The million-dollar question is: Are you depressed or just sad? Everyone experiences sadness, bad days, and blue moods from time to time. Feeling sad is not the same thing as being depressed. So the first order of business is to define what normal sadness is and how it is distinct from depression.
What exactly is sadness? Sadness can be defined as mental anguish or suffering in the absence of any physical pain, such as experiencing the death of a loved one or empathizing with a loved one who is ill. A mother watching her child suffer, for example, is not in any physical pain, but she still suffers and experiences sadness. When we are sad, our emotions are expressed through crying, talking, or thinking continuously about our sorrow. We may find it difficult to sleep, concentrate and eat. Sadness is characterized by sad feelings – the opposite of the numbness that is the main feature of depression.
The problem for many people in affluent cultures is that often sadness is not triggered by anything obvious. For example, our sadness can develop when we realize our lives or situations are not improving or even declining. Stagnating (being in a rut) or finding your life is getting worse rather than better are conditions that lead to sadness and suffering. As human beings, once our basic needs (safety, food, shelter, love) are looked after, we are driven toward self-actualization. But when our life circumstances stymie self-actualization or spiritual growth, we suffer and feel sad. The longing for material possessions, money, or an intimate relationship is often just an expression of the desire for self-realization. Later in life, many of us also begin to question our attachments to material possessions and power; as we get older, we begin to see the difference between real needs (such as love, friendship and respect) and artificial needs (such as money, power and prestige).
For those of us who like the status quo and our quality of life, sadness and suffering can develop when a life event of some kind threatens that status quo, our sense of our own identity, or our quality of life. The threat can come from an infinite variety of sources, of course, ranging from physical illness to financial hardship.
What exactly is sadness? Sadness can be defined as mental anguish or suffering in the absence of any physical pain, such as experiencing the death of a loved one or empathizing with a loved one who is ill. A mother watching her child suffer, for example, is not in any physical pain, but she still suffers and experiences sadness. When we are sad, our emotions are expressed through crying, talking, or thinking continuously about our sorrow. We may find it difficult to sleep, concentrate and eat. Sadness is characterized by sad feelings – the opposite of the numbness that is the main feature of depression.
The problem for many people in affluent cultures is that often sadness is not triggered by anything obvious. For example, our sadness can develop when we realize our lives or situations are not improving or even declining. Stagnating (being in a rut) or finding your life is getting worse rather than better are conditions that lead to sadness and suffering. As human beings, once our basic needs (safety, food, shelter, love) are looked after, we are driven toward self-actualization. But when our life circumstances stymie self-actualization or spiritual growth, we suffer and feel sad. The longing for material possessions, money, or an intimate relationship is often just an expression of the desire for self-realization. Later in life, many of us also begin to question our attachments to material possessions and power; as we get older, we begin to see the difference between real needs (such as love, friendship and respect) and artificial needs (such as money, power and prestige).
For those of us who like the status quo and our quality of life, sadness and suffering can develop when a life event of some kind threatens that status quo, our sense of our own identity, or our quality of life. The threat can come from an infinite variety of sources, of course, ranging from physical illness to financial hardship.
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