Everyone feels sad from time to time. It’s a normal and healthy human emotion. In some cases, though, sadness can point toward something more serious, like depression. Because the characteristics of sadness and symptoms of depression often overlap, it can be difficult to differentiate between the two.
Sadness is a mood state characterized by emotional pain that we feel when we experience loss, setbacks, or disappointments. It can be mild and last for a short period, or it can be more severe and linger for weeks or even months.
Depression, also called major depressive disorder (MDD), is a mental illness that causes persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and loss of interest. It can impact every aspect of your life, from how you think and feel to how you eat, sleep, and interact with others.
Depression is common, affecting around 5% of the global adult population.1 But, unlike sadness, not everyone experiences it in their lifetime.
Behavioral characteristics of sadness
Sadness doesn’t have “symptoms” because it’s not an illness—it’s an emotion. That said, certain feelings and behaviors do tend to go along with being sad:
- Finding it hard to concentrate or make decisions
- Feeling overwhelmed or hopeless
- Losing interest in things you used to enjoy
- Sleeping more or less than usual
- Withdrawing from friends and family
- Comforting yourself with food, alcohol, or drugs
- Experiencing physical symptoms such as crying, muscle tension, rapid heartbeat, or upset stomach
These characteristics can vary in intensity and duration, depending on the underlying cause of your sadness. For example, if you accidentally break your favorite mug, you might feel mildly sad about it for a day or so.
But if you unexpectedly lose your job, you might feel extremely sad about it for weeks or even months, especially if you struggle to find a new one. This type of major loss can be more difficult to cope with, meaning there’s a higher likelihood your sadness may turn into depression.
Signs and symptoms of depression
Depression is a complex condition that can cause a wide range of physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms. The most common of these include:
- Persistent low mood state
- Loss of interest and pleasure in almost all activities
- Significant changes in eating habits characterized by an increase or decrease in appetite and/or weight
- Fatigue or low energy
- Restlessness that leads to irritability or agitation
- Changes in sleeping patterns
- Trouble concentrating or making decisions
- Feelings of guilt or worthlessness
- Persistent thoughts about suicide or death
- Physical ailments such as headaches, digestive issues, and chronic pain
To indicate depression as it’s clinically defined, at least five of the above symptoms must be experienced nearly every day for at least two weeks.2 Persistent depressive disorder means experiencing at least two of the symptoms for more than two years for adults, or one year for children and adolescents.3 A mental health professional can determine whether your symptoms meet the criteria for a diagnosis.
How to tell whether you’re sad or experiencing depression
The behavioral characteristics of sadness and the symptoms of depression are quite similar, but there are several ways to tell them apart. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help clarify what you’re experiencing:
What’s causing me to feel this way?
If your feelings were triggered by a specific event, like a job loss or the death of a loved one, it’s more likely that you’re experiencing a normal emotional response to a difficult situation—even if your feelings seem very intense. But if you can’t pinpoint the cause of your low mood, or if you’ve been feeling down for no apparent reason, it could be a sign of depression.
How long have I been feeling this way?
If your feelings subside once the situation has passed and you’ve had time to process it, you may be experiencing sadness. But if your feelings linger for weeks or months, that could be a sign you’re dealing with depression.
How have my feelings affected my daily life?
Sadness might make it hard to concentrate or make decisions, but it shouldn’t have a significant impact on your ability to function day to day. Depression, on the other hand, can make it hard to carry out even the simplest tasks. If your low mood is interfering with work, school, or your personal life, it may be a sign of depression.
Do I have thoughts about suicide or death?
Suicidal thoughts are a major red flag for depression. If you’re thinking about harming yourself or taking your own life, please get help right away. You can call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for free, confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line.
You can experience depression without feeling sad
Although sadness is a main component of clinical depression, it’s possible to experience depression without feeling sad.4 Instead of sadness, a person with depression may feel numb, empty, or as if they lack purpose or meaning in life. They might also feel fatigued or restless, but not necessarily sad.
The range of feelings associated with depression helps us remember that just because someone doesn’t look or act sad doesn’t mean they’re not depressed. Sadness does not equal depression, and vice versa.
Because sadness is a universal emotion and not a mental health condition, it doesn’t require treatment. However, there are ways to cope with and manage feelings of sadness until they pass. These include:
- Allowing yourself to feel sadness
- Expressing your feelings through writing, art, or music
- Spending time with supportive people
- Staying active, eating nutritious foods, and getting enough sleep
- Engaging in hobbies and activities you enjoy
Depression is a serious mental illness that requires professional help. A person can’t just “snap out” of depression by being reminded to focus on the positive. Treatment for depression typically involves a combination of psychotherapy and medication.
If your sadness is impacting your ability to function, or you think you may have depression, we encourage you to reach out for help. Visit our directory to connect with a therapist near you.
Written by Elise Burley, Original post: Therapist.com
Find out how Michelle Thielen overcame depression and suicide in her book: Exit Wilderness, A Roadmap Out of Depression and Hopelessness.
Exit Wilderness includes declarations and prayers to encourage you each morning.
From Christian Help for Depression:
Overcoming sadness vs. treating depression
Depression: is it a Spirit
The bible is very clear, the spirit of heaviness is connected to depression, therefore depression is a spirit, and the root cause of depression is a dysfunctional connection with God, through a misunderstanding of His word.
is-depression-a-spirit Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
For us as Christians, we need to renew our minds to think positively and not to be thinking about the worst outcomes, and believe in what the word tells us, to think about good things and that good things are going to happen to us, that all good things comes from our Father in heaven James 1:7. Hope from the word of God, provides a confident expectation of good things, and to always be thankful Phil 4:6.
Our hearts can be downcast. This spirit can bring a “heaviness” over us, it tries to rob our hope. It brings a heavy, oppressive feeling. It tries to steal our faith. Depression tries to come over us like a dark, heavy cloud. When this cloud is hanging over us, it may come over us at once, like a plague. It can cause us to isolate, it tries to steal our love, wants to make us feel alone, and it tries to steal our relationship with God. However, in all things related to depression, it is putting on the garment of praise that can bring us out of depression.
Mental turmoil – confusion, agitation, disquiet, is usually caused by emotional buildup (things never let go of) and it usually brings fear. Fear does not come from God, 2 Tim. 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
To defeat this oppression, we need to be thankful to Jesus Christ that we are saved. Rejoice! Thank Him for your health, Thank Him, Thank Him and Thank Him repeatedly. Make a list of all the good things in your life, “All good things come from above”, James 1:17.
The more we Thank Him the less we will be in self-pity or murmuring, and we must kill all self-pity, if we want to escape any oppression. Circumstances go up and down, but in everything give thanks.
“In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thess. 5:18. As Christians we sometimes have a very tough time doing this, but this is the bible way of getting free from depression and getting the dark clouds to roll away and the sunshine on our lives again. So put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness- Isaiah 61.
Pray this prayer, every time the heaviness comes on, thank you Father, I have the authority from the finished work of your Son, I rebuke this spirit of Heaviness, I command it to leave me, in the name of Jesus. I bind this spirit and command it to lose from me, I resist this heaviness and because I am submitted to God, it must, and it will Flee…James 4:7
What is the opposite of self-pity? Murmuring and complaining and blaming others? No, it is Gratitude…
We all have been tempted when things get difficult to start complaining, and moaning and blaming God for not taking us out of the situation we are in. We need to repent of blaming God, hold on to the guarantee of the Finished Work, and resist the devil. They will most definitely flee from us.
Paul in Acts 16 was thrown in prison for setting a girl free from a spirit of divination. You can imagine what prisons were like in those days. If he had been like most of us today, he would have been asking, “How could this have happened to us? Get us out of here! We must have messed up somewhere. God must be mad at us!”
What were they doing? Praising and rejoicing.
This is indeed a high bar for all of us, but what an example to us. What would you have been thinking about if you were with Paul in that jail? Yes, we may be a long way from where Paul was in his thinking, but we can get on this path of thanking God no matter what the situation.
It makes demons mad when we thank the Lord when things go wrong. This is what a committed Christian does: give thanks even when things look bad in the natural realm.
Things looked bad in the natural for Joshua and Caleb, but they kept their eyes on the prize and trusted the Word of God, that they were given the land. Even though in the natural things did not look good: fortified cities, well equipped armies, tall strong men, they had courage and perseverance.
This is what you will need to resist the enemy, and because you are resisting you are in faith (James 2:14-26). Because you are acting, you are in faith. Therefore, what you need to do now is have courage and perseverance to continue to resist until oppression flees from you. And flee they will!!!
Paul and Silas, with their backs beaten and bloody, in a filthy prison with rats running around, did not get into self-pity and the “poor old me’s!” Demons like it when Christians complain. Their goal is to get Christians to say: “God, it’s your fault.”
This is a horrible thing, and it will get us in a lot of trouble. We’ve all dealt with self-pity at some point, and we must REPENT when we blame God for our problems.
“In everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Get to the place where you are doing that all the time, not just in church, but on Monday morning when things get messy and things are not good at all. Everyone has family problems. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have them.
Always say: “Thank you, Jesus
From: ChristianHelpForDepression.com
