Depression/Sadness
“I have studiously tried to avoid ever using the word 'madness' to describe my condition. Now and again, the word slips out, but I hate it. 'Madness' is too glamorous a term to convey what happens to most people who are losing their minds. That word is too exciting, too literary, too interesting in its connotations, to convey the boredom, the slowness, the dreariness, the dampness of depression.”
― Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation
We all experience sadness and low mood from time to time. But, clinical depression is characterized by low mood, feelings of excessive guilt, low motivation, low energy, ruminative thinking, loss of interest in daily activities and poor sleeping or eating habits.
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Some patients experience such low motivation and energy that it feels like a victory to take a shower and make it to work each day. Others feel so depressed and hopeless that they struggle to find meaning for their lives.
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Some people don't feel as acutely depressed but they struggle with dysthymia, the absence of pleasure in activities that would ordinarily bring joy. Life feels dull, with moments of fleeting joy that are hard to grab a hold of. These patients will explain that they don't feel like themselves.
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