Clinical depression is a serious mental illness that is not comparable to a more passive description of when someone is having a bad day or week, or even month. Rather, clinical depression can be devastating to all aspects of life. No matter if your depression is mild or severe, it cannot be properly diagnosed without seeing a mental health professional. Some types of depressive disorders are major depression, bipolar depression, seasonal depression, and postpartum depression.
Knowing whether or not you need to get help may be challenging. Here are some early symptoms of depression to look out for:

1. Unexplained fatigue
One overlooked sign of depression is fatigue. This can appear out of nowhere and for no other logical reason. Depression lowers energy levels and would cause some to either have trouble sleeping, always wanting to sleep, or both.

2. Feeling worthless or helpless
This is one of the most common symptoms of depression. Since major depressive and the other forms are throwing off your chemical balance, this, in turn, would cause a decreased outlook on life. You’re not going to be anticipating you matter at all and that things are always your fault somehow.

3. Sleeping issues
Again, depression rocks your sleep patterns. Sometimes, insomnia ensues and you can count as many sheep as you want but you find sleep still evades you. You find you have trouble sleeping when you didn’t and that you’re developing anxiety due to no shuteye time.

4. Apathy
Everyone has a passion for something. When you have depression, you are lackluster about what you love. You’ll pull back from activities and people, losing interest in things that used to matter to you.

5. Digestive problems
Believe it or not, depression can mess with the way you eat. Food may not be appealing to you at all anymore or it’s the exact opposite: you want to eat all the time. Deciphering whether you are purposely eating or not eating will indicate if it’s depression or not.

6. Persistent sadness or anxiousness
Another common symptom is a severe down in the dump feeling. It is a sadness that is not tied to something or someone. Rather, it is only because of the illness. Anxiety has been known to show up, too. You are overthinking things, having rapid breathing and heart rate, and/or extreme nervousness.

7. Suicidal thoughts
Depression can lead to death. Each illness affects the individual differently so suicide may not cross the mind of someone who is depressed. Though, it is a strong indicator of how serious the disease has gotten and that you need to get help right away.

If you are seeing any of these early signs of depression, contact your doctor to get help immediately.