Depression is a debilitating mood disorder that goes beyond simply feeling sad.
People withclinical depression, ormajor depressive disorder(MDD), often lose their ability to experience pleasure.
Not being able to feel pleasure is calledanhedonia.
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The inability or reduced ability to feel joy is a key symptom of depression.
From the outside, a person with depression might appear the same as usual to onlookers.
Depression can feel like a black hole that sucks all the light from your soul.
People going through a major depressive episode often feel as if they’ve been transported to a hellish place.
Because clinical depression increases negative affect and reduces positive affect, it changes how someone sees the world.
Through a depressed person’s eyes, their negative affectivity can makeeverythingseem hopeless and bleak.
In people with clinical depression, activities that once brought happiness are no longer joyful.
This feeling of anhedonia makes it nearly impossible to feel joy, motivation, or interest.
The examples of “how depression feels” listed below only scratch the surface.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all way to describe feelings of depression that’s universal.
Feeling Hopeless
Hopelessness is a common feeling in people with depression.
Most likely, the two are intertwined in ways that perpetuate one another.
Difficulty Sleeping
Sleep disordersare pervasive among people experiencing depression.
However, not everyone with depression has difficulty sleeping.
During a major depressive episode, some people sleep all the time and have trouble getting out of bed.
Craving Comfort Food
Not everyone with depression loses their appetite; some people crave comfort foods.
During a major depressive episode, feelings of emptiness and loneliness may be alleviated by comfort foods.
What Depression Symptoms Do Healthcare Providers Look For?
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Summary
Clinical depression goes beyond just feeling sad.
Everyone feels sad from time to time.
People with depression often lose their ability to feel any joy or happiness.
Not being able to feel pleasure makes life miserable.
Because depression changes how the world looks,everythingcan seem dark and hopeless when you’re depressed.
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