Several useful points for clinicians emerge from this paper. The first-hand experiences compiled here reveal some common experiences among people living with depression which are not reflected in diagnostic criteria or checklists for lay people. While sleep, weight and appetite disturbances are noted in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as indicative of depression, this paper suggests that the somatic nature of the depressive experience is more pronounced than this. Experiences such as aches and pains, a sense of heaviness, and a body that lacks physical energy may be important markers of depression, and it is therefore unhelpful to view the mind and body as separate. The importance of fatigue has also been stressed by adolescents experiencing depression