![\"girl-470690_1920\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2018\/03\/girl-470690_1920-200x300.jpg\")
When people deal\u00a0with loss, I am often asked, what is the difference between sorrow and clinical depression? \u00a0The difference matters because it has implications for our emotional, spiritual and physical health. \u00a0Nearly 2.5 million Americans die each year. Many\u00a0people are left behind grieving their losses.<\/p>\n
How we grieve is important. The response to loss can either move us forward or keep us\u00a0stuck and trigger mental health disorders.\u00a0Grief can be a\u00a0trigger for clinical depression, or\u00a0if someone is experiencing depression, grief can exacerbate the disorder.<\/p>\n
The boundary between sorrow and grief can be distinguished in several ways. Expressing grief or sorrow allows us to\u00a0stay intimately\u00a0connected with others, while depression tends to isolate us.\u00a0With sorrow, we sense that someday the feelings will end as scripture reminds us, “Weeping may last for the night, but joy returns in the morning.”\u00a0Depression has a different feel. It feels as if it will last forever.<\/p>\n
With depression, we feel\u00a0\u00a0low-self-esteem or worthlessness. In normal grief, self-esteem remains. Emotional pain is usually accompanied by positive emotions and fond recollections of the deceased; with clinical depression, you see misery and unhappiness.<\/p>\n
Another important distinction highlighted by Dr. Kay R. Jamison in her book,\u00a0Nothing Was the Same,<\/em>\u00a0is that the normally grieving person is \u201cconsolable\u201d by friends, family. They allow others in and are helped by their presence. \u00a0The person with clinical depression is not helped by those around him or her and may fantasize being with the deceased to the point that this fantasy becomes persistent. In some cases, the person feels suicidal without the deceased. There is a severe feeling of hopelessness.<\/p>\n Furthermore, when a person can’t \u00a0carry out the activities of day to day living, they become\u00a0stuck in the sadness\u00a0and immobilized. While this is an initial grief reaction, it doesn’t linger for months on end like in the case of clinical depression.<\/p>\n Normal grief is triggered by situations like the anniversary of the person\u2019s death, a birthday or special event like a wedding. Major depression is more constant and there is little relief \u00a0regardless of the day.<\/p>\n if you are unsure if you are clinically\u00a0depression in the few weeks that follow a grief event, do what is called, \u201cwatchful waiting\u201d to see how your\u00a0grief progresses. \u00a0Certainly, any signs of suicidal thinking or behavior are of concern.\u00a0But if your\u00a0depression seems to improve as the days go by, it is probably\u00a0normal grief.\u00a0\u00a0If not, and your sense of grief lingers and feels like it won’t ever go away, clinical depression\u00a0could be in play and you may need additional help.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When people deal\u00a0with loss, I am often asked, what is the difference between sorrow and clinical depression? \u00a0The difference matters because it has implications for our emotional, spiritual and physical health. \u00a0Nearly 2.5 million Americans die each year. Many\u00a0people are left behind grieving their losses. How we grieve is important. The response to loss can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[914],"tags":[4180,4081,851,210,1202],"class_list":["post-10033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-relationships-2","tag-bereavement","tag-clinical-depression","tag-grief","tag-loss","tag-major-depression"],"yoast_head":"\n