How do you know if you’re what’s termed “clinically depressed”? (Clinical depression, or major depression, is any long-term feelings of depression that the affected person cannot shake on their own.) A good indicator would be if you suffer from five or more of the following list of depression symptoms for more than at least two weeks.

Symptoms of Depression

• Feelings of guilt, helplessness, or worthlessness
• Feeling sad
• Loss of interest in normal activities
• Fatigue and loss of energy
• Change in sleep patterns, particularly the inability to sleep or excessive sleeping
• Crying spells
• Irritability and/or restlessness
• Significant changes in appetite
• Isolation from family and friends
• Trouble concentrating, remembering, or thinking clearly
• Increased use of alcohol or drugs
• Reckless behavior
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Feeling of pessimism
• Unexplained aches or pains

Seeking Help

First of all, if you’re feeling depressed and are exhibiting any of these symptoms, talk to somebody. The best way to clearly see what’s happening to you is to enlist the help of family or friends. Don’t think that no one cares. They do. They just have issues in their own lives that prevent them from taking the time to see you and what’s happening to you. But they do care.

Second, seek out a health care provider. It is important to rule out any physical issues you’re experiencing that may be caused by things other than depression (such as side effects from certain medications). If it’s not depression, then the health care provider can create a plan for you to get you healthy.

If it turns out to be clinical depression, then your health care provider, with perhaps others, will outline a treatment plan that will help you overcome your depression and insure it doesn’t return.

The key thing to remember is to take action. While your depression symptoms will be telling you “What’s the use?”, know deep down that it matters and that you have to take the first step to recovery. Communicate your needs with others.

If you’re stressed, you’re not only feeling it in your body, but you’re probably also feeling it in indirect ways. Take the following list of psychological symptoms of stress as examples of indirect effects of stress:

• Inability to sleep (insomnia)
• Moodiness
• Anxiety or panic attacks
• Increased use of alcohol, drugs (medications), or food
• Feeling rushed, sad, or hopeless
• Lowered sexual desire
• Irritability
• Impatience
• Feeling helpless or overwhelmed
• Increased use of stimulants (caffeine)
• Nail biting, hair twirling
• Rashes, itching
• Difficulty concentrating
• Forgetting things
• Increase in watching TV
• Frequent arguments with others
• Lack of interest in socializing
• Withholding affection
• Lack of motivation

Any of these sound familiar to you? These are all symptoms of stress that affect your behavior and your thoughts. While you may not recognize these symptoms as being directly caused by stress, more than likely they are. And actually the opposite can also be true. Any of these symptoms could lead to you being more stressed.

The indirect effects of these psychological symptoms of stress can be the adoption of unhealthy behaviors, which in turn do actual damage to your body. For example, having a lack of motivation may prevent you from exercising or getting rid of a bad habit, such as smoking. Frequent arguments with others could cause an increased use of food, drugs, or alcohol which could lead to long-term health issues.

As you can see, it’s complicated. Psychological health, which includes our emotions and our mental well-being, is key in determining our physical health. To be physically healthy, we need to be psychologically healthy. And vice versa. Controlling our thoughts and feelings is the first step to insuring our health on all fronts.

For more information on how to control your thoughts, and in doing so, helping to reduce or eliminate stress, visit The ABC Model.

However, stress at too-high “doses” (acute stress) or for over a long period of time (chronic stress) can cause health issues. Hundreds of studies have been done over the last 25 years or more that have proven a definite connection between stress and major illnesses. There are two major ways in which stress affects health, either indirectly through behavior or by physiological changes in the body.

Indirect Health Issues as a Result of Behavior

Stress can affect health indirectly through one’s behavior. For example, it is known that individuals under stress generally smoke more cigarettes, consume more alcohol, drink more coffee, and eat more food than individuals who are not under stress. The behaviors cause health issues beyond what the stress alone is causing the body. Heart disease and cancer can be a direct effect of these stress-induced behaviors.

Physiological Changes in the Body

Stress researcher Dr. Hans Selye studied the response to stress in rats. As a result of that study, Dr. Selye developed a model of how stress affects the body over time. He termed this model the General Adaptation Syndrome (or GAS). GAS is composed of three stages:

1. Alarm reaction. When a stress is first encountered, the body reacts in what is termed a fight or flight response. For example, if you’re about to be attacked by a mugger, you instinctively decide whether to fight the attacker or to run. In either case, hormones are released within your body, preparing your muscles for action. Other non-essential organs are shut down (like the stomach) for the time being. In this way, all available energy is directed to your muscles and your nervous system. This stage is relatively short, as stressors such as an imminent attack typically plays itself out in a few minutes.

2. Stage of resistance. For events that may cause stress over a longer period of time (such as a diagnosis of a life-threatening disease for a loved one), the body initially reacts as in the case of the alarm reaction. But over time, your body struggles to withstand the stress and return to normal.

3. Stage of exhaustion. If stress continues long enough, the body can no longer function normally. Organs may shut down and the body begins to disintegrate in a number of ways. Health is severely jeopardized.

Physical Symptoms of Stress

The physical symptoms of stress in the stage of resistance (or medium term chronic stress) can include the following:

Tiredness or Fatigue When muscles are contracted for a long period of time, a great deal of energy is required. Think about holding a can of your favorite soda drink straight to your side at shoulder level. For a few minutes, it’s not a problem. What would be the result if you had to do that for many hours? Or even days or weeks? It would not be possible. However, under stress, muscles are constantly contracted, waiting for the need to fight or flee.

Stomach Ache The digestive system isn’t required in a fight or flight situation. Consequently, chronic stress causes the digestive system not to be as efficient as it would be normally. The end result is an upset stomach or stomach ache.

Muscle Tension and Aches or Pains As in the case of fatigue, muscle pain can be attributed to long periods of stress, where muscles are constantly receiving signals to contract. This situation in turn causes the nervous system to send feedback signals to the brain of pain. Without the removal of the stress, the brain ignores the pain messages and continues to cause the muscles to contract, causing tension, aches, and pains.

Increased Colds or Flu In a fight or flight situation, the immune system is not needed. In terms of chronic stress, the immune system is somewhat “ignored” by the body, thus rendering less than effective. This increases the susceptibility to colds and flu, and even in more serious cases opens the way for more life-threatening diseases.

Difficulty Sleeping During chronic stress, your body is always on high alert, preparing itself for fight or flight. Consequently your brain waves are altered and can never fully relax to normal. Thus you lay awake for long periods of time, your mind racing over the events of the day. Additionally, your muscles are contracted and you can’t relax. The end result is a restless, sleepless night.

Headaches Long-term muscle tension in the neck and around the head can cause headaches. These are pain messages to the brain that the muscles need to relax. This is why taking muscle relaxers can many times provide relief from headaches.

This is certainly a short list of the most common physical symptoms of stress. The following is a list of additional physical symptoms that have been associated with chronic stress:

• Heartburn
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Excessive sweating, clammy hands
• Nail-biting
• Hives or rashes
• Lowered sex drive
• Teeth grinding
• Change in apetitie
• Heart palpitations
• Menstrual problems
• Increased blood pressure
• Acne or rosacea flare-ups
• Tingling sensations in toes or fingers
• Dry mouth
• Shakiness or twitches

and many more.