Data show that depression is a highly prevalent psychological disorder that affects 16% of people at some point in their lives. According to the WHO, depression has become the fourth most common disorder in the world. The treatment rate of depression is low, and studies show that the misdiagnosis rate of depression is as high as 50%, and 40%-80% of depressions do not seek treatment (90% do not have depression as the main complaint), which means that there are many depressed people hidden around us, who do not know they are suffering from depression and do not seek proper medical treatment because of various misconceptions. It is possible that there is a kind of depression called smiling depression. They appear as if nothing is wrong, with a smile on their face, even giving the illusion of cheerfulness and enthusiasm, but deep down they are very depressed and sad. They may be talking and laughing in the morning and then slit their wrists in the afternoon, leaving their family and friends very puzzled. These depressed people tend to be more personally groomed and try to hide bad feelings in front of others. He had seen a lively middle school teacher who was usually cheerful and smiling, and had always been the center and shining point among her friends. After her depression was cured, she said that looking back, she didn’t believe she could be depressed, but it just happened that way. It is also possible to be depressed. Often people with depression express it like this, “I’m happy, but I’m not happy!” Once you have depression, the neurotransmitters of the brain change the pattern of thought and behavior of the person, and the biochemical substances of the brain affect the psyche, causing him to be unhappy. Many depressed people have a strong self-denial, even if the person knows that he has a lot, there are all kinds of happiness, but he will still think “those are not important, I am not good, is the most important”, and thus fall into a depressed mood can not extricate themselves. The formation of depression is often related to bad emotions bottled up in the heart, but there is an aggressive type of depression that is characterized by easy anger. In fact, easy anger and irritability is a release of pain and repression, which is still low mood in nature, while reflecting the depressed person’s dissatisfaction with reality and the mindset of trying to get rid of it, and sometimes a mask for the depressed mood. It may also be bipolar disorder. There are quite a few cultural celebrities who have this disease: Ernest Hemingway, Van Gogh, Nanpai Sanshu, etc. were all afflicted by this disease. The mood has two directions, alternating between mania and depression. When manic attack, people will feel extreme excitement, full of energy, confident that they can do anything, and in serious cases, they will have symptoms of hallucinations, hallucinations, and even cannot perceive their own behavior. In the case of a depressive episode, the person feels despair, powerlessness, desirelessness, and worthless. Lack of sleep is a common problem of modern people, and as soon as they have time, many people will choose to sleep. However, if you can’t get enough sleep even during the day and night, you are still sleeping completely beyond your normal sleep time needs, you have difficulty getting up, you just want to sleep through the night, you don’t see anyone, you don’t want to talk to anyone, and your sleepiness is getting longer and longer as time goes by, you may not be tired, but depressed. This kind of sleepiness is actually a subconscious escape from reality. There are also some depressed patients whose sleep disorder manifests itself in insomnia, which may start with difficulty falling asleep, and then progress to repeated waking up during the night. The third stage is waking up early and being unable to sleep, and even if they can fall asleep, they wake up at 3 or 4 am and are awake until dawn. Some people with depression do not have an obvious depressed mood, but usually feel a loss of interest. They may have a variety of physical complaints, such as chest tightness, panic attacks, gastrointestinal discomfort, various pains, etc., but after medical examination there is nothing wrong, so they go from one hospital to another and are physically and mentally exhausted. This type of patient is different from those who do not believe in the doctor’s diagnosis and turn to seek medical help. He agrees with the doctor’s diagnosis in the first place, but feels that his illness has not been detected yet, so he repeatedly reviews the diagnosis in the hope of finding out the cause of the illness. Even if the doctor judges that he is not sick, or if the treatment is carried out, the physical discomfort will not go away. In fact, this type of patient is unconsciously trying to replace the mental pain with physical pain, and the proportion of this type of depression is higher in China. How can you tell if you are depressed? There are several criteria. 1, first of all, he is unhappy most of the time and has a chronically low mood. Feeling empty, negative evaluation of himself, no existence value. This should be noted that there is a time continuity, if a day or two of unhappiness, it is not considered a matter. 2, the lack of interest, the lack of pleasure. Things that used to make him feel happy, now make him unhappy, and there is nothing to replace things. If a person used to eat a big meal will be very happy, but now eating a big meal has made him happy, go out to travel to be happy, that is not depression, can only say that the interests have changed. 3. Decreased energy or excessive fatigue. Depression is not just a psychological disorder, there is organic damage in the body, which will make people continuously powerless and fatigue. If, for example, any two of these three occur and last for more than two weeks, you are at a high risk of developing depression. Make sure you go to a professional hospital for diagnosis and help. There are also some by-products of depression that are of concern: increased or lost appetite, significant weight changes; changes in behavior, irritability or slow movement; slowed thinking, poor concentration; thoughts of death. These are all red flags of depression. Depression Self-Rating Scale (SDS) A total score is calculated by summing the scores on the scale. The final score is obtained by multiplying the total score by 1.25. A final score of 50 or less is considered normal, 50-59 indicates mild depression, 60-69 indicates moderate depression, and 70 or less indicates severe depression. Please note that this scale is only used as a self-assessment indication of depression and is not intended to be used as a basis for diagnosis. If the reader has a higher score on the self-assessment, he/she can go to a psychiatric psychologist for consultation.