Table of Contents
As stated in our previous post, depression in women shows up in a quite different way from that of men, and that is because of the differences in nature. For you to understand the types of depression and the causes better, we will advise that you refer to our previous posts on depression.
Even though depression happens to all, depression in women seems to be more common than that of men. Some types of depression such as perinatal depression, premenstrual syndrome and perimenopausal depression occurs particularly to ladies. This is because women experience hormonal changes during pregnancy, childbirth, menstruation and menopause.
Signs of depression in women
The following are signs and symptoms of depression in women.
1. Loss of focus or concentration
Women tend to lose focus easily when depression sets it. They easily get distracted by themselves and lost in their own world. When you continually find yourself losing focus or lacking concentration unusually, you should know it could be depression setting in.
2. Always sad and worried
When one is depressed, he or she becomes sad and worry more than usual. She becomes withdrawn from friends and also wants to ruminate on the sad thoughts and feelings.
3. Hopelessness and feelings of helplessness
This is bad, but it’s one of the things that happen when one is depressed. She begins to see herself as failure and as one whose life does not worth living anymore. She sees herself as without help.
This can also occur even to people who have good and caring people around them. If you find yourself feeling this way, it’s better to speak up.
4. Suicide Thoughts
The feeling of being helpless and hopeless leads to the woman contemplating suicide. Check yourself and your friends well always. When one starts having the thoughts of committing suicide, it is good to always speak up to someone.
5. Restlessness
A depressed woman can find it difficult to rest or stay at one place. There’s always something that gets such one not to rest.
6. Loss of interests in things
Depression in women leads to lack of interest in usual activities, hobbies and things from which pleasure is derived.
7. Mood Swings
This is one of the very common signs of depression in women. They can be happy for a while and within a short interval become very sad or angry. If this occurs more often, it’s a sign that the mood swing isn’t just because of the situations and circumstances around but something else (depression) has set in.
8. Aggressiveness
When a woman is depressed, she becomes so irritable and responds to things aggressively. She also lays blames on people around her for unnecessary things.
9. Loss of weight or being overweight
For some ladies, they experience loss of appetite for food and this ultimately makes them start reducing in weight. Some others might develop an usual appetite for food and eat excessively, it results to them increasing in weight.
10. Feeling of pain and aches
A sign of depression in women could be headaches, breast tenderness, bloating, or cramps.
What to do
Some of the causes of depression in women includes hormonal changes, failure, loneliness, drug abuse, money problems, marital issues, relationship issues, death of a loved one, problems at work, infertility, discrimination etc. No matter what the cause is, it is important to speak out when you’re feeling depressed.
You should look for someone you can talk to and share your feelings and thoughts with. Try all you can do to stop the negative thoughts of death and suicide. Try to surround yourself and open up to people who can help and encourage you. Get yourself involved in activities that will make you happy and take off the tension.
Conclusion
What if you can’t find someone to talk to? Or what if you are surrounded by people who can’t help you? You can go to a doctor in an approved hospital close to you and open up. You can also find people online who would be willing to listen to you and help you come out of the situation.
Our next post on depression will cover comprehensively how you can fight depression, with practical steps and tactics. You need to subscribe to the blog to get email alerts of our posts.
