“Feeling Depressed” Doesn’t Mean You “Have Depression”

From a psycholgist and depression sufferer: The confusion makes sense, but it interferes with understanding the actual illness

Photo by Paola Chaaya on Unsplash

As a psychologist of many years, and a person who writes online, I field hundreds and hundreds of questions about depression. There is a common theme. People have trouble differentiating the feeling of depression from the clinical condition of depression.

When these experiences are discussed interchangeably, it confuses the issues relating to diagnosing “clinical” depression, which is a common, but destructive illness that is woefully under identified and under-treated.

So, what’s the difference?

• There are many, many experiences in our lives that make us sad, bereaved, frustrated, down, “bummed out” or discouraged. Often, we say that they have “depressed” us. For example, “I’m so depressed, I think I failed the Bar Exam.” or “My boyfriend broke up with me. I’m so depressed.” or, “My roommate is depressing me.” Each of these examples represent negative feelings. I don’t diminish any of them. Suffering is suffering. It can be a mild or powerful feeling that rains on a person’s life.
• The difference is that the psychiatric diagnosis of depression does not depend on only the feeling of depression. It is a whole…