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Depression versus sadness


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  • SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.

    Also visit the online treatment locator.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations.

Also visit the online treatment locator, or send your zip code via text message: 435748 (HELP4U) to find help near you. Read more about the HELP4U text messaging service.

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English and Spanish are available if you select the option to speak with a national representative. Currently, the 435748 (HELP4U) text messaging service is only available in English.

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Last Updated: 08/30/2022

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Sadness or depression? | PSYCHOLOGIES

10,234

Know thyself

It is not necessarily a bad thing to grieve and mourn, it is natural in many situations. The loss of a loved one, life's failures, worries about tragic events in the world ... Sadness can be light, bittersweet, and even inspiring. But depression does not have these bright inclusions - it paralyzes creativity and, in the worst case, can lead to disability or suicide.

Depression is diagnosed by a specialist in the presence of several (but not necessarily all at once) symptoms:

  1. Lack of interest in anything, loss of feeling of pleasure (anhedonia).
  2. Overeating or refusal to eat.
  3. Insomnia or drowsiness.
  4. Restlessness or delayed reaction.
  5. Increased fatigue, loss of strength.
  6. Feelings of worthlessness and excessive guilt.
  7. Problems concentrating, inability to make decisions.
  8. Suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts.
  9. Loss of interest in former hobbies. nine0012
  10. Pessimism, feeling of hopelessness, emptiness.
A depressed person often falls into a stupor. He does not feel sad, happy or angry

He does not experience the usual emotions at all. But everyday affairs do not bring him a sense of satisfaction, he suffers from inner emptiness.

As Sylvia Platt wrote in Beneath the Glass Bell, "I felt like a racehorse in a world where racing had suddenly been cancelled."

Sadness does not occur with alcohol, drug, gambling addiction, workaholism and eating disorders. This helps a person to mask an internal problem and nip the anguish in the bud, getting temporary relief or even falling into euphoria.

The feeling of anguish can be transformed into other emotions, such as irritability and anger. Those who are more comfortable showing aggression instead of fear or pain do not have time to “be sad”: their bad mood immediately transforms into aggressive impulses. nine0003

Sadness can also develop into obsessions. In this case, the depressed person constantly thinks back to the object of love, to a moment from the past that he regrets, to the banal "is the iron turned off at home" and "did I forget to close the door."

Sad experiences can cause various psychosomatic conditions: migraine, digestive problems, back pain

The situation is opposite with depression: multiple sclerosis, thyroid dysfunction, tumors or brain damage, inflammatory processes themselves can become a source of depression. nine0003

When we experience the loss of a loved one, plunging into an abyss of grief, a ray of light sometimes looms in our dark kingdom. This can rarely be said about patients with depression.

When one who is sad complains, it becomes easier for him. With depression, tears and complaints do not bring relief. Sadness does not cause negative thoughts, including suicidal thoughts, does not lead to distortions of perception and detachment from reality, and does not prevent the manifestation of other emotions. With depression, our emotional scale becomes faded, monochrome. nine0003

Most people with depression suspect that something is wrong with them. The people around know about it too. Depression cannot be hidden. It doesn’t matter if your condition falls exactly under the official description of the disease: the feeling of internal discomfort month after month is a reason to see a specialist.

Cynthia Lubow is a psychotherapist, depression specialist, and author of Ending the Blues: A Psychotherapist's Secrets to Living Depression-Free. nine0056

Text: Xenia Diakova-Tinoku Photo credit: Getty Images

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How to distinguish sadness and bad mood from depression

The idea of ​​depression as a condition when a person is simply very sad does not always correspond to reality. It is important to understand the difference between a bad mood and a depressive state, including in order to have time to orient yourself and ask for help or offer help to a loved one in time. I tried to formulate the differences on the basis of psychological literature, conversations with psychotherapists and the experience of acquaintances. The list is not exhaustive, but I hope it helps to make this question clearer. I note that only a psychotherapist or psychiatrist can make a diagnosis. nine0082


Fullness and emptiness

Sadness itself is a “volumetric” feeling. We can even say "filled with sadness." In sadness there are shades, and intensity, and brightness. And sometimes - even some kind of specific pleasure: to lie around and mourn enough is pleasant in its own way.

Depression - more about emptiness, dullness, emptiness, "plasticity". Feeling that everything is unreal, insipid, "without taste and smell." There is no pleasure in such a state. nine0003

Desires and their absence

In sadness there is always a connection with something valuable for us, it reflects the value of the lost or inaccessible. Longing for the unfulfilled. The desire to return something, the desire to find something, is an impulse.

In depression, you don't want anything, there is a feeling that no one will help, nothing is valuable, everything is meaningless and nothing.

Proximity and isolation

Sadness often pushes us to others: we want to share, complain, cry, sit silently embracing. At the same time, when I am sad, I feel that my sadness is similar to the sadness of other people: my friends are so sad, the characters in books and movies are so sad. nine0003

Depression isolates, often even from loved ones. In a depressive episode, communication is both difficult and undesirable. Sometimes you can’t even remember why people communicate at all, what does it give them? It seems that everyone lives in some other, bright and happy world, which cannot be reached and reached from a depressed state. No one seems to experience something like this anywhere.

An opportunity to help yourself

You can find an “antidote” for sadness – cry, listen to music, call. This makes it easier, and fast enough. nine0003

Watching a movie, taking a walk, making a phone call when you are depressed — you don't feel like it, and it doesn't help.

Physical symptoms

Sadness can affect physical processes, but not much. It is unlikely that anyone can say "I'm so sad that I haven't brushed my teeth for three days."

Depression often includes insomnia or, conversely, endless sleepiness, loss of energy, and appetite fluctuations. It can be really difficult for a person to brush their teeth, for simple household activities you have to save up strength. nine0003

Resentment towards others and self-aggression

In sadness, we can sometimes appoint the guilty and take offense at them to our heart's content. Sadness does not hate itself, does not corrode.

Depression often makes a person turn against himself: "I'm a failure, I failed, I didn't deserve it, I'm worthless."

You may be interested in: Maria Lemeshchuk. Depression! Come out, I'm not afraid of you!

Emotion companions

Sadness goes well with longing for something or someone. Or with resentment. Sometimes with hope. Or even lyrically.

Depression is “combined” with feelings of guilt, with toxic shame for the very fact of one's existence, with hopelessness, impotence, and despair.

Dynamism and mood swings

Sadness is more dynamic and not particularly tied to the time of day. You can have a wonderful cheerful morning, feel sad and cry in the afternoon. nine0003

In depression, a person most often wakes up tired and overwhelmed. By the evening, energy may increase, but on average everything is equally bad.

Obvious cause

Sadness usually has a more or less clear reason. Depression may not have an external cause. Sometimes the cause is difficult to determine even for a specialist.

Balance of the state and its manifestations

Sadness usually maintains a balance between internal and external: if I am sad, I will walk around with a sad face. It will show up, seep out. nine0003

The catch with some types of depression is that on the outside the person may look cheerful. But at the same time, a feeling of isolation from others, shame and guilt, the colorlessness of life and despair will hide deep inside. (I recall the faceofdepression flash mob, when people showed photos in which they supposedly had fun, while having a diagnosed depression. That is, in some cases, a depressed person may seem normal or even happy to outsiders).

Duration

Sadness cannot last two weeks without interruption, even if it has a serious reason. There will be “windows” of activity, interest and curiosity for new things, the joy of communication and intimacy, even when pleasant experiences are tinted with sadness.

For depression, two weeks of low mood is one of the diagnostic criteria.

You may be interested in: Lesia Loriashvili. 5 Questions About Hidden Depression

The Beck Depression Scale can be found online - this is a quick test and does not replace professional diagnosis, but if you recognize yourself in this description or have a score above average on the Beck Scale, it may be time ask for help.

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