Sadness or Depression? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself

[Leonard Henderson]

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. The Top 5 Sadness or Depression: 10 Questions to Ask Everyone at one time or another experiences sadness, "the blues" or feels down. And although mild feelings of depression are normal and to be expected, it’s important to recognize when you may need to seek help from a professional. Here are 10 questions to ask yourself to help determine if your sadness could be depression. Creativity and Chaos Anyone who’s ever engaged in the creative process knows that it can be chaotic, messy and filled with uncertainty. But is it is an imperative part of the process? Do we need a sense of disorganization in order to flourish creatively? According to this post, it would seem so. Happier Relationships and Partnerships Want more love and respect in your life? Start here. Video: Can People Really Change? In this video blog, Dani Z says she believes a desire to change is the first step but everyone knows that we can’t always get what we want. Check out the process she uses to bring about change in her life. Why Good Beats Perfect A quest for perfection sounds admirable. But a goal of perfection can be crippling. It’s writer’s block, loneliness, projects that never get off the ground. It’s procrastination, disappointment, self loathing. It’s a delusion that makes good sound bad and can make effort seem futile and foolish. News & Views Young Adults Value Appearance More Than Health For many young adults, beauty really is little more than skin-deep and has little to do with health. University of Missouri researchers studied how college-age women view their bodies, and how they feel about media messages aimed at women. Mindfulness Meditation Helps Seniors Relieve Loneliness A simple eight-week meditation program that anyone can easily learn may be all this is needed to reduce loneliness in older adults. Cocoa May Slow Cognitive Impairment of Aging Ingesting cocoa flavanols daily may improve mild cognitive impairment. Can Thinking You Are Fat Make You Fat? Normal-weight teens who think they are fat are more likely to grow up to be fat. Alcoholism Affects Men's, Women's Brains Differently The effects on white matter brain volume from long-term alcohol abuse are different for men and women. Bipolar Patients with History of Pot Use Show Better Cognitive Skills Individuals with bipolar disorder who also have a history of marijuana use demonstrate advanced neurocognitive skills compared to bipolar patients with no history of use. World of Psychology Key Questions to Ask When Choosing a Therapist Background and credentials aren’t the only things to consider when hiring a therapist. There are other key factors to take into account. These factors center on an important piece of the therapeutic puzzle: having a good fit between client and therapist. 5 Tips to Improve Body Image, Sex Life Body image is often one of several issues that interfere with a person’s ability to enjoy sex. There are multiple causes for poor body image. They include the following... 12 Depression Busters for Men Employ these 12 techniques for men to address the hidden desperation so many feel, and to expose the truth about mood disorders and gender. How to Start Meditating Meditation doesn’t require making big life changes. All you need is a few minutes out of your day. Breaking Free From The Bonds of Badness Do you struggle with feeling like you are a bad person? So, what to do about your big bad self? When you find yourself sinking into the abyss of badness, gently ask yourself these eight questions. Best of our Blogs Is the Web Driving Us Crazy: A Mindful Response (Mindfulness & Psychotherapy) – Ever think your phone is vibrating, but it’s not? You may be experiencing “phantom-vibration syndrome.” An interesting look at how our culture is inadvertently sacrificing mindfulness, peace and awareness for our ever-present reliance and relationship with technology. Anxiety, Rubber Bands and a Fear of Flying (Therapy Soup) - The "rubber band technique" has been used by countless anxiety patients in one form or another. The concept is simple:  When you find yourself thinking about the fear, focus on and carry out a simple and manageable task such as counting backward from from 100 by 3's or snapping a rubber band on your wrist. Are Single People Treated Like Children? (Single at Heart) - In Singled Out, I summed up one of the myths about single people in this chapter title: “It is all about you: Like a child, you are self-centered and immature and your time is not worth anything since you have nothing to do but play.” Anxiety, Rubber Bands and a Fear of Flying (Therapy Soup) - Lower your anxiety with one of SOAR's effective fear-of-flying exercises based on Jerilyn Ross's anti-anxiety rubber-band technique. It's Not You It's Me; It's Not Me It's Them (Tales of Manic Depression) - When it comes to helping a loved one with a mental illness, if they're not ready to get help there is really not much you can do about it. A Dark and Stormy Knight: Psychoanalyzing Batman (The Gentle Self) - Batman, AKA Bruce Wayne, lives through the trauma of watching his parents murdered in front of his eyes as a young boy. To find some kind of retribution, he becomes a superhero who tries to save his city, Gotham, from crime. He also picks a disguise that is reminiscent of what was once his greatest fear: the fear of bats. How Justifications Impact Our Mental Health (Relationships in Balance) - We find reasons to fulfill urges that we know are not necessarily good for us. These justifications are basically excuses that enable us to do things we know deep down aren’t a good idea. Follow us on Twitter - Join our daily conversation on Facebook Your Weekly Mental Health Break Welcome to Psych Central's weekly mental health newsletter. Feel free to forward to a friend! Need to update your newsletter preferences? Update your profile here We love to hear from you! Please send any feedback you may have to us at: talk...@psychcentral.com Ask the Therapist Anxiety, Depression, Feeling Out of Control I am very concerned. I just went through a lonely year at school because I was a new kid and made very little friends. I shut people out and got... Possession? Hallucination? I’ve never been formally diagnosed with anything which makes me more confused. I am possessed by demons, that much I know is certain. I self-harm, see and hear things, and... What is Wrong With Me? I honestly have no idea. One minute, I’m alright, maybe happy, most of the time just okay. Then, someone may say something, and it either makes me angry and/or I... 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I met my husband 9 years ago and we married 4 years ago. He is 17... Husband's Quick Temper I have a wonderful husband who I know loves me and is fully committed to me and our new son. We work pretty well together 95% of the time. I... Anxiety After Drug Use In college about 5 months ago, I tried smoking marijuana and had a bad experience. When I woke up the next morning, and for the next few days, I felt... Psych Central Answers Why do i not want to be around my husband when he is so good to me? Ever since we had our second child in June I don't want to be around my husband. Everything he does is wrong to me, it bothers me but the... How to Deal With a Complainer Just curious, how would you deal with a major complainer? Every time we do something with my mom, she complains from beginning to the end. And bitterly complains. Like about food for... Right Diagnosis Ever since I was young I've had a very intensely accurate memory. It's almost photographic and could be if I worked on it more. But I can remember, senses,... I Am Confused I started seeing this guy about 6 months ago and everything seem to be going fine. He calls me 3 or more times a day every day and picks... Ganging Up On Mom My daughter tells lies and is trying to break up the relationship between her father and myself. This is not a second marriage, or step parent. She is our biological... Sleep Issues I don't fall asleep till 4 a.m. I've tried getting up early and trying to change my schedule but I always lay in bed wide awake till that time or sometimes... I'm Going to Explode Where to start... Well, I guess first off, I am going to explode. I don't know when, I just know it will happen. I've been holding all sorts of anger... Join Our Community! Psych Central's 180+ support groups are open and available 24/7 and filled with compassionate, caring people just like you! Come and join over 250,000 others today. Have You Taken the Sanity Score? 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