When people talk about depression, they usually imagine that it refers to a deep sadness, beyond normal, exaggerated, that prevents the person from enjoying things, going out or generating some projects. They almost always associate it with certain external negative events, which generates this reaction.
For that reason, many do not understand why someone is depressed if they have many blessings and if everything in their life is going well, they do not see the reasons, they do not justify it. And for it is usual that they give well-intentioned advice such as "do your part", "look at everything you have, consider yourself lucky" or "you have no reason to be like this", and one of the worst "others do not have what you have and they are not sad ”.
It is important to distinguish sadness from depression. We all feel sadness, it is something of human nature. Of course, there are people who, for one reason or another, most of them pathological, do not feel sadness. But most of us get sad when something negative happens, or when things don't go the way we imagined, when they disappoint us, or for many other reasons. Sometimes this sadness is very strong, and it limits our activities, demotivates us and makes us feel pessimistic about the future. Other times we live a grief, which is not only due to the death of a loved one, but can also occur due to a love breakdown, the loss of a job or an economic bankruptcy.
But depression is more than this. Called in medicine 'major depressive disorder', it refers to a very complex clinical picture, with many variables and numerous factors that produce it, of a biological, personality, social and experiential nature, which generate a series of multiple symptoms that affect the quality of life and functionality in the personal, family, social and academic or work spheres significant
These symptoms go far beyond sadness or lack of motivation. They include physical symptoms such as insomnia or excess drowsiness, low or excess appetite, anxiety, low energy, slowness or restlessness, problems with concentration, memory and planning skills, and numerous depressive thoughts such as ideas of worthlessness, which There is no future, that the world is bad, that nothing significant will be achieved with life, insults to self-esteem, ideas of guilt and even ideas that it is better to be dead, that it is a burden for the family or the community and, in more serious cases, ideas of wanting to end life.
As you can see, clinical depression is much more than being sad about a negative or adverse situation. For that reason it is that the advice to put on one's side or not to feel sad because we have more blessings than others, do not work, they even irritate people who are going through depression.
If you have any of these symptoms that I mentioned, you may be experiencing depression. Of course, there are varying degrees, and it can be mild or very serious; But, anyway, if this takes longer than you can tolerate, or if it is getting out of hand and you have not been able to handle it with your own coping strategies, it is best to get professional help.
For more information on how to recognize if you are experiencing depression and learn strategies that you can do yourself to alleviate depression, click here.
If you want to work on yourself in a more personalized way through face-to-face psychotherapeutic consultations or via Skype, click here.
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