7 Symptoms, 5 Causes, 4 Solutions to Depression

A preacher friend of mine roped me into sitting in the studio audience of a recording for a cable TV show. The tapings were about depression, anger and a guy who spent time in San Quentin Prison. The preacher had to back out and I ended up going it alone…wondering to myself if I had been set up.

Does he think I am depressed, maybe angry or both? And, might up end in San Quentin if I don’t change my ways?

After listening to the guy talk about the symptoms of depression, I did begin to think….maybe…maybe, there is some insight here for me to understand why the Japanese have such a propensity to suicide. Depression does, too often, lead to suicide.

I have written about this before at

Yahoo! Japan Adds Suicide (自殺) Prevention Message to Searches Involving Suicide

Japan is numby 10 by Suicide Rate

Video Game Leads to Suicide

Why Japanese Kids Commit Suicide

2 Reasons Japanese Commit Suicide

The last thing Japanese do before jumping to their death

The speaker, Dr. Henry Cloud, was funny, animated, insightful, personable and above all, understandable…that is, I think people could really hear/understand what he said.

He shared 6 symptoms, 5 causes and 4 solutions to depression. I wonder if the decline in those numbers had something to do with the topics or if I just lost count.

The 7 symptoms:

1. Loss of energy

2. Just thinking causes physical pain

3. Anhedonia – nothing in life brings pleasure

4. Hopelessness – can’t see any possibility of things turning out any better

5. Loss of libido – can’t get it up, don’t want to

6. Sleep cycle is disrupted – sleeping doesn’t help anyway

7. Appetite is affected – stop eating, eat too much

The 5 Causes

1. Loss of love/attachment/bond – something dear to the individual is now gone

2. Loss of self control – can’t help yourself, feeling helpless, learned helplessness from someone who is too domineering

3. Unresolved failures – failure to grieve, to be forgiven, to accept forgiveness

4. Immaturity – unable to accept adulthood, to grow up, stuck being a child, selfishness

5. Trauma – death, bankruptcy, disaster…

The 4 Solutions

1. Get connected – find people who have been in a similar fix as the depressed one but have worked their way out of it. Hang around friends, family, your support group.

2. Get your power back – take assertiveness classes

3. Grieve, repent, accept forgiveness

4. Get a life – use your talents, your gifts, your resources = grow up!

and when necessary…let a professional tell you whether or not medication is appropriate to heal damaged nerves that are causing your feelings to be out of whack.

In any event…if you think you are depressed, no someone who is, get help, get it now. Do NOT let the depression get the best of them or you.

Wow! Now I feel better.