Science Questions with Surprising Answers
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Dr. Christopher S. Baird

How can I tell if I have depression or just normal sadness?

Category: Health      Published: June 27, 2024

By: Christopher S. Baird, author of The Top 50 Science Questions with Surprising Answers and Associate Professor of Physics at West Texas A&M University

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Christopher S. Baird

The best way to tell if you have clinical depression is to be assessed by a medical professional, such as your primary care doctor, a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, or a physician assistant. Trying to diagnose yourself for any illness is a bad approach, but it's especially bad for mental illnesses. This is because mental illnesses by their very nature tend to cloud your judgement. The best approach is to get checked by a medical professional if you have any suspicion at all that you might have depression. Being evaluated for clinical depression can be as easy as going to your primary care doctor, filling out a quick questionnaire, and then answering a few questions from your doctor. In fact, depression screening is so quick, easy, and potentially beneficial that many primary care providers automatically include a depression screening as part of every regular annual checkup. If you have any doubt about whether you have clinical depression or not, it's best to play it safe and get evaluated by a medical professional. There's no need to guess if you have depression; no need to bounce around the internet looking for info about how to diagnose yourself; and no need to remain in uncertainty. A professional assessment for depression is accessible and easy.

Don't be prevented from getting checked out for depression by the thought that only weak people get depression. The truth is that clinical depression is an illness that arises from biochemical and physical abnormalities in the brain. It's not a result of being emotionally week or mentally feeble, despite what society may say. Being assessed for clinical depression does not mean that you lack strength of character. Don't let such thoughts stop you from going to the doctor to get checked out for depression. Furthermore, doctors and other healthcare providers won't look down on you for having depression or for even thinking that you may have depression—they know that it's a medical illness and not a personality flaw.

Imagine that you had a sudden onset of the symptoms of diabetes. Would you tell yourself the following? "I'm not going to the doctor to see if I have diabetes because tough people don't get diabetes, and I'm tough! Even if I do have diabetes, I'm not going to accept medical treatment—only weaklings do that. I'm not one of those people. I don't want to be dependent on medications." Telling yourself this and letting it prevent you from getting medical help would be ridiculous! Refusing treatment for type 1 diabetes does not make you tough. It makes you dead.

Similarly, suffering from clinical depression has nothing to do with being weak. Ignoring depression and refusing treatment can make you dead. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 24 years old in the U.S.. Admitting that you may have depression is not shameful, disgraceful, or embarrassing. Getting help for clinical depression has nothing to do with lacking moral strength or failing to be a tough guy. Don't let such worries prevent you from being professionally assessed for depression. There is no shame in talking with your doctor about the possibility that you may have depression, just like there is no shame in getting a blood test to see if you have diabetes or prediabetes. Unfortunately, movies often use the line, "You need professional help! " as an insult or as a joke, but in real life getting professional help for mental illness is a positive thing. It's a huge step forward toward relief, healing, and empowerment. It could even save your life. Confronting an illness and battling against it is a sign of courage and strength. Being in denial about an illness is a sign of weakness.

Also, don't be prevented from getting checked out for depression by the thought that seeing a doctor is useless; that doctors can't do anything to help people with depression. They can help! The majority of people with clinical depression find significant relief once they find the right medications and therapies. Unfortunately, depression affects the brain in such a way that it makes seeking help seem useless and pointless. However, that does not mean that it really is useless and pointless. It's just your brain telling you that. An unjustified, overwhelming sense of hopelessness is one of the main symptoms of clinical depression. You may have to bravely push through such thoughts to get help. If getting checked by a doctor for depression seems pointless or too difficult for you, enlist the support of a trusted friend, such as a parent, spouse, adult sibling, coach, mentor, church leader, or other trusted friend. Tell this trusted friend what you are experiencing and that you may have depression. Once your friend knows what is going on, he or she can help you see through the fog of hopelessness and go to the doctor to be checked for depression. Often it can be helpful to have your trusted friend call and make the doctor's appointment, physically drive you to your appointment, and then accompany you in your appointment.

Don't be prevented from getting checked out for depression because you don't know where to start. You can start by going to your primary care provider and asking to be evaluated for depression. Or, you may want to go directly to see a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner to be assessed. You can find one by looking through the list of approved healthcare providers from your health insurance company or by searching the internet. In our day and age, many psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners can meet with you from far away using video calling technology, which is known as "telehealth". This means that your search for a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner can extend to anywhere in your state or even anywhere in the country. This is good to keep in mind if you discover that all of the psychiatric professionals within driving distance of where you live have no openings for appointments for the next six months.

You may have depression and should go to your primary care provider or a psychiatric professional for evaluation if you have experienced some of the problems listed below for the majority of every day, for more than two weeks.

How you may feel emotionally if you have depression:

What you may experience mentally if you have depression:

If you are seriously considering suicide, harming yourself, or harming others and you pose an immediate threat, immediately call your country's emergency phone number, which is "911" in the United States, or call your country's suicide hotline, which is "988" in the United States. Here is a list of emergency phone numbers for each country. Or, if you think you can do this safely, have a trusted friend immediately drive you to the nearest emergency room or mental hospital.

What you may experience physically if you have depression:

How depression may affect your life and external appearance:

If you have experienced some of these problems for most of each day, for more than two weeks, then you should be checked out for depression by a medical professional. The fact that you don't have many of these problems does not necessarily mean that you don't have depression. For instance, although clinical depression is most often associated with excessive sadness, some people who suffer from clinical depression don't experience sadness but do experience many of the other symptoms. Also note that the symptoms of clinical depression can be very different from one person to the next, so don't think that you don't have depression just because your problems are different from those of someone you know who has depression. Keep in mind that there are many other illnesses besides clinical depression that involve many of the symptoms and problems listed above, so don't automatically assume that you do have depression and then self-medicate. For all of these reasons, the best approach is to be assessed for clinical depression by a doctor or other medical professional.

To learn more about depression and mental illness, you can read a longer article of mine. The longer article contains the references that I used to write this article. This article also draws from my own experience as a licensed foster care provider, a trained advisor of university students, and a church leader.

Topics: brain, depression, doctor, mental illness