Like apparently most people have a depressed period in their life but not all of them have the mental illness depression right?
What’s the difference between having the mental illness depression and just having like a 6 month depression?
Posted by admin on March 23rd, 2012
Posted in Depression Q and A 
if your off for 6 months - then you have the mental illness depression.
it is an illness that you can get rid of
There is a difference between the blues a short term feeling down and being clinically depressed where it is a long term more than two weeks straight with other symptoms, such as changes in apetite, sex drive feeling of hopelessness. Clinical depression is a physical change in the brain where your mood chemicals are out of sorts. Depression and other mental illnesses like OCD, Schizophrania are not all related.
Depression is a mental illness regardless of length.
But there is however a difference between clinical depression and just typical depression.
I think 6 would could be classed as clinical depression.
Well, if the 6 month depression sets in after a traumatic event, like the loss of a loved one, it may be a unique episode and more related to post-traumatic stress than mental illness depression.
If, for 6 months, someone feels "down", but that's the only symptom, and there's no discernible cause, it may just be a bad/boring episode in your life.
On the other hand, if someone suffers from depression for 6 months (google for symptoms of depression to find out what this actually means), with no major event to have caused it, it's probably clinical. Sadly, this may well mean that the depression is cyclical and will return, even after the person gets out of their 6 month episode.
There's short term depression, and then there's clinical depression.
Clinical depression is mainly categorized by not really having anything in your life that would cause you to feel so depressed.
Situational/short term depression is categorized by the depression being triggered by a certain event in your life.
According to doctors a depressed mood that lasts for longer than two weeks is clinically depression, so it is a mental thing, but like 7/10 people get it in their lives, it's much more common than you'd think
Depression is a mental illness no matter how long one might have it. If it lasts all one's life, it would be considered chronic
Its only to easy to slide into the black pit of depression.
And it is very normal to have ups and downs.That's just life, you cant Always expect to be up .
depression is a way of shutting down ,unable to cope , not willing to accept the problems we face.
I have suffered for many years, drugs only turn the volume down they don't and are not a cure.
awareness and a willingness to accept difficulties, to work through the pain and let go are the way .
Why spend a moment longer in depression than is needed.
life means you are going to be up and down, Now as soon as i realise i'm depressed i snap out of it, which is harder than it sounds but I do it, Why spend a moment in that state than is needed, why prolong it.
jump up do something , take a shower, cook a meal, go for a walk , anything other than sit there
Hi,
When a person loses one of his or her loved one, there can be a depression for mourning as long as six months. But if person has depression illness, it can last a long time unless treated.
For treatment of depression illness, I recommend changing the thoughts that create depression. These thoughts are basically the thoughts of Anger, resentments, guilt, greed and desires which can never be satisfied like greed for money or lust for sex and feelings of jealousies. All such thoughts cause Paranoia for which there is no cure except to change the thoughts.
Meditation helps in these matters.
Ramesh.
depression is depression and illness, I think what you mean is one is short term and one last for an extended period of time.
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OKay...
depression IS a mental illness.
it is called a MAJOR DEPRESSIVE EPISODE if you have symptoms for a period any longer than 2 weeks. The symptoms have to include more than 1 or 2 of these: loss of interest in daily things, sleep disturbances, appetite changes, suicidal thoughts, feeling sad or depressed etc etc.
yes everyone gets sad at times.
but if you are diagnosed with a major depressive episode it is the mental illness depression you are talking about.
some people may only have one episode in a life time and get better with treatment.
others will have them over and over again throughout their lives.
it is nothing to be ashamed of, i've had 2 episodes. the first never got treated and I just somehow got over it, the 2nd i required some meds but now i'm fine.
No difference & every difference. It depends what you're talking about.
Most people think depression is just low mood. Everybody gets that. Everybody calls it depression. 2/3 of the population are lucky enough never to suffer anything worse.
Then there is real depression. It is seriously debilitating. It's not just that you feel bad, this actually stops your mental processes & prevents you doing things. Sometimes it even stops your body working properly. So for example you want to get up from a chair but your body just won't. People seriously don't believe this sort of thing happens until it happens to them.
Timescale probably isn't an issue. Low mood can last 6 months, it can even last a lifetime, but it might not actually be depression. The really debilitating sort of depression is likely to last many months, in fact 6 months would be a very short time & real depression does have a tendency to come back.
To understand the reasoning for this, you need to understand a bit about the way the brain functions. It relies on zillions of connections we call synapses. Normally, these connect & there's absolutely no problem. Problems do arise however if for some reason the brain suffers a shortage of synapse chemistry. Periods of prolonged stress can cause this for example. Then the required synapses simply fail to fire & either the person cannot make connections in their thinking or they cannot fully control their bodies, or both. These same chemicals also affect mood, so if they're getting low the person experiences a low mood. Not that low mood itself is a warning sign of a low level of synapse material, there may be loads of other reasons. Over time, the body will manufacture more synapse chemicals or take them in through food, but it does take time. One of the problems is that whatever issue caused the problem is still likely to be around. So when the brain reaches a level at which it can operate again, the person begins to get active & try to deal with all the stuff they couldn't while they were depressed & it depletes the synapses once again & so you get into a cycle of depression.
So you'd be right to say that most people feel what we would call depressed, but only about 1 in 3 get to a point where they might be diagnosed as suffering depression. But diagnosis depends on doctors & they're trained to treat bodies & not minds. So I'd take the diagnosis of depression as mental illness with a pinch of salt. Not all who are so diagnosed by their doctors really suffer depression & quite a proportion of those undiagnosed really are suffering proper clinical depression.
Hope that helps.
There is no difference. You my friend are Depressed, it is a treatable problem. The longer you let it go, the worse it can get. It hurts you and it hurts the people around you. You have every right to be happy, talk to your Doctor, get some help, get your life back. I think that you are getting hung up on the term"Mental Illness". Just because Depression is a form of Mental Illness doesn't mean your crazy or insane. Many, many people become depressed at one time or another in their life, and need help. Depression can be from many different causes. Talk to a professional, get the help, all Mental Health Info about you is protected under Confidentiality Laws, and not released without your approval.
Quit worrying about the how the problem is listed in a Medical Book, go get some help, your would be surprised at the number of Professionals and Non-Professionals that deal with the illness, don't do it alone.
Depression is a mental illness, it doesn't matter how long you have it for, it will always be an illness.
It depends on the event. Like if something change your life, like death, jobs, money, etc, then you might find that you're depressed even in cases where the events are suppose to make you happen. For example, after childbirth, some women might have depression lasting as long as six months. Then they get over it.
I'm not sure what you mean by mental illness, but in all cases, any sort of factor that involves a mental state is an illness. Therefore, even being happy can be said to be an mental illness, although it is one that is probably good to have. So to aim for a mental illness, go for the happy ones.