Is Depression different from Sadness?

Last year, Arjun got divorced after 14 years of marriage. At first, his life felt completely off balance. He didn’t know where his bank papers were or how to switch on the ancient geyser in his house, and every morning when he woke up in an empty bed he wished things could have been different. He often spent long hours driving at night, unable to stop thinking about his wife. But as the weeks passed, he learned to survive on his own, even taking up some of the old hobbies he hadn’t had time for when he was married. He still missed his wife and thought about her often, but he didn’t feel as low as he did before. One day he ran into her at the supermarket. She’d lost a drastic amount of weight and her hair was uncombed. As he watched her from a distance, she seemed to be drifting through the aisles, not really paying attention to the goods. She had dark circles under her eyes, indicating that she hadn’t been sleeping, and the tiredness showed on her face. Later, he reached out to her sister and found out that since the divorce, she had quit her job and rarely left the house. She cried without warning and had lost all pleasure in daily life.

While the divorce was traumatic for both of them, Arjun managed to cope with his grief in a healthy way and move forward. For his wife, divorce was the start of depression.

Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, depression and sadness are different. Sadness is a temporary emotion that you might have experienced at one point or another. For instance, doing badly on a test or having an argument with a close friend might cause you to feel sad. However, once you have distracted yourself with something you enjoy or taken some time off to heal, you might end up feeling better.

Depression, on the other hand, is a illness characterised by sadness that lasts beyond two weeks. Depression interferes with work, motivation, sleep and appetite; the things that once gave you pleasure mean nothing anymore. There may be constant fatigue, feelings of guilt, worthlessness, hopelessness and self-criticism - all of which seem to come out of nowhere. Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, or a suicidal intent or attempt are indicators of severe depression. Depression can seriously interfere with an individual’s everyday life and functioning.

When depression is confused for sadness, you might fail to acknowledge the depth of the person’s struggle, and are likely to trivialise their experience by encouraging them to “cheer up” or “choose to be happy”. It is important to be aware of these signs so that you can seek help for yourself and also help others.

If you or somebody you know has been experiencing these symptoms for two weeks or more, reach out to a mental health professional today. An expert can identify signs and select the best treatment approach to help you manage your symptoms better.