Dallas Psychotherapy

Am I Just Sad or is this Depression?

Once people hear that you're a therapist, you will consistently get asked questions at parties that have nothing to do with your thoughts about Baby Yoda or your herb garden. One that I've heard several times over the years is, "How do I tell the difference between depression and sadness?"

There are three basic things that help us differentiate the two, and can help you understand if you might need to get help.

Is your sadness proportional? A lot of people that experience typical sadness are having normal reactions to abnormal situations. Being sad for a week or more about the end of a long-term relationship is normal. Spending a weekend feeling "down" after losing a promotion is typical. However, if you got negative feedback at work, and you spend the next 3 weeks in a spiral of sadness and lethargy, that might be depression because the reaction is much larger than the even that caused it.

Depression is chronic. I've had patients describe depression as an unwanted companion that was always waiting for them. In typical sadness, after a while the feelings lift and you go about your life. However people with depression seem to frequently have the looming spectre of depression being a facet of their lives.

Finally, depression carries a few significant symptom that are different from sadness. There is a undercurrent of hopelessness that is accompanied by an inability to motivate yourself to do much of anything.

So, while they can seem similar, depression is a disproportionate chronic sadness with feelings of hopelessness and amotivation that significantly impact their lives. If it seems like you or someone that you care about may be suffering from depression, please reach out to a mental health professional and get help, there are a variety of evidence based approaches to help with depression.

This has been a very different year. Which is my way of saying that 2020 has been objectively awful. This year gets 0 stars on yelp, and I definitely would not recommend it to friends. One of the hard parts has been that many of us have had to make the hard decision to stay home instead of traveling to see family.

You try to make do with phone calls or a video-chat, but let's be honest it's not the same. It's drinking Diet RC Cola, when what you really want is a Diet Coke. And I'm going to say something that's important about that. It's okay to be sad that you can't see your family. It's normal to be angry. And if you feel like crying, I really wouldn't blame you.

A lot of time counselors work with issues that arise when we have exaggerated response to normal situations. However, in 2020 what we're dealing with is normal reactions to an abnormal situation.

At Dallas Psychotherapy, we provide adaptive solutions to the new challenges we're all facing. If you want to talk to a counselor, even for just a single session, or just want a phone session to process what the new normal looks like in the holidays, please visit our website at www.dallaspsychotherapy.com to find out how we can help.