depression characteristics

• behavioural characteristics:

  • activity levels:
  • people with depression have reduced levels of energy making them lethargic, eg cannot get out of bed
  • disruption to sleep/eating behaviour:
  • reduced sleep (insomnia) or increased (hypersomnia)
  • appetite and weight may increase or decrease
  • aggression and self-harm:
  • depression is associated with irritability and this may extend to aggression and self-harm
• emotional characteristics:

  • lowered mood:
  • people with depression describe themselves as 'worthless' or 'empty'
  • anger:
  • such emotions lead to aggression or self-harming behaviour
  • lowered self-esteem:
  • the person likes themselves less, even self-loathing
• cognitive characteristics:

  • poor concentration:
  • the person may find themselves unable to stick with a task, or might find simple decision-making difficult
  • attention to the negative:
  • depressed people have a bias towards focusing on negative aspects of current situations and recalling unhappy (instead of happy) memories
  • absolutist thinking:
  • 'black-and-white thinking', when a situation is unfortunate it is seen as an absolute disaster