Feeling sad and empty all the time. Is it depression?

FEMALE, Age: Not specified

PROBLEM

Don’t know if it is depression or not but few days ago I was scared all night till 7 am of next morning. I also felt scarcity of blood in my body. After that, everything was again fine without doing anything. Now, after almost a year, I feel very sad and empty all the time. What has happened to me? What should I do? Is it depression?

SOLUTION

There are two sides to your question. The effect of the first incident as you have mentioned lasted for some time and it has not been repeated since a year. Thus, identifying it as the cause of problem is not appropriate.

Anyway, moving further from your question it seems like you are scared if you are suffering from depression. Feeling empty or depressed are amongst several symptoms of depression but coming to conclusion that you have depression on the basis of these mere symptoms is not possible.

Since your query is directed towards depression we would like to share you about the symptoms of depression too:

Feeling sadness and dejection for a long period of time
Losing interest or pleasure in activities that were once pleasurable
Dramatic increase or decrease in appetite
Feeling tired most of the time
Worthlessness,feeling unwanted, Guiltiness
Decrease in thinking, concentration,decision making ability
Feeling irritated
Social withdrawn
Insomnia or Hypersomnia
Suicidal thoughts

If you have 5 of the above symptoms for more than two weeks, you might be suffering from depression.

But for the verification and diagnosis authentication from psychologist is needed.

To identify better regarding what you are going through we would like to suggest you to visit a psychologist or a counselor. We won’t suggest you to visit psychiatrist and take medicine this soon. There are several therapies or counseling sessions that might be fruitful for you.

Despite the symptoms we have mentioned it needs to be taken in consideration that these symptoms should have affected in social, family, educational and occupational area of an individual.

Now again coming back to your problem, if you have been feeling sad/dejected/empty for quite a long time you can use following tips to make yourself feel better:

– Start Small and stay focused (you don’t need to make big goals and run after it. Set small goal try to achieve it, this will help you to keep moving )

– Stay connected (Though if you want to keep yourself away from others as much as possible, instead, try reaching to other people. Share what you feel with your close friends, family or at least write down what you feel ).

– Exercise ( Research shows that exercise helps to boost your mood by releasing various mood booster hormones.)

– Eat healthy ( You might want to finish the ice-cream, chocolate, fries that you have but wait and remember these food may feel good for the time being but have adverse effect not just on your health but on your mood too. Food rich in vitamin B like bananas, eggs are helpful for depression.)

– Meditation and yoga (This is considered as best way to relax your mind and gain inner peace. Try basic meditation by closing your eyes and focusing in your breather for few minutes. Also, try some basic yoga poses which helps you to balance your body and mind.)

These are the things you can do to do feel better either or not you are suffering from depression. If you want to get further help you can visit a professional psychologist who can help you. Hope this helps you.