One of the most common problems caused by being targeted by an emotional manipulator is depression. In spite of that, depression can also be the hardest psychological problem to notice. Both the person suffering from it and those around the depressed person can dismiss the change in attitude as a normal and temporary sadness. However, there are prominent differences between that regular, daily sadness and clinical depression.
Signs of Depression
Although depression often shows different signs depending on the person suffering from it, there are still some common symptoms one must be aware of:
-Blues, stress, overreaction, aggression: People with severe depression are often found in a deeply sullen mood. They can have uncontrollable breakdowns that make it harder for them to deal with stress. Because of their low tolerance for stress, they can get easily irritated by other people or situations, and overreact.
Which causes them to be unable to control their temper. They feel not only unhappy but also anxious and restless.
-Lack of energy, loss of motivation, finding it hard to take care of one’s self: Although depression is a psychological and spiritual disorder, it can also have various physical symptoms. One of them is lack of energy. The depressed person can feel constantly drowsy to the point where they can’t even find the energy to take care of their own daily needs. These needs may be the simplest things such as showering or not skipping meals. Therefore, depression can seriously affect one’s social and professional life and make it difficult for them to live their life the way they used to.
Besides, they also lose their motivation to do things. They can start avoiding socialization and isolate themselves, or they can lose their motivation to continue their career.
-Loss of self-confidence and self-respect, feeling guilty and worthless:The depressed person’s self-confidence and self-respect can be completely destroyed. Perhaps this was an issue they were already struggling with. And depression can cause them to drop even more dramatically and make the person feel even more incompetent and worthless. Sometimes, even quite successful, intelligent, good-looking, wealthy, talented etc. people find it hard to think of a single quality they can be proud of.
Depressed people can feel overwhelmingly guilty as well. They can constantly think of all the mistakes they’ve made in the past and feel immense shame and regret even for the things that happened years ago.
-Poor judgement and memory loss: Lack of confidence, which is caused by depression, affects a person’s decision making process negatively. Besides, depression can cause temporary memory problems. Therefore, someone who cannot quite trust their own memory and perceptions will find it harder to make a healthy decision.
-Changes in appetite, weight and sleep schedules: Two of the most prominent signs of depression are the changes in appetite and sleep patterns. The depressed person either starts eating much less or much more and quite unhealthily as well. Also they can either sleep less or come to a point where they barely leave their beds.
-Loss of interest and pleasure in activities: Depressed people can lose interest in things they used to find enjoyable and feel like nothing makes them happy anymore. Sexual problems and loss of interest in sex can also occur.
-Emotional numbness: Sometimes, depressed people can state that instead of feeling unhappiness or anger, they feel completely numb and devoid of emotion. In this case, depression has caused the person to feel like they no longer care what happens to them or to other people. When the inner pain gets way too strong to handle, people can become emotionally detached and feel like there’s a huge emptiness inside their hearts.
-Body pain with unknown causes: We’ve already mentioned that depression can have some physical symptoms as well. Depressed people can feel unexplainable aches in their bodies every once in a while.
-Hopelessness and pessimism: Depressed person can fall into a deep despair. During depression, people cannot see things the way they actually are. So, even if there’s light at the end of the tunnel, even if all isn’t lost; people can turn a blind eye to it and continue feeling extremely hopeless and pessimistic.
-Extreme concern for one’s future and frequent flashbacks: Depressed people tend to feel much more anxious about their futures and think way too much about their pasts, dwell on bad memories and have flashbacks. Therefore, they can find it difficult to focus on the present.
-Suicidal thoughts: Of course not all depressed people end up committing suicide or have suicidal thoughts. But if you keep finding yourself thinking about/contemplating/planning suicide, you’re very likely to be severely depressed. Sometimes people with suicidal thoughts try to normalize the situation for themselves. They can try to console themselves by saying things like “it’s not like I’m actually contemplating it, it’s just something that comes to my mind these days,” or “these are harmless thoughts, everyone can think about such things every once in a while.” But even if you’re not actually planning on doing it, you should still take this seriously.
Besides, sometimes depressed people think of death quite often (even if they’re not inclined to commit suicide). In that case, they can come to negative conclusions like “I wish I were dead!” or “life isn’t worth living!”