‘Gross’ Depression Symptoms We Don’t Talk About

Depression isn’t just being sad. It is much more complex and debilitating. There are many common symptoms of depression that do get talked about, like sadness, feeling numb and hopelessness, but there are other symptoms just as common that we talk rarely about, like lack of hygiene, not taking care of ourselves and not taking care of the things around us.

We stop taking care of ourselves. We overeat or undereat and our bodies change. We eat unhealthily and whenever we want. We stop dressing up or doing our makeup. We stop doing our skincare routine. Our appearance significantly changes for the worse but we don’t talk about it. We don’t talk about how it causes low self-esteem, body dysmorphia, and even self-harm or suicide.

We don’t take care of our environment. We stop making the bed, stop changing the sheets. We don’t get any sunlight. We live in a mess or in filth, which causes our brains to feel the same way. Depression is “gross” and we don’t talk about it.

The hardest part about depression is when we physically can no longer take care of ourselves and our basic needs. An extremely common symptom of depression is lack of hygiene. We go days, even weeks without showering or even changing our clothes. We go days, weeks, or even months without brushing our hair or teeth. You may not think twice about clipping your nails or washing your face, but to a person who is depressed, it feels like a nightmare not worth even trying. These issues can lead to serious health concerns, and yet we still can’t bring ourselves to do them because we are depressed. Depression manifests physically and long-term in so many different ways, but we don’t talk about it.

This is depression. It can be gross. It can be unbearable. It can be all of these things and more. We need to start talking about it and stop shaming people into silence.