In today’s high-pressure society, depression, this psychological illness, is becoming increasingly youthful. Many young people, due to excessive stress in life or work without proper release, ultimately develop severe depression.
The main symptoms of depression include significant emotional changes, sluggish reactions, intense negative emotions, mental fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, and social withdrawal. Of course, these are just the common symptoms that most people with depression may experience, specifics may vary from person to person.
Moreover, these are only the conditions that may arise in the early stages. In later stages, patients may also experience feelings of inferiority, self-blame, suicidal thoughts, and more. It is easy to imagine how serious the consequences of untreated depression can be.
Sign 1: Social Withdrawal No Longer Exists
If you want to know if your depression is improving, you need to start from its origins. We need to understand the symptoms we have after suffering from depression, and social withdrawal is a common factor for many people, making it suitable for the majority.
In the early stages of our illness, social withdrawal is one of the most obvious symptoms because patients may experience low moods, sluggish reactions, mental fatigue, etc., making them feel invisible in their social circles and unable to integrate, leading to social withdrawal.
Therefore, a sign that proves depression is improving during treatment is observing whether your social activities are expanding or at least not regressing from their previous level.
Sign 2: Ability to Control Emotions
People with depression often find it difficult to control their emotions, at least not as freely as a normal person can. Hence, changes in emotions become one of the ways to judge depression.
Due to the physical and mental torment caused by the illness, patients struggle to control their emotions. By observing their emotions, we can make judgments.
Of course, this method requires careful observation over a long period, so patients or family members need to be attentive.
Sign 3: Reduction in Feelings of Inferiority and Self-Blame
This is related to the first sign because why do patients develop feelings of inferiority and self-blame? Ultimately, it relates to social interactions. In the early stages of the illness, emotional fluctuations, sluggish reactions, intense negative emotions, etc., may affect social activities.
For example, if due to personal reasons, a team fails to achieve expected results in an activity, self-blame arises, leading to feelings of inferiority over time, where the patient feels like a burden and gradually withdraws from social activities.
Therefore, assessing the improvement of the illness can be done by observing changes in the patient’s feelings of inferiority and self-blame. As the illness improves, these reactions weaken, indicating a positive trend.
Hence, this is a method that can be used to assess the progression of the illness.
In reality, there are many methods in life to gauge whether an illness is improving, as long as one is willing to pay attention and observe.
