Note: Only a professional trained in recognizing and treating mental health diagnoses is qualified to diagnose someone, including yourself, with a mental health disorder. This post is for educational purposes, not for self-diagnosis. If you feel like you may struggle with these issues, seek out a qualified professional for clarity and help.
The word “depression” is used in many ways throughout the world. People use the term “depression” interchangeably with burnout, sadness, grief, or when having a bad day. This creates confusion for many when trying to determine whether they or someone they love is experiencing depression (often termed clinical depression) and needs to seek further help.
To help bring clarity to the confusion, I will start with looking primarily at Major Depressive Disorder since it lines out most clearly the general experience of someone who struggles with clinical depression.
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In adults, major depression comes along with at least five of these symptoms, including either (or both) of the first two, present during the same two week period and represent a change from previous functioning.
- A persistent depressed mood
- A marked lack of interest or pleasure in most or all activities
- Unusual weight loss or gain
- Insomnia or hypersomnia (excessive sleep)
- Feeling restless or moving more slowly than usual as seen by others and not just your own experience.
- Fatigue and/or energy loss
- Feeling worthless, or excessive or inappropriate guilt.
- Lack of concentration, indecisiveness.
- Common thoughts about death (beyond general fears), suicidal ideation, planning, or attempt
- Major distress or impairment in social life, work, other important areas
This can be further distinguished by whether the mood disorder occurs as a single episode or recurrent, and with the following features:
- anxious distress
- atypical features
- catatonia
- peripartum onset
- seasonal pattern
- psychotic features, mixed features, or atypical features.
Clinically, there’s more of course, so seek a professional’s opinion and remember don’t self-diagnose!
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Again, depression affects a person’s ability to function in life consistently for at least two weeks, does not require a specific cause (i.e. loss of job, loss of loved one, substance use, medical diagnosis, experiencing high stress over a period of time, ending of a relationship, moving), and meets the criteria listed above.
This is where burn out, feeling sad, or grief are distinct from clinical depression. These experiences, although powerful and debilitating at times, would not necessarily meet the criteria for clinical depression presented above when experienced on their own. Although a person may be diagnosed with depression and experience grief, burnout, depressed mood, sadness, medical condition, and/or substance use; experiencing these things does not mean you have depression.
Whether you are experiencing clinical depression or some of these other common life experiences that may come along with some similar symptoms, therapy can be helpful! The goal of this post is to help differentiate between the experiences, not to state whether one experience is in need of treatment over the other. Understanding one’s experience is helpful in guiding them toward treatment options as well as resources. When searching online or talking with a doctor or another person, experiencing burnout will yield different results and develop a different treatment direction than if you are experiencing depression or grief, for instance.
The good news is that all of the symptoms presented here are treatable, and research shows that almost all patients who receive treatment either through psychotherapy alone or a combination of psychotherapy and medication for depression receive relief from their symptoms! Research also shows therapy to be beneficial for grief, burnout, sadness, chronic illness, substance use as well. So when in doubt, seek out guidance from a therapist.
Wishing you the best,
Sarah Beardslee, LCPC
For more information, visit the American Psychiatric Association’s webpage. Here you will find statistics of depression; the difference between depression and sadness or grief; other diagnoses specifically under the category of depression in the DSM; and other treatment and coping options.