DEPRESSION

Symptoms of depression

• Persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” mood
• Feeling of hopelessness, pessimism
• Feeling guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
• Decrease in energy fatigue
• Thoughts of death or suicide; suicide attempts
• Appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and weight gain
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
• Insomnia, early morning awakening, or oversleeping
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed, including sex.
• Persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as headaches, digestive disorder and chronic pain.

Yes.  Feelings of low self-esteem may be triggered by being treated poorly by someone else recently or in the past, or by a person’s own judgments of him or herself. 

Yes, sometimes people don’t want to share this information due to fear brought on by lack of knowledge of HIV/AIDS. You do not need to handle this alone.