I think my boyfriend has depression

LegacyUser

Does anyone know any tell-tale signs that someone might be depressed? I think my boyfriend is...

He's acting so strange for the last few months, really agitated and easily annoyed. He hardly eats and seems so wound up. I haven't heard him laughing in so long, maybe since January. We live together and my housemates have noticed it too, just that he's not himself and seems permanently in bad form. He hasn't stayed with me the last couple of nights (he stayed with his family) and when I rang him yesterday, he was acting very strange, really snappy.

I get the impression he's not doing his work for college and today when I was looking for a notepad, I found a load of assignments that he hadn't handed in and he's missed two out of four exams. I'm just so worried about him, he's not himself and if I ever bring it up, he says he's fine and quickly changes the subject.

There's so much more but I just can't think of it right now.

Any advice?

Thanks

Gillo

I may be depression from what you're saying but it could be a lot of things.

Not wanting to ask the obvious but have you tried talking to him?
Don't take it personnally but he may not want to talk to you so it might be worth suggestion he talks to a close friend or maybe someone like the samariatians.

Raspberries

Having had experience of a boyfriend with depression (although I don't live with him) there are alarm bells ringing for me here.

With my boyf, he was so chatty and lovely to me, but almost overnight he went into himself and I was the one talking all the time which never happened before. He started getting snappy as well.

Not handing in work was another problem that my boyf had, basically he developed a anxiety problem because the assignments and exams all piled up on him so he got completely overwhelmed and didnt hand them in/did exams. So he has ruined his degree over it. So seeing that happen to your boyf is another warning sign.

I have no experience with depression other than with my bf, so please do not take the above as confirmation or a diagnosis or anything like that. He would need to go to a doctor as well as a counsellor etc for that. I am just sharing my experiences with you because I think they are similar.

Perhaps you could find out about counselling in his college and suggest that he go, or even go to a counsellor yourself to show him that there is nothing wrong with that? Or even a couples counselling session?

I think you should go to a professional about this.

Stheno

It may be depression or it may simply be that he is stressed.

I suffer from stress and I do allow it to take over unless I make an effort, it makes me eat less, I tend not to find things humourous, and it makes me slower to complete tasks.

But I'm not depressed, I'm simply stressed.

Talk to him and see if there is anything going on in his life.

Depression imo can be all too often used as a blanket catch all for when people are simply juggling stress and need a release as opposed to being genuinely clinically depressed