'Depression' and misuse of the word.

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I find it quite annoying that alot of people at my school and town misuse the word "depression" , for example "I feel so depressed today." or "I suddenly had a moment of depression.".

If you just had a bad day or your lover just broke up with you, it does not mean you are depressed.

"Clinical depression (also called major-depressive disorder or unipolar depression) is a common psychiatric disorder, characterized by a persistent lowering of mood, loss of interest in usual activities and diminished ability to experience pleasure."
-Wikipedia

This means that a depression is long-term and if you read this Wikipedia article you will understand that it's caused by lack of neurotransmitters. This can be heritable, but also trauma's can ofcourse have effect on it.

I know that definitions become definitions because of many people using a word, setting a trend and the dictionary takes it over. But people who really are depressed can feel pretty offended by someone with a great life whose hamster has just died saying "Gosh, I actually feel pretty depressed about its dead".

Other words you can use: Gloomy, sad, sombre, pensive, triste, moody, cheerless, joyless, wistful, dreary, dull, despondent and low spirited.

By the way, I personally never have been depressed.

When someone says they're depressed, they should specify what they mean by it!


LOL; use of the word depression is often misused and trivialized-- 3 votes, zero for no. Who should know better than us?

I think true depression is a complete nervous breakdown. The word is too often used to describe a temporary state of sad feelings. True depression manifests itself physically as well as emotionally.

Well, I've been dysthymic since at least middle school. But I've been clinically depressed for probably two years now. I've been diagnosed...recently.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysthymia

On one level, I don't care if people misuse words, but I do find it annoying that the inaccurate definition of depression (mild sadness) is the most commonly known one. It bothers me because I have suffered from severe depression. A friend of mine was hospitalized for depression so severe it produced psychosis. Because of the misuse of the word, if I say, "I've been dealing with some severe depression lately," many people will think I mean that I'm being mopey on purpose and they'll say, "Cheer up," or, "Did you know you can choose to be happy?" etc. Most people don't understand that true depression is not just an emotional experience. It causes fatigue, insomnia, appetite changes, metabolic changes, headaches, nausea, disinterest in personal hygeine, etc.

I think you can use the word, "depressed" to mean something more than sad (momentary) but less than clinical depression (6+weeks of disabling mood disorder). Gloomy implicates something stylized, like "gothic" and "maudlin". "Sad" makes me think of starving kittens or candy-deprived children.
I do find it abhorent when people misuse the term, "depression". Like, "I'm suffering from depression because I don't like my job and I can't get my hair cut today." I think that is related to competing for "who is in the most pain" contest.

I have been particularly depressed for the past couple of weeks (possibly in part due to the onset of winter and the boredom of work), and it sucks. When I get up in the morning for work, I want to go back to sleep, and then I look forward to going back to sleep when I get home. I am fatigued despite all the time I spend sleeping or at least trying to fall asleep, and now I can barely focus or motivate myself to do much of anything.

You might have SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

It does rather irritate me when people say they are depressed just as a generally term. They are sad, not depressed. Until they've suffer from years of clinical depression and/or bipolar disorder, they don't know what real depression is.

</rant>

I must admit that I had no idea that the word "depression" had such a specific meaning, I assumed it was entirely synonymous with words reflecting a temporary state of feeling low since that is the way most people have used the word.

However, I do appreciate this enlightening revelation and I do agree that it is misused, especially as I am one who experiences the true definition.

When I see people misusing the word I just think it's their own ignorance and not really a problem. I've been clinically depressed since I was 14 but probably with other more minor depressions on and off since I was three.

Depression is just Anger turned inward.

As a person diagnosed with depression, it really does bother me how some people say they're depressed and the world is over because of one incident, and then everything's sparkly, but they have a story to tell -- 'I had depression for a day'.