Depression
Understanding depression and getting support.
What is depression?
Depression is a serious medical condition that affects your behaviour, your thinking, your emotions and physical health over time. While feeling down only lasts for a short while, depression affects you for at least two weeks.
Depression can affect you at any age and can lead to self-harm or suicide.
Symptoms of depression include:
- Feeling sad or down a lot of the time, even when there’s no reason.
- Feelings of despair that you can’t escape.
- A lack of feeling or emotion. You don’t feel anything and have lost the ability to feel happy.
- Feeling exhausted and lacking energy all the time.
- Continuous and long mood swings, when you change from feeling happy to despairing, sorrowful or angry and irritable.
- The things that used to give you enjoyment or make you happy leave you feeling numb or uninterested.
- Withdrawal from or avoiding family and friends.
- Inability to concentrate or a loss of interest in your work.
- Putting on or losing a lot of weight.
- Different sleep patterns. You might not be able to fall asleep or you can’t get up in the morning.
- Some women suffer from postnatal depression after having a baby.
- Feeling guilty of doing something terrible or feeling worthless as a person.
- Feeling so bad that you think it would be a relief to die or hurt yourself.
What causes depression?
There are a lot of different causes of depression. These include:
- A build up of stress and anxiety from being bullied, working too hard or family situations.
- Alcohol and drug abuse cause depression.
- Grief or serious life changes, such as when someone dies, you become sick, lose your job or have an accident.
- Depression runs in families and you might inherit the genes that make it more likely to have depression. However, if a family member suffers from depression, it doesn’t mean that you will as well.
- Chemical imbalances in the brain can cause depression.
- Whatever the reason for depression, remember that it’s never your fault. Depression is a common health problem the same as high blood pressure, diabetes or a heart condition.
Find information on:
Recognising depression
Dealing with depression
If you feel depressed or know someone who is depressed, talk to a doctor or a support organisation that can help. The doctors in your area will be listed in the Golden Pages: www.goldenpages.ie.
Support organisations:
GROW
Infoline PHONE: 1890 474474
GROW is a mental health organisation which helps people who have suffered, or are suffering, from mental health problems. GROW mental health groups and support services are anonymous, confidential and open to all.
Aware
Helpline PHONE: 1890 303302
Email support: www.aware.ie/emailSupport.php
Support groups nationwide: www.aware.ie/support.htm
Supports those who are directly affected by depression. Aware operates a helpline which is a form of non-directive counselling, available to sufferers and their families. Aware Support Groups operate throughout the country providing information to both patients and their families.
Samaritans
PHONE: 1850 609090
(Northern Ireland PHONE: 08457 909090)
Email: jo@samaritans.org
Web: www.samaritans.org
Samaritans provide confidential, non-judgemental support, 24 hours a day for people experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which could lead to suicide.
Shine (Formerly Schizophrenia Ireland)
Helpline PHONE: 1890 621631
Dedicated to upholding the rights and addressing the needs of all those affected by enduring mental illness including, but not exclusively, schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder and bi-polar disorder.
ReachOut
Reach Out is a web-based service that inspires young people to help themselves through tough times, and find ways to improve their own mental health and well-being.
Web: http://ie.reachout.com/
Email: info@inspireireland.ie
See the help section for supportive information and contact details of support organisations.
