When You've Gone Too Far: Severe Depression
Everyone gets the blues sometimes; however, there is a thin line between being sad and being depressed. The danger of being depressed at one point is that it can develop into a medical condition that you can carry for a lifetime. At some cases, mere depression can go over board and become severe depression.
As the cliché goes, too much of anything is not good for you. The same goes with depression. It is bad enough that you are depressed, and having severe depression is not just the worst but also the most dangerous.
What Happens When You Have Reached the Top?
One question usually raised is what happens when you've already developed severe depression? Is all hope lost for you? Of course not; having severe depression does not mean that there can't be anything done for you. It is not a sign of having a weak character. Instead, it is a medical condition of having chemical imbalance in the brain, that everyone is susceptible of experiencing.
As the level of depression becomes severe, all the symptoms from the lesser kind of depression are all intensified. It reach the extent that you can completely lose social and occupational function with this condition. You can also become inattentive to your nutrition and basic hygiene, which would give even more rise to your fears of losing your well-being. The distinctive feature of severe depression is that in some cases hallucinations and delusions occur, that's why it is sometimes termed as psychotic depression.
Symptoms
If you get to the point of having severe depression, there is a big probability that you won't reliably function well. You also have significant agitation, distress and restlessness, but you won't do anything productive about it. There are also the feelings of guilt and uselessness, leading to a huge failure of self-esteem.
You may also get to the point where you lack any desire to socialize and talk to other people or to even look after yourself. You may start feeling unworthy and disgusted with yourself that can lead you to 'hear voices',
You can also start believing that the devil and other dark forces are visiting you. Then suicidal thoughts flood your mind. Basically, if you reach this state, you are not capable of living a normal life.
What to Do?
As soon as you have abnormally long periods of sadness, and people around you are getting concerned because it is already affecting your functionality, it would be best that you consult a doctor as soon as possible. You wouldn't want your condition to develop into a severe form of depression, because most people who fall into the abyss of depression usually don't know how to climb out.
