I Have a What? A Guide for Coping with Moderate-to-Severe TBI

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RRTC ON COMMUNITY INTEGRATION OF PERSONS WITH TBISigns of depression:Depressed or sad mood.You may feel like you are sad or down. Sometimes people feel irritated or crankyrather than sad. This feeling lasts most of the day, nearly every day, for severaldays or weeks in a row.Loss of interest in activities that used to make you happy.This might look like you do not care anymore. If you are depressed, you do notenjoy activities that used to make you happy. You may lose interest in your hobbies.Significant weight loss or gain without trying OR significant decreaseor increase in appetite.Depression may cause you to want to eat more. Or, you might find that you arenot very hungry at all.Sleeping difficulties.Some people who are depressed may have insomnia. This means that you mayhave a hard time going to sleep. You may wake up during the night and have ahard time falling back to sleep. Or, you might sleep too much and still feel sleepyall the time. You may also feel like you need to take frequent naps.Changes in activity level.If you are depressed, you might be slowed down in your movements and speech.Or you may be restless or agitated. You might be doing things like pacing, havingdifficulty sitting still, or pulling at your clothes or hands.Fatigue or loss of energy.Feelings of tiredness and fatigue are quite common. Even small tasks, such asgetting dressed, may seem to take more energy than they used to.Page 35
I Have a What?!:A Guide for Coping with Moderate-to-Severe TBISigns of depression (cont.):Feelings of worthlessness or guilt.When depressed, you might feel like you have no value. You might feel guilty and focuson minor mistakes from your past. Depressed people sometimes blame themselves forthings that are beyond their control.Difficulty in thinking or concentrating.This might look and feel like you are having trouble paying attention or that you arehaving memory problems. These are not actually “memory problems.” It’s just that yourmind is not focusing on things as well as it should.Frequent thoughts of death.If depression gets really bad, you may find yourself thinking a lot about your owndeath. You might be thinking that the world would be better off if you were dead. Youmight even start thinking of hurting yourself or killing yourself. This can be a big problemif you cannot get rid of these thoughts or start to think about acting on them.If you are experiencing several of the signs of depression listed above, talk with your doctoror a therapist. They can help you get treatment. Here are several ways that you can helpreduce symptoms of depression:What can I do?:Increase your activities – If you are depressed, you may feel like you donot want to do anything. However, it is very important that you take part inactivities that make you feel better. When you do something that is fun or ifyou accomplish something, you will usually feel better. If something thatyou do helps you feel a little bit better, then do it again. Doing nothing islikely to make you feel worse.Try not to spend time alone – Make an effort to be with other people. Youmay not feel like being around others, but you will likely feel better with thesupport of friends or family. When you spend time alone, you are likely tofeel worse.Page 36
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I Have a What? A Guide for Coping with Moderate-to-Severe TBI

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