Depressed and Clinically depressed may sound similar but feels very different. Identifying a clinically depressed person comes with understanding clinical depression first.
Clinically depressed is a state of mental disorder that has symptoms of being severely sad for a prolonged period. (Check out the article “Are you depressed or clinically depressed”).
Identifying a person who is clinically depressed might seem difficult at times when the person acts and behaves as if he/she is normal. A person with depressive disorder feels sad and low most of the time in a day and for many days in a week.
“Close observation on few symptoms with such people might help”, says Dr. MS Reddy, Clinical Psychiatrist, Asha Hospitals.
A person who is behaving normal and active but suddenly loses interest in everything and feels sad for a majority of time is the major and first symptom of someone being clinically depressed.
An anxious person might find it difficult to sleep during the night. They might think about something and feel anxious which disturbs their natural mechanism to fall asleep. These people who are anxious sleep late during the night. But people who are clinically depressed falls asleep quickly like a normal person but wakes up quicker than he/she should usually wake up. This is late insomnia, which is found in clinically depressed people and this could be a major symptom to identify such people.
People with a major depressive disorder are usually weak and low on energy all through the mornings and find energy during the evenings. This mood variation can help identify people who are suffering from a depressive disorder. (The symptoms should persist at least for two weeks, where they feel sad or low for a prolonged period).
Suicidal thoughts are intense in these people because these people know about their condition not getting any better. 15% of people who are clinically depressed die from suicide and not from the mental condition,” says Dr. MS Reddy. A person who is doing fine suddenly gets sad and loses interest and that’s when we call for attention to identify such people as Clinically Depressed and provide the necessary help.
These people want to be left alone and recall all the negative incidents that happened in the past. “For example, I borrow a hundred from you in the past and don’t return. But after several years today, I feel inferior about it. This happens with people who are clinically depressed. They recall incidents from the past (Incidents that are really minor and simple) and feel sad and inferior,” explains Dr. MS Reddy.
Losing weight and bothering about small issues that don’t need much worry (A normal person doesn’t worry about those issues, but a clinically depressed person finds a small issue as major) matters the most to a clinically depressed person and they tend to exaggerate a small issue. This could be one major sign to identify these people. Chances of having triggered backache, being prone to diabetes, hypertension, headache, and heart issues are more to a clinically depressed person.
Irritability and distress are found commonly in these people (Especially Children) and they tend to stay alone and away from any social gathering. Though a person who is clinically depressed tends to act normal, he/she deep inside is suffering a mental illness and these symptoms could be a help to identify these people and provide help.
Clinical depression is mostly treatable, and the right medicines and counseling help a person better. Though the effects of the medicine are seen only after 3-4 weeks of regular use of medicines, one needs to handle and take care of a clinically depressed person for this period (3-4 weeks) and the rest is all manageable later.
