The Küsnacht Practice

Depression is a condition in which people may have low mood, a loss of interest in everyday activities, feelings of low self-worth, a lack of energy and poor concentration, all of which can last a long time.

• how we treat depression

Around one in five people have depression at some point in their lives. People are affected by depression at any age. Depression is characterised by a number of symptoms including:

• a continuous low mood, which may be worse in the mornings
• feeling irritable
• crying a lot
• a loss of interest in your social life
• a loss of self-confidence
• a lack of energy
• tiredness and poor concentration
• difficulty in making decisions
• feeling helpless, worthless or hopeless
• feeling guilty
• thoughts about death and suicide
• anxiety
• a loss of sex drive (libido)
• trouble sleeping - possibly taking one or two hours to go to sleep or waking up earlier than usual
• disturbed eating patterns - either loss of appetite or eating too much
• unexplained or worsening aches and pains
• physical slowness

At least half of the people who have an episode of severe depression will have at least one more episode. You're more likely to have several episodes of depression if you're under 20 or of an older age. Depression can also be associated with suicide: nearly two-thirds of the people who commit suicide have depression.