What Depression Feels Like and How It Affects Your Life

Every year, approximately 21 million adults and 4 million adolescents in the United States experience at least one major depressive episode. There are likely more people who have struggled with their mental health in the last twelve months but who did not reach out for support or contribute to these statistics. Many of us do not truly know what depression feels like, how to deal with it, or when to get support.

All forms of depression are treatable with a combination of therapy, medication, and changes to your lifestyle. However, before you attempt to treat depression, you must first identify it. Once you have learned what depression feels like, you will be better equipped to handle it.

What Depression Feels Like

Your mind, body, and emotions are all connected and constantly affect each other, whether you realize it or not. For example, you will feel a physical illness in your body with symptoms like elevated temperature, difficulty breathing, or sore muscles, but the same sickness also affects your mood. Emotionally, you will feel more subdued, more in need of intimacy with others, and even a little hopeless. What is happening on the outside affects how you feel on the inside.

Sometimes the opposite is true; your emotions reflect in physical sensations and actions. When you are joyful, you might sing or whistle as you do certain tasks. When you are anxious, you might feel sweaty, and your muscles will tense in readiness for action. When you are disappointed, your shoulders tend to slump, your head feels heavier than normal, and you might struggle to make eye contact with others.

You can learn to identify what depression feels like, even though it is not a single emotion. You experience many different emotions during depression and feel various physical sensations. Depression affects your body, mindset, and mood. Over time, your habits, routine, and overall way of life can also be affected.

You might wonder why you are constantly tired, emotionally numb, and never in the mood to see your friends anymore. You could try treating these symptoms individually, but your diminished energy and motivation may significantly inhibit making a change.

People experience depression for multiple reasons. These could be things like grief, chemical imbalances in the brain, exhaustion from overwork, or mood disorders. To treat depression, we often begin by noticing the symptoms and then working back to the possible sources.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to be honest about what you’re experiencing and to speak with someone about it. If you have noticed any of the following changes in your life, consider reaching out to a loved one or professional for further support.

Increased Irritability and Anger

Anger, frustration, and irritability are often precursors or companions to depression. It is most noticeable in people who rarely lose their temper or show anger. If you are suddenly brooding and short-tempered, feeling impatient with everything and everyone, you might be battling depression.

Being in a constantly irritable mood will affect those who interact with you daily. Loved ones, acquaintances, and work colleagues will question you. At times you will deeply regret lashing out or losing your temper, but feel helpless to do anything other. You might benefit from anger management, or perhaps you have depression over an issue that needs addressing.

Changes to Your Appetite

Did you know that your eating habits often reflect your mental health? If there has been a recent change to your appetite with no medical explanation, this is often an indicator of what depression feels like. You might have an increased appetite, especially for sugary, salty, fatty food. These foods trigger dopamine production and can make you feel better emotionally, but only for a moment.

On the other hand, you might have a drastically decreased appetite, with no energy even for fast food. It’s not simply that you feel unmotivated to cook and clean up after yourself, but even eating feels like it would be a chore that you have no energy for. Unfortunately, this has a domino effect where your appetite leads to decreased energy, contributing to an even lower mood.

Constant Fatigue and Inactivity

Depression drains you of all enthusiasm and energy. One aspect of this is the dietary changes, causing you to have fewer nutrients and less energy. Another common aspect of depression-related fatigue is feeling overly anxious about the state of your physical health, but not having the motivation to do anything about it.

This sinks you lower into feelings of self-consciousness, self-loathing, and dramatically reduced self-esteem. As you begin to consider the tasks you have fallen behind in, you become so overwhelmed that, once again, you cannot find the energy or motivation to make the changes. It’s a cycle that can feel hard to escape.

Isolation

When you wonder what depression feels like, most commonly it feels like wanting to hide away from the world. So many of the habits we form when depressed are self-sabotaging. We need a better diet, some good sleep, some physical activity, and some friends around us, but we avoid these things and end up sinking even lower.

You avoid your friends and loved ones when you are depressed because you don’t want to burden them. Sometimes you can’t articulate or explain what you’re going through, and so it’s easier not even to try.

You might have friends who would confront or challenge you simply from seeing your appearance, and you’d rather not face it. Isolation feels protective, but it always makes things far worse. You need support, community, loved ones, and someone who will listen well.

Worsening Hygiene

At some point, you may have such a lack of motivation and energy that you stop caring for yourself practically. Your home becomes a mess of dirty laundry, empty takeout containers, and unpaid bills. Showering, brushing your teeth, and doing your hair feel like a chore that you cannot bother with any longer.

What depression feels like at its most extreme is an utter lack of energy and motivation to do anything besides the absolute basics of bodily functions. If you have reached this stage, you need help.

A New Path Forward

Dealing with depression is not for the weak or fainthearted. It takes guts, determination, and a strong spirit. Regardless of what mistakes or bad choices you have made until this point, the fact that you are still here reading this shows what resilience you have. However, you don’t have to struggle alone. You are not the first person to battle depression, and you won’t be the last.

Start to develop good habits now by reaching out. Learn to identify your emotions and the patterns of your mental health to help you get ahead of your mood swings. Remember that every season becomes new. Even in the dead of winter, there is new life beneath the surface waiting for spring.

If you have never considered counseling before, now is the time to reach out. When you are ready, we hope that you will find a suitable counselor who can provide the encouragement and hope that is in Christ to live well as an image bearer of God. You can call to speak with our reception team, who will be delighted to help you find the help you need.