Depression

About Depression

Depression is a serious illness. Health professionals use the words depression, depressive illness or clinical depression to refer to it. It is very different from the common experience of feeling miserable or fed up for a short period of time.

When you’re depressed, you may have feelings of extreme sadness that can last for a long time. These feelings are severe enough to interfere with your daily life, and can last for weeks or months, rather than days.

Depression is quite common, and about 15% of people will have a bout of severe depression at some point in their lives. However, the exact number of people with depression is hard to estimate because many people do not get help, or are not formally diagnosed with the condition.

Find out more at NHS Choices 

Do I have depression?

Click on the link below to watch a video of a patient’s experience of depression.

Lawrence has depression. He explains how easy it was to ignore the symptoms, despite being a psychiatric nurse, and the problem this caused in his working life.

If you are concerned that you are suffering from depression make an appointment to see a GP.

Click below to open a questionnaire designed to assess symptoms of depression. If you like you can print this out and bring it completed to your appointment with your GP.

Patient Health Questionnaire

 

How can I help myself?

What are antidepressants?

Find out more from patient.co.uk

How we can help?

You are not alone! We want to help! Services we offer include:

  • GP assessment and consideration of medication
  • Access to counselling and other psychological therapies
  • Social prescribing: Relaxation classes, exercise, art, allotment