day. I was getting annoyed at everything, my dog, my son, anything that made noise. I started getting anxious and realized I hadn’t washed my hair in a week. It was the same spiral I went down 6 years ago that led to severe depression and a lot of alcohol. Got started on Zoloft last week and starting to feel a little better already. Don’t wait to seek help if you aren’t feeling right.”
– updog25
4. “Social withdrawal, fatigue like having a harder time getting out of bed or excessive sleeping. Loss of interest in activities/hobbies that you normally wouldn’t lose interest in, loss in normal productivity at work and home, self care becomes a progressively daunting task.”
5. “One of the more insidious parts about depression is it makes it legitimately way more difficult to seek help. The thought of actually having to call the doctor, go to the office, etc. can sound impossible. But man. Seek help if you can.”
6. “Being irritated or outright angry at every little thing that happens daily. Doesn’t matter what it is.”
7. “Flip side: over-agreeability. Subtle sign that someone has given up on advocating for themselves and no longer cares enough about their immediate environmental stresses to react to them other than just signaling falsely that everything is ‘fine’ because then people leave you alone – it is way too exhausting and requires ownership of ones life to do anything else.”
– hoybowdy
8. “An existential crisis.”
9. “Sometimes it’s like watching yourself about to crash a car in slow motion. You know you can course correct but for some reason you just continue to act like a dick and then have to apologize for something you knew was wrong AS you were doing it.”
10. “Hyper-irritability is a sign I can vouch for. A noisy restaurant, a cold winter evening, too many tables in too small a space, and a door that I would watch customers not quite close as they left with their takeaway slops.
Then came the shame of being ‘that angry guy’ – it was annihilating. I realized shortly that I was catastrophically depressed, a lot of the pain coming from overwork in a repellent job with a long commute. Recovery from that low point took several years. I changed careers among many other changes.”
– mjl2009
11. “I had anger problems until I got treated for depression and anxiety. I thought I was just mad. Part of it had to do with growing up in that sort of environment, but part of it was also mental illness.”
12. ” Mind on overdrive yet the thought of shaving feels like a mission.“
13. “My first sign is brushing my teeth less. I’ll still do it once a day, but I will skip the evening (if I work) or the morning (if I stay home).”
14. “Not replying to texts. Weight gain from binge eating and lying in bed.”
15. “Finding something (anything really) that takes up enough headspace so that you don’t have to think about life, or the next thing on your to do list. Could be reading books, podcasts, videogames etc etc. Because you don’t want to face whatever it is in your life that sucks right now. In essence, the first signs of depression are subtle avoidance and fear of free flowing thought.”
16. “When I was depressed, sleep was my enemy. I couldn’t. Rather stay up all night playing games, and go back to work.”
– wut3va
If you are experiencing any of the above please reach out to your family or seek professional help.
