Living with Depression – What It Feels Like and How to Recognize It

Everyone has been down in the dumps or sad, but not everyone suffers from clinical depression. What makes depression so hard to understand is that the word itself is used interchangeably with sadness and just a general ‘feeling down’. After I was diagnosed at the age of 44, trying to explain clinical depression was that much harder because everyone thought they understood depression because they had all experienced sadness or disappointment at some time or another. It isn’t the same.

I have been going through a pretty major depressive episode and wanted to share what that really feels like and what to do if you noticed these symptoms in yourself or in someone close to you.

Know that you are not alone. Almost 10% of the population (in the US at least) suffers form of depression in any given year. It afflicts women more than men (although men are not immune from depression at all).

It just saddens me that so many people live lives of quiet distress and anguish. It doesn’t have to be that way.

So this podcast is for people who might be suffering from depression who can recognize some of these feelings. It’s also for those who know someone who might be suffering and what they can do (and not do) to be supportive. It’s also for my fellow depression sufferers who know what this is like.