WOX-XION

#9 Talking about death. A lot. What many people do not realize is that depression can be a deadly disease. Unfortunately and sadly enough in two different ways. A number of depressed people end up committing suicide. A few even take others with them on their journey…

Let’s be realistic here. No one commits suicide overnight. It is often a well planned action – if you will excuse me the poor choice of words here. Meaning there is a period of time in which the patient will show signs of being suicidal.

Have you ever had a friend or relative take his own live? Looking back on that occasion, people often suddenly recognize occasions or signs and they kick their behind wondering how they could have missed these when they occurred.

There is however no reason to feel guilty. Even trained professionals sometimes oversee these subtle signs. They are often very well hidden and extremely hard to recognize.

What should raise a red flag however (well, 10 red flags) is if a depressed person starts talking about death more and more. Pay close attention (and make notes for the therapist!) when you see a pattern building up. We all have our moments when we don’t want to be here anymore. But that’s harmless self-pity. You should stop doing that. But that’s all. A depressed person however might just mean business.

#8 Having trouble concentrating That’s what it is commonly called, having trouble concentrating. But that’s not a very accurate description. In fact, it’s more like a growing inability to keep track of things. Things in every day life, in your professional career, in keeping in touch with close ones like friends and relatives. It’s all about becoming more and more disorganized instead of having trouble concentrating. It often comes with another sign of depression: a bad memory. It’s all part of loosing track.

#7 Being (extremely) irritable We all are irritable every now and then. And some seem to be irritable 20 hours a day – it’s character flaw :).
If you are not one of these ‘characters’ but feel you are more irritable then you used to, it may as well be a sign of depression. Remember however, many depression experts regard this to be a ‘weak sign’. Meaning that being irritable and being short fused for a period of time can have many causes.
Heck, if the Dolphins lose, half of Miami is irritable.
There should be some red flags when being irritable comes with other symptoms: feeling restless for example or even with 100% physical symptoms such as pains that seem to come from nowhere.
It’s been said before in this series of sings of depression: it’s always a combination of symptoms that has to be read and understood before the situation can be properly diagnosed. If in doubt, don’t hesitate, but go and se your doctor.

#6 Total loss of self-worth This one is dangerous. Once you’ve convinced yourself you should feel overwhelmingly guilty and a 100% to blame over something (whatever, self-inflicted or circumstantial) you’ll soon start feeling extremely sad. In fact, it won’t take long before you feel like you do not deserve to be happy. And before you know it, it goes a step further: you feel like you don’t even deserve to be around in this world….

This total loss of self-worth isn’t going to show overnight. It’s a silent killer. A sniper that will hunt you down until you give in… or put up a fight. If you decide to fight it (and you should!) you probably want to seek help from friends and professional experts. The longer you ignore the symptoms, the harder the battle you’ll have to fight.