Here is the main difference between sadness and depression:  Sadness is triggered by a painful or difficult event in your life.  Depression is an abnormal emotional state that can impact many areas of your life.

All of these statements have one thing in common.  For him, depression was not a description of a state of mind.  Depression was part of his identity; it was who he was in some essential sense. When you look at depression this way, it makes it a challenge to move beyond it.

So the depression becomes an opportunity for you to do some self-reflection.

Self-reflection is the process of stepping back and looking at your wants, dreams, goals, attitudes, and behaviors.

This naming of emotions is especially helpful for those who struggle with depression.  When your depression is there, your emotional awareness is blunted. 

The sleep problems associated with depression are more enduring.  If you have depression, you may have trouble getting to sleep, getting back to sleep when you wake up in the middle of the night, or waking up in the morning. 

It is important to determine if anger is a part of your depression.  You can focus on one or the other, but if you don’t see how they may be feeding each other, it is hard to develop a different relationship with your anger or depression.

So, how do you handle these negative thoughts that can lead to depression?  Instead of eliminating them, you can learn ways to develop a different relationship with these thoughts. 

The problem isn’t that you have negative thoughts.  The problem is that you think these thoughts are true. 

But here are some ways that you can get so caught up in social media that it begins to impact your mood and your self-esteem.

If the depression has been around for a long time or if you have had several depressive episodes, it is easy to believe that you will never have a meaningful life.  Here are five actions that you can take that will help you develop a different relationship with your depression.