The inability to get out of bed. A crippled sense of self-worth. Constant dread and continuous isolation. Most people would be able to recognize the classic signs of depression at its worst.
But these stereotypical markers hardly paint the full picture picture of what the mental illness that impacts one in eight American women, according to the National Alliance of Mental Illness, actually looks like. After all, the World Health Organization claims a whopping 50 percent of the 300 million people currently living with depression go untreated—even in the highest-income countries. This could be for many reasons, including the fact that depression can be hard to recognize.
“People often stigmatize depression and are in denial that they are depressed,” says Susanne Cooperman, Ph.D., a psychologist at NYU Langone. “They are often used to muscling through stressful situations and depressing periods in their lives, and… they are kind of surprised when people tell them they are [depressed].”
So, here, Cooperman shares some unexpected depression symptoms in women. Sure, at some point, all of us have experienced one (or all) of these signs, and that’s totally normal and okay. If. however, these symptoms are true for you all day, most days, it’s best to talk to your doc to determine if you’re depressed.
1-You Regularly Lose Your Temper
Can’t stop snapping at your partner, your co-workers…and even your dog? According to a 2013 study in JAMA Psychiatry, “overt irritability/anger” was a symptom for more than half of people experiencing more severe and longer-term depression. Uncharacteristic agitation is a sign of depression in both adults and children, Cooperman says.
2-You’ve Started Waking Up Super Early
Depression can cause some women to sleep. All. The. Time. But Cooperman explains that others start sleeping less, often waking up in the wee hours of the morning. If, all of the sudden, you are consistently rising at about 4 or 5 a.m. with the inability to go back to bed, you may be experiencing a sign of depression.
3-Your Hobbies Just Aren’t Fun Anymore
This isn’t to say that losing interest in a two-week knitting fad means you’re depressed. “But an example could be that you used to love cooking, and it just doesn’t give you pleasure anymore,” Cooperman says. “It’s very hard, when you’re in that place, to get out of that depression, because usually by engaging in pleasurable activities you feel better, but now there’s no motivation, no interest, and even if you get yourself to do do it, the enjoyment doesn’t kick in. It’s kind of a catch-22.”