If you find that you are experiencing significant fatigue, no longer find pleasure in activities that you once enjoyed, and feel as though you have lost the capacity to experience joy, it may be that you are suffering from severe depression. Symptoms of severe depression can be extreme and often have a profound impact on an individual’s ability to function. Signs that you may be suffering from severe depression include:

• Acute feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness
• Struggling to look after yourself and engage in simple everyday tasks
• Feeling unable to go to work
• A significant reduction in appetite causing weight loss
• Suicidal thoughts and impulses

Severe depression with psychotic symptoms is characterised by an individual experiencing all of the symptoms that are typically associated with severe depression, as well as suffering from psychotic symptoms such as delusions and/or hallucinations. Delusions are irrational beliefs that a person holds, even when they are presented with evidence that contradicts these beliefs. Delusions may include believing that you have a serious or life-threatening physical illness, that you are responsible for terrible things happening to other people, or that you are bankrupt when you are not. Hallucinations refer to intense sensory perceptions of phenomena that are not real, and are characterised by individuals vividly feeling, seeing or hearing things that do not truly exist.

 Moderate/mild depression causes symptoms that are similar to those of severe depression, but these tend to be less extreme. Whilst most cases of depression are generally classified as ‘moderate’ or ‘mild’, this does not mean that these forms of depression are ‘insignificant’. If you suffer from moderate/mild depression you may find that you experience small improvements in your symptoms on a day-to-day basis, but your ability to function continues to be impaired as a result of your depressive illness.

Individuals who have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder experience periods of euphoria and elation, which can last for several days at a time, as well as depression. These can also be characterised by periods of grandiose thinking, and episodes of hyperactivity and overspending, which are all typical of bipolar disorder.

An individual may receive a diagnosis of dysthymia if they have experienced prolonged periods of sadness and low mood, lasting for up to several years, yet the symptoms are not necessarily severe enough to significantly impact on their ability to function in daily life.

Recurrent depressive disorder is characterised by experiencing repeated depressive episodes, but not showing any of the specific symptoms that are characteristic of bipolar depression, including mood elevation, heightened energy or euphoria.