How to deal with depression

It’s common for physical health problems to take their toll on your mental health. That’s especially true for long-term conditions, including heart disease. It’s estimated that people living with heart and circulatory disease are two or three times more likely to experience depression.

It’s estimated that people living with heart and circulatory disease are two or three times more likely to experience depression.

Dr Jim Bolton, Chair of Liaison Psychiatry at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, says we all feel low sometimes, but this is a normal reaction to difficult experiences and we usually bounce back. Depression is different. “It is an illness that goes on longer, often when the stresses that cause it have improved,” he says.

Symptoms of depression include losing interest in life, finding it harder to enjoy things, wanting to cut yourself off, loss of appetite, poor sleep or a hopeless feeling.

As well as getting treatment, Dr Bolton recommends avoiding alcohol, eating healthily and exercising regularly. “It’s often helpful to talk to someone we trust about how we’re feeling too,” he says. “It’s hard to feel hopeful when you’re feeling low, but try and remember you will recover. And if you seek help and receive treatment, that will happen more quickly.”