Is your depression just sadness?

I've noticed that a lot of threads on this discussion board mention the word 'depression' in relation to the way people are feeling about losing a boyfriend/ girfriend or a general life situation. What we should be asking ourselves is this: Is our supposed 'depression' merely a sad episode that will pass?. Remember, if you tell yourself that you are depressed, then you naturally have to take on the persona/characteristics of a depressed person (I think, therefore I am). Depression, real depression, is not about sadness and just feeling down -so, we must know the difference!

Sadness, as Germaine Greer, the Femminist writer/poet points out, has the seeds of irony and wit and all things that can create positive change. Sadness is something we all experience in life and it should act as a springboard for action - positive action.

However, If we choose to sink in this 'sadness', then the quagmire will just get deeper and deeper.

Just a thought.

Ah yes Mel, I completely agree.
Yet many people dwelling in so-called 'depression' will all reply saying they TRULY are depressed. Instead of admit to just being sad...

To know true happiness, one must first know the depths of sadness. (to paraphrase some Chinese sage).

Or, one might be trapped in the dizzy heights of happiness. Imagine that!? Perpetual bliss. Then again......

yep, I know what you mean, Nada. Happiness is sadness deferred - put on hold, waiting in the wings. We must always expect both. Strange how few of us never dwell on happiness like we do on sadness!

Hey, nice sharing the discussion with you.

the only way you can truthfully say that you are depressed is if you have been told that you are by a professional or a doctor, which i have, and you can't really be depressed just because you got dumped by your boyfriend or girlfriend, it has to be something really major!!!!
depression is more that sadness........

It’s like one minute you’re fine, and the next minute something happens that makes you think -- I mean really think -- and then you’re totally empty. the only thoughts that are in your head are negative and it makes you feel totally alone, like you don't mean anything to anyone. all you want to do is tell someone how you feel, but you don't want their pity, and even if you could tell someone, nothing would come out right. you don't want to laugh or smile, or whine, or argue, or even be stubborn or difficult, you just want to go to bed and cry and hope this feeling passes, and sometimes it does, but it always seems to come back. you think that all your friends hate you and only talk to you because they feel bad for you. you know complete strangers judge you just because of how you look and how you act, and when you think about how you’re not as beautiful as the crowd that surrounds you, it makes you feel even worse. you know how it feels to know that you’re a bad person, to let your friends down and always be selfish, isolated, self conscious, bitter, whiny, and obsessive. you listen to what everyone else has to say, but you never tell them how YOU feel, because that would mean revealing part of yourself, and you just can't do that; you can't let anyone really know you. and your opinion wouldn't matter to them anyway, and most of all if you took the time to sit down and try to get all your feelings out for the first time in your life, it would be completely overwhelming and if anyone ever listened to all of that, they would have to agree with you 100 percent.

i got that off a different post and it's exactly how people with depression feel, and i couldn't be bothered to explain it in my own words!!!!
luv RaNdOmGaL xxx