Sadness vs Depression

Commonly we interchange use of these words but its not the same. From talking to our friends, colleagues to venting it in social media we use these words interchangeably. But do we mean it right ?

• Sadness is a normal human emotion that every single human will experience at stressful times.
• Emotional reactions to life’s ups and downs are natural. It’s normal to feel sad when there is loss or absence of a loved one, divorce, loss of job or income, financial trouble, or issues at home.
• More often than not, sadness has links to a specific trigger
• Occasional low moodsare not depression because the sad feelings eventually go away.
• Person experiencing sadness can usually find relief from crying, venting, or talking out frustrations.
• With sadness you should also have moments when you are able to laugh or be comforted with.

• But sadness usually passes with time. If it does not pass, or if the person becomes unable to resume normal function, this could be a sign of depression.
• Depression can have both emotional and physical symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and behave
• Depression is constant, not occasional.
• Symptoms of sadness and loss of interest in life are there all the time.
• You feel sad and withdrawn just about every day.
• You can’t just shake off depression, even though other people in your life may tell you to “snap out of it” or that you can control your emotions. Depression isn’t something you can talk yourself out of feeling.
• When someone comes and says ‘you look depressed’, we suddenly try to think about possible reasons or triggers but at times we might not find any major life events which is making us depressed.
• This is where feeling ‘stressed’ is different from feeling ‘depressed’, as feeling depressed might not need any major reason for us to feel that way. Sometimes for no external reason, there can be some disturbances in brain circuits which can make us face depression.