As the days grow shorter and the temperatures drop, it’s not uncommon to feel a bit down or sluggish. Many of us experience fluctuations in mood, especially during the winter months, often attributing it to the “winter blues.” However, for some individuals, these feelings may become quite persistent and overwhelming, interfering with your ability to do your usual daily activities. This can be a sign of the onset of clinical depression. Distinguishing between occasional sadness and clinical depression is important for timely intervention and effective treatment. Let’s delve into the differences, prevalence, and avenues for seeking help when navigating the complexities of mood disorders.

Differentiating Between Temporary Blues and Clinical Depression

Feeling down or having a bad day is a natural part of the human experience. Life’s challenges, stressors, and disappointments can evoke transient feelings of sadness or low energy. However, clinical depression encompasses persistent and pervasive symptoms that significantly impact your daily functioning and overall well-being.

Symptoms of Clinical Depression may include:

1. Persistent Sadness: Feeling hopeless, empty, or tearful most of the day, nearly every day, sometimes without having any identifiable cause.
2. Loss of Interest or Pleasure: Losing interest in activities you normally enjoy, including hobbies, socializing, and losing your sex drive. It is not unusual for people to crave sympathy and understanding, but equally, a feeling that they cannot face being with people, or that any social contact feels like huge pressure to pretend to be ok.
3. Changes in Appetite or Weight: Significant changes in appetite or weight, leading to overeating or appetite loss.
4. Sleep Disturbances: Insomnia, oversleeping, or disrupted sleep patterns, even when you feel exhausted. In fact, disrupted sleep patterns are often one of the first signs of depression.
5. Fatigue or Loss of Energy: Feeling lethargic, physically drained, or lacking the energy to complete daily tasks. Holding down your job or keeping the house ticking over can feel like mammoth tasks when you don’t have any energy and want to hide away.
6. Difficulty Concentrating: Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering details. This symptom can be one of the main reasons why people see their GP, as they can feel frightened that there is something very serious happening to their mind. In fact, it is very logical, that if you are too tired to concentrate, you will not be able to focus, so you won’t be able to take in new information and remember it. As the depression lifts and your concentration returns, so does your memory. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? If only it were that easy!
7. Feelings of Worthlessness or Guilt: Persistent feelings of worthlessness, self-blame, or excessive guilt. People can become very focused on negative thoughts and perceptions, where they “beat themselves up” and feel very worried about small things which they would usually take in their stride.
8. Suicidal Thoughts or Behaviour: Thoughts of death, suicide ideation, or suicide attempts. This often happens when people have been depressed for a while, with no help, and they start to feel that they have no control or understanding about what is happening to them. If this persists, they can feel very helpless and this makes self-harm more likely to happen.

While experiencing one or two of these symptoms intermittently does not necessarily indicate clinical depression, the persistence and severity of these symptoms over a prolonged period (typically two weeks or more) needs help from a mental health professional.

Prevalence of Depression

Depression is a prevalent mental health condition, affecting approximately 4.4% of the global population. However, the true prevalence may be higher due to underreporting, stigma, and barriers to accessing mental health care. Depression can manifest at any age, with factors such as genetics, brain chemistry, life events, and medical conditions contributing to its development.
Men and women can also show depression differently. Men have a tendency to become more angry and irritable than they normally would, and to be quite withdrawn. Women tend to become more tearful (initially), and seek people they trust to talk to about their worries, needing lots of reassurance that they are not a “bad” person or “unlovable”.

Seeking Help for Depression

Recognizing when to seek help for depression is vital for effective management and recovery. If you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of depression that interfere with daily functioning, it’s essential to reach out to a healthcare provider or mental health professional. Seeking help early can prevent symptoms from worsening and improve treatment outcomes.

How Does Therapy Help To Overcome Depression

Therapy, particularly evidence-based approaches like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), plays a pivotal role in treating depression. Therapy can help by:

1. Identifying and Challenging Negative Thought Patterns: CBT helps individuals recognize and challenge distorted thinking patterns contributing to depression, such as self-criticism, pessimism, and catastrophic thinking.
2. Behavioural Activation: Therapy encourages individuals to engage in pleasurable and rewarding activities, even when motivation is low. By gradually reintroducing enjoyable activities, individuals can regain a sense of pleasure and purpose in their lives.
3. Skill-Building: Therapy equips individuals with coping skills and strategies to manage stress, regulate emotions, navigate challenging situations effectively, and to rebuild self-esteem.
4. Addressing Underlying Issues: Therapy provides a safe space to explore and address underlying issues contributing to depression, such as past trauma, relationship difficulties, or unresolved conflicts.
5. Building Support Networks: Therapy helps individuals strengthen their support networks, fostering connections with friends, family, and community resources for ongoing support and encouragement. 
6. Medication Management: In some cases, therapy may be combined with medication, such as antidepressants, to alleviate symptoms and enhance treatment effectiveness. 

In conclusion, distinguishing between temporary blues and clinical depression is important for timely intervention and appropriate treatment. While occasional feelings of sadness are a normal part of life, persistent and pervasive symptoms need help and attention from qualified mental health professionals. Therapy, alongside other treatment modalities, offers lots of options for individuals navigating the complexities of depression, so it is essential to ask for help from your GP and those around you. If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, remember that help is available, and you are not alone.

My name is Dr Sue Webb, and I am a Clinical Psychologist with over 30 years of experience helping people to overcome depression. At my clinic in Woking, I provide a safe space for people to explore their struggles with depression and other difficulties.

If you would like to enquire about some help, please contact me at: suewebbpsychology@gmail.com or check out my website for more information: