It is a common occurrence to experience a feeling of sadness or grief during certain episodes of life . The occasional appearance of these emotional states is part of our normal functioning and in most cases our organism has no major problem in recovering in a short time.

Five myths about people with depression

However, when we talk about depressive disorders we are referring to a set of diverse symptoms that can be expressed very differently depending on the case. Perhaps for this reason, most people have tended to internalize the concept of “depression” under a series of stereotypical labels about depressive people, to make it easier to understand.

This fact has contributed to feed a series of myths about depression that only serve to give a biased and unrealistic image of this phenomenon. Here are some of these myths or stereotypes that claim to describe people with this mood disorder .

Common misconceptions about people with depression

1. People with depression are always sad

It is true that the diagnostic picture of depression includes a feeling of sadness that remains over time , but this does not have to be the case in all cases. Some people with depression are in a state of emotional flattening, meaning that they experience no particular emotion, or to a very low degree. It is also common for anhedonia, the inability to experience feelings of pleasure, to occur without falling into a state of deep sadness.

2. People with depression are depressed as a result of a traumatic event

Sometimes depression is triggered by a situation that is perceived as very negative, such as the death of a loved one or the loss of a job , but this is not always the case . Sometimes people with depression are unable to recognise an external event that has caused the manifestation of this disorder. There may be cases in which a person with depression seems to have all the material conditions to live happily: money, good luck, many friends, etc.

3. Depression occurs as a result of poor decision-making

This myth is a continuation of the previous one, and that is precisely why it is just as wrong. People with depression aren’t wrong because they “made a mistake in life,” they are simply wrong because of several factors that are intertwined in a very complex way . Blaming these people for the disorder they are experiencing is perverse and a major mistake.

4. Depression is a sign of weakness

Depression, like many other forms of mental disorder, is strongly stigmatized even today. It is possible that part of the reasons why this continues to happen is the cult of happiness that has become popular with the consolidation of welfare societies. Apparently we are all capable of aspiring to happiness and those who do not achieve it are showing weakness, they like to recreate the misfortunes that occur to them and throw in the towel before their time.

Sadness has been characterized as the opposite side of happiness and is something to be avoided at all costs: the ideal is never to be sad. Obviously, this myth leads to confusion between sadness and depression , as well as starting from a fundamentalist vision of what happiness is. Unfortunately, it also blames people with depression in favour of an unrealistic way of life.

5. Depression only has effects on the mind

It’s always confusing to talk about “mind” without clarifying what this word means, but it’s still quite common for depression to affect only people’s moods and their way of seeing things. To support this idea is, in fact, to make invisible many of the effects that depression has on the whole organism , and which are not few: stress, sleep and digestion problems, pain in various areas of the body, fatigue, etc. Depression is not only about maintaining a state of mind, but also includes biological processes that run through the whole body and affect each other.