What is depression?
Depression is an illness that affects a person mentally and physically, it can cause fatigue, difficulty sleeping, trouble concentrating and makes every day tasks difficult. Depression is much more than just a low mood, sufferers often feel sad, low, hopeless and worthless for long periods of time and often without reason. Depression is one of the most common mental health problems. One in five people experience depression at some stage of their lives. There are several different types of depression, many people suffer from major depression that causes ongoing feelings of sadness, usually in episodes, dysthymia is a milder type of depression but is often continuous and can last for months or years. Signs and symptoms of depression include
|
What is self harm?
There are many different reasons why a person may self harm, it is often a way to control and cope with difficult emotional pain. Self harm is when someone deliberately harms themselves, types of self harm include cutting part of the body, burning, scratching, hitting, and skin picking. When a person self harms it can be because they are in so much emotional pain that feeling physical pain is relieving, it may be a way of letting others know about their distress, a way of coping with stress or emotional pain, and can be a symptom of mental illness like depression. Sometimes it suggests that the person is thinking about suicide, but not everyone who self harms is suicidal. People who self harm are usually trying to relieve their distressing feelings. Young people self harm for different reasons sometimes and it can be difficult to put the reasons into words. Signs and symptoms of self harm include Losing interest and pleasure in activities
|
Where to get help
|