Depression vs Sadness

[beetlequeendiva]

Does it annoy anyone else when people say they are depessed when they are just feeling a little bit sad? It really annoys me!!!

 

[Cerulean_Butterfly]

Yes, it annoys me alot. I try not to show being annoyed though... I just kinda deal.

Just try not to let it bug you. Stay strong hun.

-Jo.

 

[VeryTiredGirl]

Does it annoy anyone else when people say they are depessed when they are just feeling a little bit sad? It really annoys me!!!

I hate it. I've been struggling with treatment resisitant depression for 13 years, and it drives me wild. You're (the global 'you') having a bad day, you're sad, you're blue. Until you've been in the depths, don't call it depressed.

 

[beetlequeendiva]

Yup I know - it bugs me alot because it tends to be those people who are just sad over something tiny who tend to go overboard in the "i'm depressed" thing. grrrr

 

[alilsa]

yeah, or they trivialize it by calling depression, "having a bad hair day". It bugs me worse though when people expect us to just snap out of it, think happy thoughts, look at how lucky we are, be thankful for what we are. Or treat depression like a major sin, like backslidden. Yes, I'm a little down, I walk around with a boxcutter in my pocket at work and in my purse, too. Yup, just a little sad, see the scars on my arms? Sorry, I got a little off subject.

 

[kidsminister]

Remember to take those comments with a grain of salt and don't judge too harshly...

Sometimes they are a coping mechanism for someone who truly is struggling in the depths of depression.

For me, if I am feeling particularly down, but am in a situation where I need to function (i.e., work, ministry, etc.), I will take a deep breath, say, "Okay, I'm depressed. Moving on, now..."

I knew that my husband would be my best friend for life (we weren't dating or even thinking of marriage at the time - we were just good friends.) when I walked up to him about 12 years ago and said, "I'm depressed. Make me happy," and he just put his arm around me and we walked around for awhile talking about nothing in particular. To an outside observer, it would have looked like I was being flippant, taking depression lightly, or worse yet - using it to pick up a guy!

But I wasn't doing any of those things. I was trying to cope by making light of something I was feeling that was very real. I was not having a "bad hair day," or just "feeling sad." But at the time, I needed to make the best of the situation and the only way I knew how to do it was to make light of it!

As annoying as it is (while we're on it, how about people who call every headache they get a 'migraine'? Come on, people! Unless you're in excruciating agony where it hurts horribly to even hear someone whisper, take an aspirin and call it what it is!!), remember that many people who use the word 'depressed' flippantly, may truly be feeling depressed and, like me, are using a coping mechanism to get themselves through it...

 

[Serving4Christ]

Until you put yourself in another persons shoes, you can never know what they're feeling inside. Maybe if you found a way to enlighten them with the difference between their depression and sadness, you could turn your annoyance into something positive instead of negative. Just a thought.

 

[soyness]

maybe they're also depressed?

 

[beetlequeendiva]

maybe they're also depressed?

Maybe they are? who knows?

 

[leigh01]

i think if youve been depressed b4 u may have it and ppl not know it annoys me wen ppl say ur not depressed just sad !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Just Me Garry]

I will say this Depression is very real and not just some copout but there are probably people who say they are depressed may be depressed or are just using it for a copout

 

[beetlequeendiva]

I think that some people have taken this as an attack - it wasn't meant like that. I know some people who have broken up with someone who've they've dated for a week and said "I'm so depressed" - this is what I mean!!! i'm not saying that depression is a copout - I know that it's not, it's just hard when some people use it as an everyday term to mean "I'm sad"

 

[leigh01]

i felt like it was an attack

 

[beetlequeendiva]

Leigh - it was not meant as an attack against anybody who is actually depressed, i know what depression is - please try to understand what was actually meant