Psychological symptoms
Exhaustion is a symptom that occurs in very many patients suffering from depression. Various symptoms can cause this feeling of exhaustion. On the one hand, a depression often leads to a strong reduction of drive.
This means that it takes a lot of effort to get up to any kind of activity. Even the simplest things like going to the kitchen or bathroom can be extremely exhausting. Getting up in the morning can be very difficult.
In addition, there is also the severe fatigue that is often associated with depression. On the one hand, this is caused by the frequent sleep disturbances with problems falling asleep and sleeping through the night as well as very early awakening, but also by an inner emptiness that causes permanent tiredness and exhaustion. The constant feeling of being a burden to others with one’s bad mood and lack of joy or interest additionally contributes to a feeling of complete exhaustion.
The occurrence of suicidal thoughts and constant brooding can also lead to a feeling of severe exhaustion. Fatigue, like the feeling of permanent exhaustion, is a common symptom of depression. The fatigue can come as a feeling from within, because a depressive episode can be very stressful in itself, but it can also be caused by frequently occurring sleep disorders.
Those affected often complain that they have difficulty falling asleep or wake up again and again at night. Awakening in the very early hours of the morning without being able to fall asleep again also contributes to the symptom of fatigue in depression. The feeling of listlessness is one of the three main symptoms of depression.
It means that the person affected often feels an oppressive heaviness that makes it extremely difficult to perform even the simplest activities. Even getting up in the morning can be torturous, as can simple daily activities such as brushing teeth or preparing breakfast. Most current antidepressants aim to increase drive, i.e. they are intended to significantly reduce the loss of drive and thus ensure that those affected are relieved of the oppressive heaviness and can more easily resume everyday activities.
Brooding is a relatively typical symptom of a depressive episode. Brooding means that the affected person thinks about the same things over and over again, the thoughts in his or her head go round in circles and are negative in nature. There is usually a kind of compulsion to brood.
This means that the affected person cannot not brood, it cannot be switched off and is therefore particularly tormenting. Brooding therefore means a kind of unintentional circling around the same topics. The affected persons do not reach a solution while brooding.
Depression can manifest itself in different ways. Many patients experience a paralyzing inhibition of the drive with inner emptiness and deep sadness. But despite a lack of external movement, many patients also experience an additional inner restlessness, even if this sounds like a contradiction at first.
Those affected have the feeling that they cannot find peace. This is often a reason for the pronounced sleep disturbances that frequently occur. Anxiety can also be a symptom that occurs during depression.
For example, anxiety can arise from the fact that the affected person has the feeling every day that the day cannot be managed because even the simplest everyday activities such as shopping or brushing teeth cost an enormous amount of effort due to the loss of drive. Also because of the sad and not brightenable mood the affected people often ask themselves anxiously in the morning how they should get through the day. There are also types of depression in which psychotic thoughts occur.
The affected persons therefore develop delusions. One of the most common delusions is a pronounced and unfounded fear of becoming impoverished. Lack of joy is one of the main symptoms of depression.
Things that otherwise brought joy to the affected person, that might have made them laugh or that they simply enjoyed doing, no longer have this effect. Everything becomes exhausting and a tormenting duty. Joy can hardly be felt by those affected in a moderately or severely depressive phase.
An example of this are the children or grandchildren with whom time was so gladly spent. Suddenly, the depressive patients are terribly tired of spending time together, they can no longer enjoy their children and wish to be alone. In addition, there are often feelings of guilt because they feel such a lack of joy and because they realize that they are putting a heavy burden on their relatives.
Sadness or depressed mood is also one of the three main symptoms of depression. People who suffer from depression are in a sad mood, have a negative future perspective and cannot be happy about anything. The sadness is described by many affected people as almost paralyzing, there seems to be no way out.
A negative or pessimistic view of the future is relatively typical for patients with depression. The tormenting thing about the disease is precisely the fact that those affected cannot imagine that they will feel better in a few weeks or months. They also have a negative and pessimistic self-image.
Aggressive behaviour such as strong irritability with rapid outbursts of anger can also occur in the context of a depression. In recent years, it has been shown that especially men who suffer from depression react more often with such aggressive behaviour and outbursts of anger. The typical symptoms of depression are also present in them, but are more in the background than the aggressive component with which they try to counteract feelings of inner emptiness and deep sadness.
Burnout and depression are two different diseases. Burnout is not yet a separate diagnosis in the classification of diseases. However, burnout and depression can occur simultaneously, so burnout can also be accompanied by depressive symptoms.
Basically, however, it is currently true that burnout is usually caused by excessive demands in everyday working life and affects this area in particular, while depression affects all aspects of life. Nevertheless, the two diseases depression and burnout show many similarities that do not always make it easy to distinguish between them. Hypersensitivity in the sense of an increased perception of touch stimuli is not a typical symptom of depression.
Also called hypersensitivity is the so-called high sensitivity. In this case, certain people react much more sensitively than others to various stimuli (not only touch stimuli). So far, however, there is no scientific evidence that highly sensitive people are more likely to suffer from depression or vice versa.
In recent years, however, the question has been raised more and more, especially by alternative medicine, as to whether there might not be a significant connection. This idea is based on the fact that highly sensitive people are also much more susceptible to mood swings, according to current alternative medical opinion. This in turn could increase the risk of developing depression.
Listlessness is a symptom that can occur in the context of depression. However, the guidelines do not speak of listlessness but of loss of interest, loss of joy and listlessness. Depressed people can no longer feel pleasure in things they would otherwise have enjoyed.
Old interests suddenly cease to exist and every everyday activity becomes difficult. These complaints are considered the main symptoms of depression. Concentration problems also occur frequently in the context of depression.
Those affected have pronounced difficulties concentrating on something. In severe depression, they can no longer concentrate on even the simplest things. Suicidal thoughts are a central theme in depression.
Many depressed patients sooner or later think about suicide as a way out of depression. Not everyone who has these thoughts puts them into practice, but nevertheless the thoughts are very tormenting. It is often difficult to confide in other people, because suicide is still a kind of taboo subject even today.
Depression is by far the most common cause of attempted suicide in Germany. Those who are ill no longer see any other way out, have the feeling that they can no longer live like this or do not want to, or are very afraid of causing too much suffering to their relatives with their illness. Suicidal thoughts as a symptom of depression can also be treated well with antidepressants in most cases. Medication and psychotherapeutic therapy is therefore the most important step to get suicidal thoughts about depression under control before it is too late.
