We all feel fed up, miserable or sad at times. These feelings don’t usually last longer than a week or two, and don’t interfere too much with our lives.
However with depression, the feelings don’t lift after a few days, and they can carry on for weeks or months. Depression can impact on your daily life and leave you feeling unmotivated or not enjoying things that you used to. It can cause conflict in relationships and also lead to isolation and feeling lonely.
What can I do?
It's really important to talk to someone you trust (family, friends, teacher) about any change in feeling so they can help support you and help you make sense of any causes for your change in mood. You could also try the online support service Kooth.
When these feelings last for days or weeks at a time it could be time to get some support and start doing things to try and lift your mood even if you don’t feel like doing them or it is harder to do this. If you wanted to learn more about the viscious cycle of depression, and what you can do to try and help yourself, check out the following websites
Sometimes when people feel incredibly low or sad they can experience thoughts of harming themselves or ending their lives. If you find yourself thinking these thoughts then it is really important that you speak to someone about this, like a parent or GP, so you can get the help you need. If you are experiencing this currently, please visit our page on Feeling suicidal which has further information, including helplines.
