Help early signs of depression

[cattywampus]

before you were formally diagnosed, what signs or experiences made you suspect you might be dealing with depression? im especially curious how you distinguished those feelings from 'normal' ups and downs, or from the instinct to dismiss or minimize your own symptoms. and how did you find the courage to bring it up with a therapist or psychiatrist?

 

[_wishforwings]

For me I would say it was about in middle school, and I began to distinguish that it might've been more than just normal ups and downs because it went from just being slightly sad sometimes, to more of a daily sadness that was hard to ignore I guess? I asked one of my friends in like,, 5th grade about suicide which is probably also a sign, that kind of made it click for me after his reaction that it wasn't really a normal thing to be thinking already at such a young age. Also noticing that those same friends didn't really feel sadness or deep emotions in the way I did I guess? It's especially hard if you feel like you didn't really go through enough hardships to be feeling the way you do, it for so long made me feel like I had no reason to be depressed and was therefore faking it I guess?? I often minimized those feelings and didn't try to get actual help until high school, and tried 4 or 5 different medicines with little avail