Overview

The symptoms of depression may be hard to notice at first. They can be different from person to person.

The two most common symptoms of depression are:

• Feeling sad, hopeless, or tearful nearly every day.
• Losing interest in or not getting pleasure from most daily activities that you used to enjoy, and feeling this way nearly every day.

If you have had these symptoms for at least 2 weeks, you might have depression.

A serious symptom of depression is thinking about death and suicide. If you or someone you know talks about suicide or feeling hopeless, get help right away.

You also may:

• Lose or gain weight. You may also feel like eating more or less than usual almost every day.
• Sleep too much or not enough almost every day.
• Feel restless and not be able to sit still. Or you may sit quietly and feel that moving takes great effort. Others can easily see this behavior.
• Feel tired or as if you have no energy almost every day.
• Feel unworthy or guilty nearly every day. You may have low self-esteem and worry that people don't like you.
• Find it hard to focus, remember things, or make decisions nearly every day. You may feel anxious or worried about things.

Depression can:

• Affect your physical health. You may have headaches or other aches and pains. Or you may have digestive problems such as constipation or diarrhea. You may have trouble having sex or may lose interest in it.
• Make older adults confused or forgetful or cause them to stop seeing friends and doing things. It can be confused with problems like dementia.