Top 10 Symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder

Sue Spence
Jun 9, 2023
5 min read

Updated: Mar 26

So many symptoms it's depressing

Top 10 Symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder

There are so many symptoms to share about this little-understood condition it would be data overload if they were all covered in one article and of course, each person is unique and will have their own combination of symptoms! Even those of us suffering from this mental illness don't always fully understand all our symptoms so how are those supporting us expected to know what we are going through? So with this in mind, I thought it best to simplify it as best as possible down to the most common symptoms that affect most sufferers on a daily basis. So below I have listed what, in my opinion, are the top 10 symptoms of major depressive disorder, otherwise known as clinical depression.

#1 - Mood

Clinical depression is a mood disorder so the primary symptom is to do with your mood ranging between a persistent feeling of loss of interest, guilt, agitation, hopelessness, sadness, and melancholy, all for no reason. Without my medication, I can be quite the grumpy bear for no reason, but when I'm taking it, I am the life of the party, so don't mess with the medication!

#2 - Behaviour

Of course, moods lead to behaviour so there could be excessive tears, irritability or agitation for no reason. Even just one day off my medication or if I have had a really bad day I can be a ball of tears for no reason. It happens. The important thing to realise here is that the sufferer has basically gone into survival mode, and is running on empty, so the slightest thing can set them off until properly diagnosed and on a treatment plan.

#3 - Loss of Self Esteem

Losing one's sense of self-worth is huge as it takes so much time and energy to build it up again. It needs a lot of insight as you delve deep within yourself to see what you need to change in order to heal and no one but you can do it for you. I can take you through my journey of self-discovery and guide you to a path to follow, but you will still need to take your own journey, in your own story, to heal yourself. Then you will respect yourself, have self-esteem and value yourself and your life choices.

#4 - Social Isolation

Most people with depression find it overwhelming to be in social situations and prefer to be alone. Part of it is that the stimulation is too much for us, and part of it is the stigma around mental illness and the perception people have about mental health issues. I still battle with big gatherings, even with my family, as the stimulation can be too overwhelming at times, but I have a few coping mechanisms I use, and I also just deal with the symptom flare-up afterwards to enjoy the social time and feel like a normal person once in a while. I'm also becoming more at ease talking to strangers about depression and learning how best to field their responses.

#5 - Fatigue

We are not lazy people. Major Depressive Disorder is a debilitating illness and fatigue is a big part of it. Even when on medication, the fatigue is around as we are in survival mode. We have very little energy which has to get us through our day so we can either hang out the washing and wash the dishes, or we can cook supper. It often comes down to simple trade-offs like that. We can't function like we used to and moaning at us just makes us more tired!

#6 - Sleep

This can be affected in all sorts of ways; some wake early (not me!), some have insomnia, others are excessively sleepy or restless during sleep. However your sleep pattern is disrupted, it will make you a grumpy person; after all, sleep disruption has been used as a form of torture for centuries - ask any parent! I still need a minimum of 10 hours of sleep a night to have good days, and more if I'm having bad days. I haven't perfected it yet, but I do find that meditation helps me, and I will share this in a future article.

#7 - Appetite

Loss of appetite is common, but it is important to still maintain as healthy a diet as possible. If you can't manage eating a full meal, try snacking on healthy food more frequently during the day.

Others may want to constantly eat, so again, just try to keep it healthy.

I battle when it comes to food as I don't really feel the need to eat, but know I need to even if I'm not hungry, so I eat smaller portions of food. I do still crave a few foods occasionally and want my comfort foods like rusks with my morning tea, so I just balance it out with the healthy stuff. I have lost some weight, but I didn't say I had it right yet! I'm still working on it.

#8 - Weight

Excessive weight loss or weight gain can affect some people. I did experience excessive weight loss when I was going through my divorce and had major depressive disorder as I really struggled to eat then. Unfortunately, I did put most of that weight on again and this time, having been diagnosed with severe depressive disorder, I am only losing a little bit of weight. The main thing is don't let it get out of control, either gaining or losing as it is not healthy for you and can lead to other health complications.

Lack of Concentration and Focus during depression

#9 - Lack of Concentration and Focus

This is where the brain really goes wonky and translates thoughts into slow actions. It is hard to describe lack of concentration, but it's like being drunk without the alcohol. To illustrate, shortly after having been diagnosed and stopping work, I went to fetch my sister from the airport. At this point, I hadn't driven since being diagnosed, but I was the only one in the family available to fetch her, so off I went. I wasn't aware of anything wrong until the drive back home with my sister now in the car, and hanging onto the dash and door handle in sheer terror as I was driving like a drunk driver, weaving between lanes, reacting way too slowly to brake for stationary traffic ahead of me, taking corners either too wide or too close to the pavement, forgetting to indicate when changing lanes, and worst of all, even though I'd driven the route to the airport so many times before, and had just done it to get to her, I still felt like I didn't know the way home again! Needless to say, I haven't driven since then and am not sure when I should try again, having realised how slow my typing has become!

#10 - Thoughts of Suicide

I truly hope few people have these thoughts and immediately seek professional medical help or counselling if they do. If you do go onto social media when having these thoughts, I urge you to do so for positive reasons, and avoid negative sites. LifeLine South Africa can be emailed at info@lifeline.org.za, their website is https://lifelinesa.co.za and their National Counselling Line is 0861-322-322.

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