Lesson Two - The Difference between Sadness and Depression

Sadness and depression can sometimes seem very similar and often when someone is sad, it is said that they are “depressed”. The words are being used interchangeably, but there is a difference between them. Everyone will feel sadness at some point; there is no escape from being sad. However, depression is a mental illness that has been diagnosed by a professional and not everyone will experience depression.

To give an example, if sadness and depression were types of weather, sadness would be represented by a light rainfall while depression would be a hurricane. In addition, sadness is a response to a particular event occuring in your life, while depression has an effect on every aspect of life, happy and sad events included.

The following provides the primary symptoms of depression, which are represented in a circle because many of these symptoms keep recurring: