When depression is considered severe?

Clinicians (psychiatrists and therapists, for example) use the more objective and medical terms “major depressive disorder” and “clinical depression” to describe severe depression.

An excellent and credible source of medical information for the layman is the Mayo Clinic. According to their website “Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn't worth living.”

I have this condition and received professional counseling for years. This, and the antidepressant I take, have saved my life and helped make it worth living.

In my experience, living with depression, for any amount of time, can seem unbearable. It isn't sadness. Sadness, as awful as it may be, is much more bearable than depression. I think it's because depression has no source. When sad, if someone asks why, an answer can usually be found. There's some kind of comfort in this. With depression, despite futile efforts to identify a reason for the feeling, none can honestly or reliably be assigned. This thought alone, I believe, leads to a feeling of despair that can be part of an emotional downward spiral.

Another aspect of depression that can make it “severe” and sets it apart from sadness is the often passed over feeling of demotivation. A large part of the unbearable aspect of depression has been demotivation, in my experience. It has also been a significant contributor to the downward spiral into darkness.

I only have one piece of advice for someone who is, or suspects they might be depressed and that is to please take it seriously. Contrary to what is usually considered good advice, don't talk to friends and family about it at first, just go straight to a mental health professional. Treat it like cancer. If you thought you had cancer, you wouldn't ask people's opinion and act on what they say. You would act as though it was serious, and immediately make an appointment with a doctor, because it IS serious and only a trained medical professional can give you an accurate diagnosis. The same holds for depression. Hopefully, someday soon, our society as a whole will understand this and people with major depressive disorder will receive the treatment they need, when they need it and no one will have to needlessly suffer this debilitating condition.

Contributed by Karen Jones Crisis Counselor (2019–present)

Compiled, edited and adapted by Khalid Latif

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