“I’m so depressed today, I've had the worst morning”
We may have witnessed or been one of those that explain their intense emotions using “depression” while they may in fact feel “sadness” instead. It’s important to know the difference between both terms because their incorrect usage can cause plenty of misconceptions.
Being sad is typically a response to a certain situation that happened. When a negative event occurs, you get sad, feel irritated, may be a bit aggressive, and can have difficulty with your sleep. Examples of situations where you may feel sad afterwards may include:
There is always a clear cause or an apparent reason behind the person’s behavior and their feelings when they are sad. In other words, being sad is a direct response to a certain overt situation that most probably is not a positive one. No matter what the reason behind the person’s sadness may be, they are usually able to pinpoint what it is. Even so, regardless of the cause, people usually feel sad for a while, which is normal, but they typically move on with ease (can face some challenges) and they feel better shortly after.
A person who is depressed will often find themselves suddenly feeling down without being aware of why they are feeling that way. In contrast to being sad, the person doesn’t understand what is going on and there is no apparent reason behind their low mood when they are depressed. With depression, the periods during which a person feels down are much longer. They usually last around a two-week period, and the person is generally able to identify the beginning of the period during which they started to feel down. For instance, a person who is depressed will be able to say that they started feeling a little bit under the weather since the beginning of the week. In depression, there doesn’t need to be a major traumatic event that takes place before the person begins to notice that they are not okay. They don’t need to wait until their symptoms are extremely severe for them to start realizing that they are struggling and that they need help. Not to mention that a major difference between sadness and depression is that depression is considered a disorder where someone has to be diagnosed to be such. In addition, in order for a person to be eligible for diagnosis for major depressive disorder, their symptoms need to be consistently present for at least two weeks. The most common and important symptoms include:
In extreme cases, death wishes take over the mind of the depressed. With time, these symptoms may worsen to the extent where the person may start having suicidal thoughts and actually engage in self-harm activities. At this point, the severity of the symptoms turns into alarmingly dangerous signs as they become life-threatening.
We all can feel sad sometimes and that’s okay. Hardships and low moments are bound to be present in all our lives. Try to identify the cause of your sadness, work on it, and embrace it. That being said, depression is a disorder that requires diagnosis and is explained using intense symptoms with a longer time period and an undetectable clear cause. Differentiating between both and starting to use them in a correct manner will help lift off any misconceptions about both.
