What Is Depression?
Let's take a moment to talk about the difference between sadness and depression. Often, we use these terms interchangeably, but they are actually quite different.
Some of the ways we distinguish between depression and sadness are:
- Sadness:
- Is a normal, painful, response to challenging life events.
- Usually passes when the challenging event passes.
- Is something we all experience at some point in our lives.
- Depression:
- May or may not include feelings of sadness.
- Is a more persistent experience.
- Includes a cluster of symptoms.
- May or may not arise out of a painful experience, so a person might not identify a reason for symptoms.
Often times, people describe feeling that their depressive symptoms become this overwhelming mess and it feels like everything just keeps going bad, like a downward spiral. So for instance, you might make a mistake on an exam (which right now might feel like a minor event). However with depression, you may see the mistake, feel sad and irritable, feel hopeless about your academic skills, lose your appetite, and feel exhausted but can't sleep! In those moments, it might be hard to step back and see how the symptoms started or got to where they now are.
For a list of common depressive symptoms, click here.
For more information about depressive disorders, click here.