Depression is an extremely scary condition for those who are affected with it, but treatment is often ignored for fear of judgement or denial of its onset. However, if you believe that you have it, treatment is truly necessary. Besides the obvious mental tribulations of this disorder, there are a handful of ways it could affect your physical appearance as well – and we’re here to give you all of the information that you need about these side effects.
Number Seven: Depression and Appetite
A person’s diet is often used as a form of coping mechanism, so it isn’t surprising that people with depression may see a great deal of fluctuation in their weight. Emotional eating may cause a number of depressed people to gain weight, though it is much more common to lose excessive amounts of weight when depressed. This is often because the chemical imbalances and fatigue create a loss of appetite.
Number Six: Hair Loss
One of the most common physical side effects of depression is intense hair loss. Depressed people experience a great deal of unnecessary stress. Most people under major stress develop certain mannerisms or habits, like pulling or even scratching out their hair. If you have depression, try to get into the habit of not touching your head at all.
Number Five: Posture
Fatigue is common with depression, and will in turn affect the posture of those affected. Because of the lack of energy, most people with this condition aren’t likely to motivate themselves to keep good posture. If you are not careful, you may get into poor posture habits that will stick for life.
Number Four: Eye Appearance
Puffy eyes are common in depressed people, but mostly because the overwhelming levels of emotion cause a lot of crying. That probably doesn’t seem out of the ordinary, but periodic crying along with intense stress can cause blood vessels in the eyes to break. This will have a more lasting effect on the appearance of your eyes, so it is important to practice healthy coping mechanisms for high levels of stress.
Number Three: Acne
Another side effect that is very common with stress and emotion is acne. Not only will stress raise cortisol levels that make you more prone to break outs, but the overactive emotions will also produce more hormones that will end up clogging your pores. The best way to counteract this is with daily facial cleansing (which you should be doing anyway!).
Number Two: Slowed Movement
Because of the fatigue associated with depression, many of those affected will have a slowed rate of movement. This may not seem very consequential to your appearance, but if you don’t keep an eye on it you may end up not even noticing it. The main reason you will want to try and fight the urge to move slower is because it will pose questions from your friends and family. Constantly hearing “Are you alright?” several times a day isn’t good for anyone’s mental health.
Number One: Scars
When depression gets really serious, cutting or body mutilation becomes a very real problem. Though it is more common in teenagers, even adults have been known to enact in this harmful activity. However, this will affect you appearance more than anything else in terms of depressive symptoms. Scars never go away, even after you get treatment for your depression, and they will be a haunting reminder of your darkest days. We hope you enjoyed learning about the seven ways depression could affect your physical appearance!