Depression

Mislabeling Depression

Depression is often times mislabeled. A melancholic mood that lasts a few days or a few weeks is not necessarily cause for alarm. This could just mean you are experiencing the normal ups and downs of life. Some people have the tendency to mislabel depression when they are really just sad, bummed out, in a down mood, had a bad day or just feel moody.

Depression vs. Feeling Bad Emotions

Situations happen in life all the time. Could it be depression on just feeling bad? Hard to tell the difference sometimes. Your boss comes down on you really hard about a mistake you made at work. You believe you are depressed. But how does that differ from being hurt or angry? Your cell phone provider has a widespread outage and you no longer have service for well over half the day. You say you feel depressed. How does that differ from frustration? Your boyfriend cancels a dinner date on you. You believe you are depressed. But how does that differ from disappointment? Your good friend moves out of state. You say you are depressed. How is that different from sadness?

For how long?

Depression is beyond the threshold of merely sadness, disappointment, loss, bereavement, a bad day or the holiday blues. Disappointment lasts for a few hours. Bereavement diminishes over time. Depression, on the other hand relentlessly grinds on and on. You feel suffocated. Devoid of life. The depression can hold on for days, weeks, months and even years. This is not the time where you pull yourself up by your bootstraps. It takes time and prayer to defeat depression.