Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, characterized by sadness, loss of interest in everything, inability to carry out daily activities, feelings of guilt, low self-esteem, sleep disturbances and loss of appetite. Depression can affect anyone, but is especially common in people between the ages of 15 and 25. The presence of depression in a person increases the risk of developing alcoholism, drug addiction, and substance abuse. Depressive symptoms may be part of the symptoms of another mental disorder. In the most severe forms of the disorder, people tend to attempt suicide. Therefore, depression is not a harmless decline in mood and you need to be able to distinguish the signs of depression in the same way as the signs of a stroke. What are the causes of depression? The causes of depression are varied, let us list some of them: heredity (not genetic, but as a pattern of behavior if you grew up with a depressed adult from an early age), death of a loved one, loss of a job, separation from a loved one, psychological trauma, experiencing a difficult life situation, disorder metabolic processes in the brain. What are the symptoms of depression? You can find out if you have depression yourself. It is enough to know what the signs of depression are. 1. Depression, depressed state. A person is so immersed in himself that he has great difficulty communicating with other people. He avoids relationships with others. And this is no coincidence, because if a person does not feel safe, does not receive adequate support and cannot talk about his experiences openly for fear of neglect, condemnation, unsolicited advice, then the safest way out is to avoid new experiences. 2. Loss of interest in life. This may manifest as a loss of meaning in life or important landmarks. What was the goal and inspired is no longer interesting and does not bring pleasure. 3. Constant fatigue. The feeling that daily worries and even thoughts cause fatigue, as if there is no strength to do anything, it is difficult to get up in the morning, to work, even to get out of bed. 4. Decreased attention and concentration. It is difficult to concentrate on one task for a long time, it is difficult to think and perform any operations that require mental activity. 5. Suicidal thoughts. Very often, due to the loss of meaning in life and ability to work, people think about how to end it as soon as possible, and suicide seems to be one of the attractive options for them.6. Low self-esteem. Feeling of worthlessness, uselessness. It intensifies and gains momentum at the moment of moving away from the support of other people, but because of these feelings you don’t want to get close to people at all and it turns into a vicious circle. With depression, physical problems are also observed: sleep disturbances, headaches, digestive disorders, painful sensations in the area of ​​the heart. In this case, you need to treat not the symptoms, but look for the causes of depression. If you find signs of depression in yourself or people close to you, do not hesitate and contact a specialist (psychologist or psychotherapist) who will help you solve the problem. Sincerely, psychologist Olga Bychkova.