The more common and easily identifiable symptoms of depression are:

deep feeling of sadness,

emptiness, and

hopelessness.

The other way to determine if you have depression is by how long these feelings last. If they hang on for longer that a couple of weeks, then chances are you don't have "the blues" you have been afflicted with depression and what you really need to do is go and discuss your symptoms with your doctor.

When we think about depression we have the habit of associating depression with the emotional symptoms of how we feel, however, along with the emotional symptoms we do have physical symptoms as well, which can be equally debilitating. Here are checklists of symptoms of clinical depression, both on the emotional and physical side:

1. Emotional

• feelings of sadness throughout the day and consistently every day

• lack of interest or no interest at all in your favorite activities

• feelings of hopelessness and/or feeling empty inside

• feeling stressed, nervousness, or entirely overwhelmed

• having a hard time concentrating and/or making decisions

• feeling worthless

• feelings of excessive guilt

• feeling restless and irritable

• thoughts of suicide or death

2. Physical

• no energy and feeling fatigue

• either not enough sleep or sleeping all the time

• changes in appetite and/or weight

• suffering from aches and pains

• suffering from headaches

• experiencing back pain

• problems with your digestive systems

• dizziness

This checklists of symptoms of clinical depression is meant for you to take notice and if you have these symptoms and go speak with your family doctor. Once your doctor is aware of these symptoms he or she can help you understand what depression is and from there talk to you about the best treatments for depression for you.