I feel sad a lot, unmotivated, and I often can't stop crying for many hours. But I sleep and eat decently and I also can smile or laugh sometimes. Am I depressed or just sad?

Feeling sad can be a common emotion. However feeling sad a lot of the time can mean something is troubling you. Signs of depression show sadness also loss of appetite. However feeling sad and crying for hours can also be a symptom. I used to cry for hours and I was very unsure of whether I had to depression or I was just sad. There is a lot of information you can find online to see. If you are feeling worthless or sucicidal the chances are you are suffering from a form of depression. If you are, see a doctor or your GP as soon as possible to give you specific advice.

That is a difficult question because depression is different for everyone. For me I shut down and was very withdrawn for many months, and still have draw backs to this day. This may be depression, lack of interest in things that used to bring you joy and constant down feelings are signs of depression. Try something new, see if that brings feeling and joy back into your life.

You might be depressed. Depression isn't always constant. You might want to talk to a therapist about how you feel.

Being sad and depressed are two different things. You know yourself better than anyone else. You are your own expert. You don't need someone to diagnose you with something to be sure that's what you are. I'm not saying that's what you're looking for just kind of thinking aloud. Anyway, sleeping and eating fine is good at least. Try and notice of those habits start to change such as: being able to fall asleep, but not stay asleep, oversleeping too much, eating habits changing, eating very little during the day and self-gorging in the evening, as well as eating disorders. Just keep an eye on your habits and your physical representation and actions. How much work do you do voluntarily? How much thinking about random things do you do? You are the only one that can determine if you are depressed or not.

There are a lot of factors to consider. But imo, when this feeling of being unmotivated and sad goes on for more than weeks or even months, to the point where it destroys your life, it definitely warrant a serious consideration for treatment (be it by medication or changing in lifestyle or counselling)

It depends on how long you've been feeling this way. If it has been for more than 2 weeks, you may be depressed. Just because you have normal eating and sleeping habits doesn't mean you're not depressed. Go see a doctor if you are very concerned, medication and professional therapy can help with the sadness and motivation.

This generally depends on how consistent those feelings are. Do you feel this most of the time? How intensely? According to the psychiatrist, who gave me my medication, even if I eat and sleep decently and can be happy sometimes, the underlying emotion is still sadness, and I still dragged myself through the day. I was diagnosed with depression. However, as I've said before, whether you're depressed or feeling sad, it doesn't matter. Either way, you should help yourself and get support from friends and family. If this works out, but you go back to being unmotivated and sad, you should probably seek professional help.

It is best to see a doctor if these moods are concerning you. As we are not doctors, there is no way for us to determine whether it is merely sadness, or depression, ensure you let someone you trust know about how you are feeling as well in case youd like someone to go with you to the doctors appointment, remember you are not alone

Depression comes in all shapes and forms. If this feeling has lasted more than 2 years it is almost safe to say it could be depression. Also it would be good to take into account things that might possibly occured in your life leading up to you feeling this way. For your best interest, if you think you possibly have depression, I would get a test done to be sure of it.

It's likely that you are just sad. But the terms is not the issue here. If you're feeling sad and unmotivated, we need to look into ourselves and understand why that is. Understanding the reasons is the first step towards fixing a problem. Sometimes it's an event or a person that makes you sad, other times it's a compilation of many situations that happen in the past. Now that you have a slight idea of why you're feeling the way you did, we need to look into what we can do to improve or get rid of your negative feelings/thoughts. It can be direct actions to fix the problems or it can simply be ways to self-care such as yoga, meditation, shopping, hanging out with friends, music therapy, etc. Whatever it is finding someone you can trust and is supportive to talk about it is really helpful in my case.