Physical symptoms of depression
The physical symptoms of depression are as extensive as the psychological signs listed above. Sleep is most frequently affected: there are problems falling and staying asleep, early waking and stressful dreams. As a result, one is often very sleepy and very exhausted during the day.
Appetite is also affected, either unusually reduced or increased, so that weight loss or gain can occur. In addition, you may experience undefined nausea or digestive problems. Headaches without a specific origin and with varying severity may also occur.
Sensory impressions such as smell, taste, sight and hearing may diminish; sometimes generalised hypersensitivity may also occur. Pain over the chest, especially in the heart area, the respiratory tract or circulatory problems can also occur. It is also not uncommon for muscular tension to occur, leading in particular to back and joint pain, the exact origin of which is often not localised.
Bladder disorders, tongue burning and dry mouth as well as skin hypersensitivity and physical inertia can also occur. In addition, there are hot flushes, cold showers and a disturbance of sweat and tear secretion. Also worth mentioning is the decrease in sexual desire and performance; both are often associated with depression.
Sleep disorders are a symptom that often occurs in the context of depression. Affected persons complain of different types of sleep disorders. Problems falling asleep and/or difficulties sleeping through the night play a role.
Very typical for a depression is waking up very early in the morning without being able to fall asleep again. In the treatment of depression, in addition to psychotherapeutic and drug therapy, sleep deprivation also plays a role as a form of therapy. A distinction is made here between partial and total sleep deprivation.
In partial sleep deprivation, the patient usually goes to bed in the evening and is then awakened at night. He should then stay awake until the next evening. Total sleep deprivation means a complete awakening during one night.
The effect of the sleep deprivation therapy is in many cases an improvement of the mood. However, this usually fades away after the next night of normal sleep, so sleep deprivation therapy must be repeated regularly. Sleep deprivation therapy is usually administered under inpatient conditions.
Combined with other forms of therapy such as light therapy, psychotherapy and drug therapy with antidepressants, sleep deprivation therapy can have a supportive effect. Depression can be accompanied by numerous physical (somatic) symptoms. Pain in various parts of the body can also be somatic symptoms as such.
Especially if at the beginning unspecific pain in different parts of the body is described by the patient as one of the leading symptoms, the diagnosis can be difficult. Weight loss is a typical physical symptom of depression. Weight loss is one of the somatic syndromes that can occur in depression.
Depressed people often have no appetite at all. They lack interest and joy in everything, including food. The reduction in appetite usually means that affected people eat significantly less and can therefore lose a considerable amount of weight.
This can become a serious problem especially for people who were slim before the onset of the disease. In the worst case, it must be decided whether an intravenous calorie intake (high-calorie infusion solutions via the vein) is necessary. However, the opposite can happen, especially in the case of seasonal depression, i.e. depression that occurs mainly in the darker seasons.
Those affected often have ravenous appetite and gain considerable weight. Weight gain or an increase in appetite is therefore not an automatic diagnostic argument against the presence of depression. Dizziness is a very unspecific symptom that can have numerous triggering causes.
In addition to physical causes, psychological problems can also lead to dizziness. This is called somatoform dizziness. The most common cause of this type of dizziness is anxiety disorders.
However, depression can also be the cause of somatoform dizziness. Somatoform dizziness is one of the most common types of dizziness. How the dizziness feels varies from person to person.
Some people describe rotary vertigo, others swindle. The duration also varies greatly. Vertigo, which occurs in the context of depression, usually benefits from a combined medication and psychotherapy treatment, as do most other symptoms of depression.
During a depression there is often a strong lack of drive, tiredness and weakness. Pain can also occur. In this respect, the symptoms of depression can in some cases make one think of a flu in the first few days, especially when there is pain in the limbs.
However, symptoms such as (sub)febrile temperatures, sore throats or coughing and rhinitis are not typical symptoms of depression. A feeling of pressure in the chest is not a typical symptom of depression. It can have many causes, including serious diseases of the heart or gastrointestinal tract.
However, pressure on the chest can also occur as a physical symptom in the context of mental stress situations. For example, it is more common in panic attacks. In this respect, a feeling of pressure on the chest is also a possible symptom in a depression, for example as a symbolic symptom of the fact that the affected person can hardly catch his or her breath or is very afraid.
Depressions can trigger numerous symptoms. However, visual disturbances are not a typical symptom of depression. This does not mean that a visual disorder cannot in exceptional cases also occur in the context of a depression. However, such a newly occurring visual disorder should definitely be clarified by an ophthalmologist before it is considered a concomitant symptom of depression and is not specifically treated.
