What Is the Difference Between Being Sad and Being Depressed?
Have you ever gone through something terrible in life or maybe feel terrible when you feel you should not? Many people experience this everyday and find themselves asking the question: What is the difference between being sad and being depressed? That question can be very difficult to answer, but there are some different symptoms between the two issues.
One major difference between being sad and being depressed is that feeling sad is an emotion that corresponds to an event in your life. For example, you may be sad if you did not get a raise at work or if missed your child’s play at school. Sadness can last for awhile, but there is always a definite end to the sadness.
Depression, on the other hand, is a mental illness that does not go away on its own. While depression can come and go, it is always there in the back waiting to emerge again. Another difference between being sad and being depressed is that depression does not have to be attached to anything. You can literally wake up and feel completely miserable and unable to move for no apparent reason, other than you are suffering from depression. Although depression seems to come from nowhere, depression can be linked to certain events, like dealing with the death of a loved one or a traumatic event in your life.
With all of the misconceptions on depression, “The Mighty”, an inspirational site, asked their members to explain what their depression is to them. Here are a few quotes that will help to put depression into perspective.
Elizabeth Rose explains, “Depression is just as real an illness as diabetes or heart disease.” She continues, “It must be treated with due care, because one of the serious side effects is suicide.”
Katherine Intven Tyndall really drives the message across by stating, “It’s not only my mood that’s ‘depressed.’ Energy levels, motivation, feeling of self-worth and self-restraint are all affected as well.” Katherine continues, “It doesn’t mean I’m lying in bed crying all day, especially as a mom of two young kids.” She explains, “I’m doing my best to be as functional as possible. Instead of ‘sad,’ I may seem irritable or short-tempered, for which I probably feel guilty as hell.”
Melissa Marcasciano McKeown describes depression perfectly with stating, “Despite knowing others live with depression and anxiety, you feel alone.”
Michayla Nicole Rasmussen explains, “Simple tasks are so much harder when you live with depression. Cleaning the house, running to the store or even holding up a conversation can be a mission for us.” Michayla continues, “As adults, we’re expected to suck it up and go to college, go to work and make something of ourselves.” She simply puts it, “It’s difficult when you can’t even get yourself out of bed most days. I’m not lazy; I’m sick.”
Chanel DeSimone explains, “Calling someone lazy isn’t going to make a person with depression get out of bed; it’ll just give them one more thing to dwell on and feel awful about.”
Ruth Wootton explains, “The cruelest words in the English language can be, ‘Pull yourself together.’ Living with depression is a sign of immense strength and bravery and not of weakness and cowardice.”
Jenny Reilly states, “Sometimes you wake up and just cannot face the world. There’s no rhyme or reason for this; it’s just part of the illness.”
https://www.yahoo.com/health/26-truths-people-living-with-depression-wish-121049739483.html