More Than Sadness: A Deep Dive Into Depression

Depression Is More Than ‘Feeling Sad’

Depression is a condition characterized by feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and often worthlessness, accompanied by both physical and mental symptoms. Depression can best be described as sadness that can take over your life and impact your daily activities, causing you to not function as you normally would.

Feeling sad, on the other hand, can be a mood state where you’re reacting to the circumstances you find yourself in—but unlike depression, your mood recovers over time. Sadness over a life event or while grieving may last for a few days or weeks, but this sadness doesn’t generally lead to the overwhelming sense of darkness that accompanies major depression.

Experiencing sadness means that you can still enjoy activities that you previously liked. Depression, on the other hand, can be an all-consuming sadness that zaps joy from life and where days are spent immersed in negative thoughts.

Depression doesn’t pick and choose what parts of your life are impacted. Rather, if you are dealing with depression, that feeling will affect how you think, what you do, and what you choose not to do. Often, you may lose interest in events, relationships, and activities that were once enjoyable.

If left untreated, depression can creep into all parts of your life—work, school, and home—escalating in intensity and impacting relationships, health, and education.

What Causes Depression To Occur?

Depression is often caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and/or genetic factors. Depression can happen when there are particular changes in the brain or we get stuck in repetitive, negative patterns of thinking. Environmental factors, like job loss, a divorce, or problems at work can also have a major impact on whether someone is prone to depressive episodes.

A bout of depression could happen after a traumatic event or a change of circumstances in one’s life. It could also occur because of changes in the brain or from addiction to drugs or alcohol. Depression can happen around the birth of a child, due to menstrual cycle changes, or due to a seasonal change in the weather.

Who Develops Depression?

Anyone can develop depression at any time in their lives. This can occur because of life events or due to changes in the body.

There is no way to determine whether or not your feelings will be temporary or if you will become depressed for long durations of time. For this reason, it is extremely important to recognize the signs of depression so you can obtain help if needed.

While depression occurs more in adults, it can also happen to children. As a parent or caregiver, knowing the signs of depression helps to get a child the necessary support to deal with their feelings appropriately.

How Do I Know if It’s Depression?

You often know when you feel upset, down, and sad. But if you feel this way often, you may start to wonder if you are struggling with depression.

A key indicator of a depressive episode is if sadness has lasted more than two weeks. Most people have ups and downs in their lives and have happy times to compensate for times that are not so great.

Depression has physical, emotional, and mental symptoms. While some people experience only one depression episode in their lives, these symptoms occur most days and over prolonged periods of time.

To be clinically diagnosed, someone must experience five or more of the following symptoms during the same two-week period. At least one of the symptoms must be either a depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure.

Some of the mental and emotional symptoms of depression include:

• Feeling hopeless
• Feeling indifferent
• Being irritable
• Feeling worthless, helpless, or guilty
• Feelings of anxiety or agitation
• Withdrawing from friends and family
• No longer interested in hobbies, activities, and spending time with others
• Difficulty with concentration and making decisions
• Thoughts of self-harm or suicide
• Loss of memory

Some of the physical symptoms of depression include:

• Fatigue or a noticeable loss of energy
• Headaches
• Digestive difficulties
• Body aches and pains with no clear reason for their presence
• Restlessness or an urge to move around constantly
• Trouble falling and staying asleep, waking extremely early or late
• Changes with weight due to overeating or not eating enough
• Self-harm
• Attempts at suicide

Depression in Kids and Teens

While depression can occur at any stage of life, the symptoms of the condition may be different in a child than in an adult.

Teens live very up-and-down lives—peer pressure, schooling, employment, and puberty can all contribute to emotional swings. With some teens, feeling low isn’t temporary and can be overlooked as “just part of growing up” instead of signs of possible depression.

Some of the symptoms of depression in kids and teens may include:

• Sadness
• Irritability
• Clinginess
• Excessive worrying
• Inexplicable aches and pains
• Feeling negative or worthless
• Refusal to go to school or participate in school-based activities
• Loss of interest in activities, including socializing
• Using drugs or alcohol
• Poor performance in school
• Being underweight

Depression in Older Adults

Older adults are at a higher risk of depression than other age groups. Depression is more common when a person is experiencing other health conditions. They may also experience depression when going through the loss of a loved one or losing the ability to do something.

Often depression is either overlooked in older populations or is assumed to be part of growing older. Neither is true, but by increasing awareness of symptoms, we can help our older loved ones.

Some symptoms of depression in older adults may include:

• Difficulty with memories or remembering things
• Changes in personality
• Physical aches or pains without cause
• Fatigue or sleep problems
• Loss of appetite
• Loss of interest in sex, not caused by a medical condition or medication
• Strong desire to stay at home instead of socializing or participating in activities

If you are depressed, you may only have one or two of the above symptoms, or you may experience several. Symptoms may also change depending upon the intensity of a depressive episode.

Knowing these symptoms, however, will help you in determining whether you need to seek medical treatment to help make the symptoms decrease in intensity or go away altogether.

Getting Help for Depression

Knowing when to reach out for help can make depression easier to live with. If you try to ignore symptoms in the hope that they will go away on their own, they could just become harder to deal with. In time, depressive episodes can become more intense. Waiting to seek treatment may make it more difficult to get through symptoms when they occur.

The first step toward improving your mental health is to make an appointment with a medical professional for a complete physical and evaluation.

If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm or feelings of wanting to hurt others, then you need to seek immediate care.

How Depression Is Diagnosed

To diagnose depression, a mental health professional or medical provider will ask you many questions about your everyday feelings and actions. They may ask you how you would react to particular situations to help determine the intensity of your symptoms.

During a session with a medical provider, tests are conducted to determine whether there is a medical reason causing you to be depressed. This includes a physical examination to rule out conditions that cause symptoms to arise.

If it is determined that a medical condition may be a cause, treatment for the diagnosed condition will be administered to see if depression decreases or disappears. If not, alternate means are explored to curb depressive feelings when or before they occur.

Your provider will ask questions about the intensity and frequency of symptoms experienced and may ask about a family history of depression or other mental health conditions. They may ask about what you’re experiencing to determine whether there are triggers that cause symptoms to arise and gauge if the depression is situational. The more information you’re able to provide, the better.

After a physical exam and conversation about what you’re experiencing, your medical provider may request a psychiatric evaluation by a mental health professional. They will use the information provided in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the guidelines for mental health diagnosis, to determine whether you meet the criteria for depression.

How Is Depression Treated?

Treatment for depression can vary depending on the person and the type of depression. Some folks respond well to medication, some use individual and group therapy, and some find it best to have a blend of the two treatments along with general wellness activities, such as exercise and yoga practices.

It’s important to know that it may take some time to determine what type of treatment is best for you. There are a lot of medications available to treat depression, along with a variety of therapies. What works well for someone else may not work for you, and that’s completely okay.

To make sure that depression is being treated successfully, it’s important to remain open and honest with your care team. If a treatment doesn’t work, it does not mean that you are a failure. Instead, it means that your provider may need to tweak your care plan to help you continue to see improvements in your life.

There are two main types of treatment used for depression: medication and therapy. Your care team can help you determine which treatment route you should take based on the type of depression you’re experiencing.

Medication

Many medications have been found to treat depression effectively. They can help you effectively deal with life situations without feeling depressed. There are several types of medication for depression, and for this reason, it is important to discuss side effects with your medical provider.

Some medications will cause depressive episodes to worsen rather than make them easier to deal with. If you feel this is happening to you, contact your medical provider immediately so you can be switched to an alternate form of medication, or try therapy.

In some instances, patients need to try several different types of medication in different dosages before they find one that works well for their difficulties.

Therapy

Talk therapy, otherwise known as psychotherapy, is effective in treating depression.

Therapies such as cognitive behavior therapy or dialectical behavior therapy help patients learn new skills to better manage their moods and symptoms. Therapy can also be unstructured and focus more on talk therapy, where the patient meets with a therapist to talk about whatever is troubling them.

A therapist will help the person learn how to deal with triggers effectively when they occur and will also help the patient find ways to avoid triggers so depressive episodes are less likely. This type of therapy is conducted on a one-on-one basis but can also be tailored to include friends or family members in a group setting if desired.

Some people also find group sessions with others who are dealing with depression to be helpful. It gives them the chance to discuss symptoms and effective coping tactics with others who are experiencing similar symptoms and makes them feel less alone.

In cases of severe depression, therapies like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), ketamine treatment, or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may help.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to treatment for depression, so it’s important to remember that what works for a friend or family member may not work as well for you. By working closely with your providers, you can find what works for you.

Debunking Myths About Depression

Depression has a lot of gray area—and because of that, a lot of myths about depression are well known. Below, we break down some of the most common ones and how we can help change the conversation around depressive disorders.

Myth: Depression Is Just Feeling Sad

You may have heard someone say “Oh, I’m feeling so depressed,” when, in fact, they’re just sad. Depression and its impacts are not the same for everyone—and can’t be cured by thinking positive thoughts.

Myth: To Be Depressed, You Have To Have Every Symptom of the Condition

Some people have only a few symptoms, while others will experience almost all of them. The symptoms felt by someone with depression depend upon the severity of their condition as well as the time frame that the person has been struggling with the condition.

Myth: Depression’s Something You Can Just Snap Out of and Be Fine

Many people believe that if you’re depressed, you can snap out of it or just remain focused on being happy. While this would be an easy solution, it’s not feasible for someone living with depression. It is a true medical condition that requires effective treatment.

Myth: There’s Only One Type of Depression

Many don’t understand that there are different types of depression. More are unaware that there is clinical depression, situational depression, and more manageable feelings of sadness. Depression isn’t something you can sleep off after a bad day. It can last for weeks, months, or years if untreated.

Your Days Will Get Brighter—There Is Hope!

If you are experiencing symptoms or have been diagnosed with depression, there are ways to address it. The first steps to better days are to take it seriously and to take care of yourself.

Depression can be curbed with appropriate treatment. In addition, someone struggling with depression will be taught coping mechanisms to help them get through depressive bouts successfully. Treatment is always a better option than ignoring signs of a problem.

If you do not seek help from someone trained to deal with depression, you will not have the opportunity to treat it. By addressing your feelings, you have the opportunity to treat them in a way that works well for you. Through care, your symptoms will not occur as often or as intensely.

Depression can be a challenge, but with the right care, it can be conquered.

Contributors

Christian A. Webb, PhD