
Some symptoms of depression can be glossed over and pushed aside for many reasons; here are three that need the spotlight:
Anger and rage
As well as being often overlooked symptoms of depression anger and rage are also not easily discussed—many times for fear of provoking an episode. Those around you may be weary of kicking the hornet’s nest. Experts know that when we stuff down painful emotions they can ultimately erupt as anger; but if we suppress this rage for a long time and it can lead to depression. In fact, while we can usually see it in other people’s behavior, anger and irritation are things we don’t always recognize in ourselves as a symptom of depression.
Emotional emptiness
Feeling emotionally numb manifests as the inability to feel much of anything – either pleasure or pain. Things, people and experiences that use to give us joy now feel empty; similarly, those things and people that use to arouse irritation are merely capable of evoking apathy in us. When this happens for those closest to you (e.g., you are unable to feel the deep love you know you have for those around you, like your spouse or kids), it can be deeply troubling and can elicit feelings of guilt. This can lead to withdrawing from important intimate relationships, which then suffer.
Guilt
Guilt can be ever-powerful and can stop us from actually experiencing our full range of emotions. In order to work through our feelings, we need to actually feel them, but guilt can override all this. In many people in the midst of depression, feeling guilt, even over the mundane, can be overwhelming. It can become all-consuming and have the person feeling guilty for having depression and putting their family through their ordeal; it can even lead to having regret for being born.
via Esperanza – Hope To Cope
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