We all have them; the Universe is out to get you. Yesterday, on top of a dreary (and bad hair) day, the frother decided it had frothed one too many milk toppers for my coffee. "Fine." Then the laptop's 'thinking wheel' continually spinning, never taking me where I wanted to go, prompted a "Whatever" response. I'll deal with it later. In her usual self, the dog plowed over my feet to get in the house, leaving her muddy imprint on my clean, white tennis shoe. I could feel my heart race and temperature rise. Deep breath, I said to myself while mumbling something I shouldn't write.
I finally got to my desk, and ugh, discovered a nice coffee-drip splotch on my white shirt (mind you, I had an event later that evening and no backup shirt). All I can say is, thank goodness for the Tide stick! Nevertheless, I felt so defeated. I just wanted to close my door and be left alone. It was just one of those days, a bad day.
My point in sharing my trials and tribulations from yesterday is that we all have bad days. Some people, though, experience a bad day for days on end. And their bad days are much worse than messy hair or dirty shoes. They feel defeated or hopeless; they lose interest in doing things or feel bad about themselves. They may be dealing with Depression.
There are several types of depression disorders, clinical and postpartum, to bipolar and seasonal affective disorder, to name a few. Did you know that one in every 15 adults is affected in any given year? The good news is depression disorder is one of the most treatable of mental illnesses.
Suppose that you find yourself experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, appetite loss/increase, or feelings of hopelessness and sadness over any two-week time frame, any or all of which that may change your previous level of functioning; you might be suffering from depression disorder.
If this sounds like you, take a few minutes to answer the questions in the graphic. Share your responses with your health care provider, who can, in turn, conduct a thorough diagnostic evaluation. From there, you and your provider can develop a treatment plan to help you recover, and with help, you can make your bad day just another bad day.
