 Hi, this is Pukie and today we have Mark with us in place of Buddy. Buddy is sitting somewhere very jealous Today we are going to talk about the warning signs for depression I'm going to talk about six of the most common warning signs that you might see You won't necessarily see all of these warning signs and you might see others besides But these are some of the most common ones that you might see and if you're seeing a few of these over a period of time They're really beginning to impact on some on how someone is Participating in their life, then we should become concerned and think about having the conversation with them about whether or not we can do something to support Okay, so without further ado the first warning sign is a change in appetite Now we're thinking about this completely aside from any eating disorder type behaviors. We'll address that another time And we do often find that eating disorders and depression Are comorbid so that means that you might have both at the same time, but even with straight depression We often find a disturbance in eating patterns So somebody might be eating more or eating less just kind of completely losing their appetite or sort of turning to food for comfort Yeah, so a change in in their appetite and and over time then Potentially a change in their weight as a result of that Number two is a change in patterns of sleep Now depression wreaks havoc with our sleep. It might make us sleep more It might make us sleep less it might make it hard to get to sleep at night It might make it hard to stay asleep. It might mean that we want to sleep for 23 hours of the day It might mean that we barely sleep at all It often whether we're sleeping too much or too little often leaves us very very tired And that takes us to warning sign number three, which is a kind of lack of energy So someone who is suffering with depression will often be very very lethargic Find themselves very Unmotivated even by things that they they used to enjoy will go more on that in a moment But yeah, really lacking in energy finding it difficult to complete things You might find that if you're a teacher that this is a kid who isn't getting their homework done They're maybe not getting into school on time because they're so tired finding it really difficult to participate in things like physical Activities doesn't really have the kind of energy and enthusiasm to kind of be with friends and that sort of thing and that links us in then to the next one which is a Kind of lack of enjoyment in things that once they used to enjoy So you might find that this young person is engaging less generally So they may not be engaging well in class But what's really concerning is when they stop engaging well in the things that they used to previously really enjoy doing So they're kind of their passions their hobbies You might find that they're isolating themselves from friends You might find that they're no longer doing a sport that they used to love or you know Maybe they used to spend a lot of time gaming and they don't even have the kind of enthusiasm the motivation the energy to do that anymore So yeah lack of enjoyment in anything in their life really and and that's something that is Yeah, often really noticeable because this will be young person who is just very very hard for them to escape from the feelings that they're feeling Which goes on to number five, which is these kind of persistence of low mood persistent feelings perhaps of sadness sometimes Though we find a complete kind of lack of feeling at all But these these sort of emotional numbness and bluntness and that can be really distressing It's important to note though that even if someone is suffering with the most crippling depression They might have moments or even whole days where actually things feel a bit lighter and a bit better And they're able to participate in and enjoying things and that can lull us into a false sense of security But we need to remember that Actually someone who's suffering with depression might have moments or days where where things feel better and Or they might be really really good at putting on a mask that they think the rest of the world wants to see But yeah, if we're finding that a young person is feeling kind of really down really low perhaps sad or numb Over a period of time then that's a real cause for concern And then finally linked into number five is number six, which is persistent feelings of hopelessness helplessness failure So this might be a young person who when you talk to them about things They feel like everything's somewhat out of their control But we're seeing these signs over a period of weeks or even months That tells us that this is a problem that we need to follow up on And the other thing is the impact the level of impact this is having on this young person's life So when it's really stopping them doing things that they used to do And enjoy or it is stopping them from achieving in the way that they used to achieve stopping them spending time with friends or family So really having an impact on their day to day life. So longevity over time and impact on their life day to day I hope that this has helped you to understand a bit more about the kinds of warning signs that you should be looking for If you are worried about a young person and you're not quite sure how to start the conversation then Watch my other video. I'll try to put a little card thing up here somewhere or here Which is about yeah, how to have that discussion when you're worried about someone's mental health Um, I hope you found the video helpful Please like or leave a comment down below to let me know if you liked it or what you'd like me to do differently And also if you've got any ideas about topics that you think I should cover I'm trying to film a video every day in december, which is no mean feat. So I'm really really keen to hear your ideas Please hit subscribe and click the bell notification so that you get told when new videos are uploaded Um, and yeah, that's it from me today. Hope you found it helpful Please please do take a moment to feedback because I'm talking into the ether here to no one and uh Yeah, mark and myself would love to know what you thought. Okay. Bye