What are your red flags of oncoming depressive episode

Just wanting others insight and what some of the red flags you all may have before entering depressive episode.

Hm, well, for me, anxiety for a few days (maybe weeks) is a pretty sure sign I'll be going into a down swing soon. I've also noticed that I stop doing simple, daily things like laundry and cleaning and errands before I'm aware that I'm entering an episode. That is, I notice I have a massive drop in motivation before I actually feel depressed.

Sun comes up

I start to isolate myself from others then my brain tells me no one wants to talk to me. That is usually the first symptom I recognize.

I get bad anxiety, I barely eat and I don't talk much and when I do I always get even more upset.

For context, I should point out I have dysthymia. So I'm always low grade depressed or at least prone to depressive thoughts and emotions. I have bouts of severe depression that can last days, or weeks, or in a handful of cases a few months.

Bad episodes are either abrupt due to some situational cause or it's an awful slide down that I can see coming and sometimes can't fend off.

In the latter case: frustration, irritability, anhedonia, anxiety, rumination, fading of hope or at least motivation, self esteem gets worse, failing to get things done, increasing tendency to isolate and avoid, increasing emotional volatility. Any or all of these.

A lot of it is the characteristics of the actual depression itself, but resurging and increasing in intensity if I can't reverse it.

So, not hard to spot really, for me.


Oh, and welcome to PsychCentral.

I set a rule for myself. If I floss my teeth before bed, I'm fine. If I can't find that motivation, I need to look into things.

The rule keeps me from obsessing, "Am I ok? Am I ok? Am I still ok?" and lets me live my life as a regular life, and not as a depressed person happening to feel ok for awhile.

For me sometimes the depression just comes on without warning. There had been times when I was feeling great and then suddenly, for no reason, the bad thoughts come on.

The biggest thing that happens to me to bring on depression is hearing about something bad that happened to someone, especially a health issue. I would feel very bad for the person and then I would feel guilty that it didn't happen to me. Or I feel like it will be my turn eventurally. As I've gotten older, I seem to notice how bad things happen to others more than it used to. I feel like I'm closing in on my mortality.

On a radio program that I listen to, I heard; "bad things happen. If nothing bad is happening to you right now, then that's great! But hang in there because eventually something bad will happen". Boy, that makes me feel good to hear that!

Hi! I have similar feelings. Your radio quote reminded me of another quote I live by that's helped me a lot. I thought you might be interested.

It is "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid." I believe it is a quote by Fredrick Beucher.

Anyway, I kind of just say to myself, someone is sick, yes of course, but what else? Where is the beauty? Where is the grace? There is always both. And the more we look at both, the less the hurtful side hurts us.

Wanting to isolate myself and hide in bed. That is the very first sign which I usually ignore because nothing gives me more comfort and peace than being in my bed with my books.
The next and even more common red flag is that I lack energy and sleep a lot. And this is exactly when I need to try harder and ignore the lack of energy. Otherwise it immediately turns into severe depression and anxiety kicks in on top of that.

Usually I have an abundance of negative thoughts, I isolate and I stop doing things both around the house and going out.

I start feeling tired and irritable. I develop stomach issues, indigestion, burping. I stop unloading the dishwasher (my morning routine while coffees brewing) I start not wanting to shower or brush my teeth, it becomes a chore. I start binge watching "Snapped" and other shows about murder on TV. Yeah I guess you could say I have signs.

This is great thread! Thank you. I never really gave it serious thought before.

Thank you everyone for you're replies. It really helps me be more mindful of signs that I'm crashing. Recently being diagnosed with BP2 I had no clue my whole life what was going on with myself....why I would feel happy and then the signs you all described I felt prior to episodes of depression. I just thought I was bad person.

Question for the ladies. Does anyone have an increase in bipolar symptoms when PMS'ing? I feel like I can be half stable 20 days of the month then I start to PMS and I take ten steps back.

Not sure. I feel my depressive state is just my normal state. Not sure how I was before.

Hi CepheidVariable:

I have dysthymia too. I can relate to your comment about,"always having a low grade depression." I equate it to a dark cloud. From your comments, I maybe in a heightened state of depression. It appeared to come on gradual and feels like the new norm. Can you relate?

For me I think isolating myself is a red flag that something is up. Particularly if I start not being able to take phonecalls from my parents. Because I never not take their calls unless I've got to the point of not being able to fake "happy". This is for no other reason than I don't want them to worry - so.I guess if I think they'll be worried - there's something to worry about!

Wow. Hadn't thought it all the way through before?!

Great thread!

I could tell when my current depressive episode started. For me, I just didn’t feel good. Like I wasn’t super sad, but just sadder than normal. It got worse over the days. I also noticed that I was really tired and eating a lot of carbs. And I started to not pay attention and was losing interest in things. And then my sleeping habits sucked and I needed to sleep 10 hours a day, and when I’d wake up, I felt like crap, as if I didn’t sleep at all.

Well, this isn't something most people are going to experience. But one red flag for me is that my gender identity dysphoria flares. When I start feeling an irresistible urge to watch transgender videos on YouTube, I know I'm headed for the basement... so to speak.