One of the most common symptoms of depression is a change in appetite. People who have depression either lose their appetite and eat less than they did before, or else their appetite increases and they eat more than they did before their depression started (Depression Symptoms: What Are Symptoms of Depression?). For me, my appetite has lessened but it's affected me a lot more than a simple reduction of hunger pangs. Depression and lack of appetite can be distressing.

It's exceptionally hard to celebrate when you have depression. I just turned 30 this week and I'm proud to have survived my birthday because I was so scared up until its arrival. As it turned out, it was easier than ever for me to celebrate my birthday this year because I figured out the secret to surviving my birthday (or any holiday) with depression.

When I sat down to write my blog this week, what came to mind is that I’ve been having trouble mood-wise lately – depressed mood, low energy, anxiety – and how this seems to go against what we commonly associate with the beginning of a new year. But I have to live life, even when I'm depressed.

My depression is making me feel numb about New Year's. I actually went to bed at 10:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve, an hour before my usual bedtime. When hundreds of thousands of households partied and cheered to welcome 2015, when the clock struck 12:00 a.m., I was sound asleep.

Are you dealing with holiday depression? The holiday season is upon us and with it, an almost obligatory sense of wellbeing is put forth by just about everyone around us, from advertisers to co-workers, friends and family. But what about those of us who suffer from just such a lack of wellbeing at this time of year? How can those who are depressed, better make it through the holidays?

Depression makes the holiday season especially difficult, especially when there's so much pressure to be happy. Cheesy music blasts through store speakers, telling us that it's the "most wonderful time of the year" when depression rarely takes a day off, no matter what the calendar says.

A recent article in the New York Times raised some interesting questions about depression, including whether the conventional ways of looking at depression causes are wrong.

In the past year I've met a few people who have very strong views about antidepressants, mostly with the opinion that they are unnecessary for treating depression effectively. It's easy to start to believe this, as long as I'm on my medication and am feeling positive. I've just had three days without one of my antidepressants, however, and I never want to go off it again.

Thanksgiving is upon us today in the United States and, with it, a call to express gratitude for all that we have. This got me thinking about the relationship between gratitude and depression. Can expressing gratitude help depression?

A few years ago I attended an information session on depression and heard one of the greatest pieces of advice about depression treatment I've ever heard. The therapist said, "No single person or treatment is going to help you get better. It takes a variety of treatments to get you better."