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?

It sounds to me like you may be depressed. Depression comes in waves; sometimes you can be feeling perfectly fine, but other times it can seem like the world is coming down around you. In my personal experience, depression seems to linger. It may fade or wane, but it always seems to come up again in varying degrees of severity. Sadness is often the result of a specific event, while Depression is something constant that, while certain things can make it more prominent, is there whether or not something has happened to trigger it. Sadness is an emotion, depression is something far deeper.

Depression is a severe case of sadness. It may help to think about things that may have caused this, as many cases have been the result of a significant change or event which may have taken place to trigger your sadness. Depression can't be diagnosed from anyone other than a professional. Talking about your emotions to a loved one or someone you trust may help. It may also be beneficial to talk to your doctor to get some professional help who may refer you to a specialist. However it is always best to talk to friends and family first. Best wishes

having regular sleeping and eating habits, as well as being able to smile and laugh on occasion, doesn't somehow invalidate the times when you feel unmotivated and sad. both parts of you are completely valid, and while i'm not qualified to tell you if you have depression (or even dysthymia), i urge you to seek professional help and find a therapist who can help support you. you're not alone, and you deserve love and support.

The human mind is very complex. Being sad can be caused by depression as well as sadness can cause depression. Life goes fast and most of the time you don't have time to focus on yourself for a few and wonder what is happening. The answer to your question is within you, it always is. Whatever pain you may face, accepting it is part of the healing process. I know I like to meditate when something bad happens. And it helps. Find your own way of dealing with sadness and/or depression, and soon enough you will start growing happy again!

To have depression, a person must have a chemical imbalance in their head that makes it difficult for them to be happy, even when good things are happening in their life. It usually has to affect someone for three months before they can be diagnosed. That being said, depression does not effect everyone in the same way. Having depression does not neccessarily mean that you don't eat well or sleep, or that you can not smile or laugh. You can have depression and still enjoy a good joke. If you are honestly thinking that you may be depressed, it would be in your best interest to speak to your doctor or a therapist about the situation.

I personally think this sounds like depression, but I'm not a medical professional and cannot make a diagnosis. If you think the sadness, crying, or lack of motivation is getting in the way of your life, I'd also learn further to depression. Depression doesn't always mean depressed 100% of the time or having each and every symptom. Everyone is different. There are ups and downs, good days and bad days. I'd recommend talking to your doctor about this! They'd be able to refer you to a psychologist or psychiatrist who could officially diagnosis or help regardless of a diagnosis or not!

I think you are simply letting your emotions come and go which is good. Feel the emotions and let them be visitors. Good tip though do more of what you love, and have things planned that you look forward to. when you are feeling sad, right a journal entry with your non-dominant hand (proven to be more insightful) and become more self aware about why you are feeling what you are feeling. Practice gratitude and self love and even maybe reciting affirmations. Stay positive and come up with a really good routine that you can follow to develop good habits.

Unfortunately, no one here can give you a straight answer to this question, only a professional can. However, please be aware that you do not need to fit a cookie-cutter version of a mental illness definition in order to be diagnosed. Symptoms vary for each person, and a lack of certain symptoms does not make your condition any less valid than someone who has double the amount of symptoms you have. I suggest consulting a professional on this, because you may have a form of depression, but you may also just be facing a rough patch! Even if you are not diagnosed with depression, please do not think that your feelings are not valid. I hope this answer has helped, and I hope you receive the answer and/or treatment that you are seeking.

I experience the same symptoms you do and I have been diagnosed with depression. I would say what you are going through right now is, in fact, depression. You don't have to look depressed to be struggling so someone with depression can still smile while hiding the pain from everyone. Depression is characterized by a constant, intense sadness and bouts of crying are included along with it. I wondered for a long time if I was just sad or actually depressed. I realized that my sadness was great enough to warrant a visit to my doctor so I made an appointment to get a diagnosis and see what I could do to start feeling happy and alive again. Doctors can help and you can feel better again!

I do not know if this is right but my opinion is that I think you are just sad. That could be because you went through a lot of things in your life. When you go through hard times in your life you feel sad because things make you sad. I could recommend that you should talk to family or friends no matter what age you are. Another thing I recommend is that to improve your motivation is doing the things you love or that you have interest in or you have never tried it before and you have been thinking about it earlier.