{"id":12435,"date":"2019-10-03T13:51:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T18:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mentalhe180dev.wpenginepowered.com\/news\/the-difference-between-feeling-sad-and-having-depression\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T08:32:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:32:43","slug":"the-difference-between-feeling-sad-and-having-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.grafik.mentalhealthfirstaid.org\/es\/news\/the-difference-between-feeling-sad-and-having-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"The Difference Between Feeling Sad and Having Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We all feel sad or blue when bad things happen. The loss of a loved one, a breakup or just a bad day can all cause feelings of sadness. And that\u2019s okay. Sadness is a healthy emotion to feel when faced with a difficult situation and usually we cope and soon recover without treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Depression on the other hand can be debilitating and require additional support. A major depressive disorder lasts for at least two weeks and affects a person\u2019s ability to work, carry out usual daily activities and have satisfying personal relationships.<\/p>\n<p>Sadness is a symptom of depression, but it is not the only one. <strong>Here are some signs that can help you determine if you or your loved one is feeling sad or is facing depression.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A person who is feeling sad <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Might express emotion through crying.<\/li>\n<li>Might spend time alone.<\/li>\n<li>Can maintain regular eating and sleeping patterns.<\/li>\n<li>Can participate in regular activities, such as work or school.<\/li>\n<li>Starts feeling better in a few days or weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A person who has depression<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Might experience unusual feelings of sadness, anxiety, guilt, anger, hopelessness, helplessness and irritability that last two weeks or more.<\/li>\n<li>Might move more slowly or sometimes becomes agitated and unable to settle.<\/li>\n<li>Might have sleeping difficulties or sometimes sleep too much.<\/li>\n<li>Might lose interest in activities that used to be enjoyable.<\/li>\n<li>Might have thoughts about self-harm or suicide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Not every person who is depressed has all these symptoms. Everyone is different in the number and severity of symptoms, making it important that we really <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org\/2018\/07\/understanding-depression\/\">understand depression<\/a> and know how to identify and differentiate signs of sadness and depression.<\/p>\n<p>If it\u2019s difficult to pinpoint the reason for feeling down or if the feelings persist, it might be worthwhile to talk to someone. This <a href=\"https:\/\/screening.mhanational.org\/content\/whats-difference-between-depression-and-being-sad\">self-assessment<\/a> from Mental Health America can be a place to start if you\u2019re unsure if your feelings are more than sadness.<\/p>\n<p>You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org\/take-a-course\/\">take a Mental Health First Aid course<\/a> to learn more about depression and ways to help. Mental Health First Aid teaches people how to notice signs of depression, provide support in a nonjudgmental way and share appropriate resources and professional help.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all feel sad or blue when bad things happen. The loss of a loved one, a breakup or just a bad day can all cause feelings of sadness. And &#8230; <a title=\"The Difference Between Feeling Sad and Having Depression\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.grafik.mentalhealthfirstaid.org\/es\/news\/the-difference-between-feeling-sad-and-having-depression\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Difference Between Feeling Sad and Having Depression\">Read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":12436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[178,181],"news-type":[172],"class_list":["post-12435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-mental-health","topic-mhfa-training","news-type-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Difference Between Feeling Sad and Having Depression<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Difference Between Feeling Sad and Having Depression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We all feel sad or blue when bad things happen. The loss of a loved one, a breakup or just a bad day can all cause feelings of sadness. And ... 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