According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, you may be clinically depressed. Clinical depression seriously impairs behavior, physical well-being and appearance, work performance, social activity, and the ability to handle everyday decisions and pressures. Clinical depression typically has a pattern of repeated episodes of depression followed by a return to normal functioning after each episode. Rather, persistent low-level symptoms similar to clinical depression can last for years. Sufferers are able to function but constantly feel as if they aren't functioning at their best.
Women are twice as likely to become depressed as men.
They have naturally lower levels of the brain chemical serotonin, and low levels of serotonin have long been implicated as a cause of depression. According to a 1997 National Institute of Mental Health report, another reason why women have higher rates of depression is that they are under greater stress from work and family responsibilities, quickly shifting societal roles and expectations of women, and even the increasing rates of sexual abuse and poverty. The elderly are also more likely to become depressed due to declines in physical health, and loss of friends, family, and events to look forward to. Those who have been diagnosed as chronically ill are also most likely to be depressed. Understandable as this is, studies show receiving treatment for depression greatly improves the outcome of a chronic illness.