Am I depressed or just sensitive?

In my own experience, I know that I’m a very sensitive girl. Anything good can easily make me feel extremely happy and nearly anything bad could easily ruin my day and make me extremely low and cry. So going through a consistent hard period of time where most of the things around me aren’t going too well would easily fuel my emotions intensity and FEEL depressed nearly everyday, so it’s not necessarily clinical depression! I know that I’m normally a very happy and a cheerful positive person and I know what I like and love what I do. But going through a very rough time can push away your real personality as the stress of the surroundings and the state of where you are and what’s happening can hurt you deeply and make you feel so down unlike what your real personality is and how you truly are, in which it will make it easy to question whether if you have real clinical depression. Hope I helped!

Depression is not only about getting sad at times when things don’t work out or being down because something happened that you didn’t wish for. My point is getting sad is not what depression is about. It has various symptoms such as fatigue, restlessness, loss of appetite or over eating, not wanting to get out of bed, feeling of being hopeless, loss of interest in activities which were once interesting, feeling lonely or empty inside like you have a void. These are symptoms of depression. If you have a lot of these symptoms or most of them or all of them then you have depression but if you have only some then maybe you don’t so I suggest check out the symptoms

We are humans, and it is the most human thing to have emotional responses to what happens around us. Do not invalidate your feelings because if they are there, that is all that matters. Suppressing them will not solve your bad feelings, trying to deal with them while giving yourself love and validation all along the journey will. If you think about asking someone for help or for listening, then ask for it. You do not have to be medically diagnosed with depression to ask for help. Feeling a bit down happens to everyone, and being sensitive is far better than being insensitive anyway.

This is a question I find that people ask themselves a lot, including myself in the past. I genuinely do not believe that someone is "just sensitive". Every single person processes their emotions differently, and that's completely okay! I don't think that its either one or the other, some people just experience emotions more heavily than others. At the same time though, that can be a symptom of depression, and if you think its a possibility that you have depression, or that your reactions are too heavy, i would recommend speaking to a professional. There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeing a therapist, especially when its for your own well being. I hope that this helps some.

It could be both, or your depression caused you to be more sensitive. Think back to when either of them started. To your best memory which started first? When did you start thinking you were sensitive or do you recognize moments in your life before you were depressed where you thought you were sensitive? If there was a turning point in your life where you suddenly became depressed, there is a good chance your depression and sensitivity don't have that much to do with each other. Either way, it's okay to be sensitive and if you're depressed, you're depressed.

The first step would be look at this question without judgement. If you are depressed or sensitive, it is ok to be one or the other. It is about accepting that it might be one of them or even none depending on what the situation is. Depression is looking more onto your mental health and how you are processing feelings/situations. Being sensitive is acknowledging that you are feeling vulnerable and the situation has affected you emotionally. Either one is ok. The second step you can do is to reflect on the situation when you are calm and without judgement. What happened? How did it make you feel? Has this happened before? Is there a cycle in your behaviour that you are noticing? When you begin reflecting and looking within by asking these questions when you feel safe, see what comes up. That will help you decide what to do next. You should always know that whatever result you come with, it is ok to being either one of them.

Depending on other symptoms, you could be clinically depressed. If you have been experiencing many of the following symptoms for two or more weeks, you may have a major depressive disorder. A persistent feeling of sorrow, hopelessness, or despair, Difficulty concentrating; mental fog, Loss of interest in enjoyable activities Loss of energy; chronic fatigue, Noticeable increase or decrease in appetite, Insomnia or hypersomnia (sleeping too much), Thoughts of death or hurting oneself; self-harm (cutting, burning, etc.) Anxiety, Feelings of guilt, Irritability. And if you do it is best recommended to visit a doctor. In addition to having depression, it could be that you are a Highly sensitive person. (HSPs) are highly compassionate, creative, introspective, and intelligent, and they experience their emotions very intensely. They often have a strong concern for humanity, and they usually have some creative talent (art, writing, music). Unfortunately, HSPs are susceptible to existential depression and anxiety due to the fact that they are such deep thinkers, and they often feel overwhelmed by the world in general. Regardless, I hope this helps a little. Feel better! :)

I think that it's possible to be both and/or just one or the other. At what times do you feel depressed/under what circumstances? When you are feeling sensitive does it feel the same of different? Can you give me a few examples of how you feeling inside? Are there times of the day or certain situations which make you feel sensitive/depressed? I think if you ask yourself some helpful questions you may get some insight into what you are feeling. Being sensitive has its positive qualities, it might mean you care a lot about other people and things more deeply that other people do.

Okay, so having actual depression and being sensitive are kinda two separate things. If we are thinking about depression, we shall pay attention to the following sympthoms: 1) depressive mood throughout the day (feeling down, empty, hopeless ect.), 2) lack of motivation, you cease to enjoy the activities you used to enjoy, 3) losing or gaining weight, therefore eating way less or way more, 4) unability to sleep, or oversleeping, 5) extreme tiredness, physical weakness, 6) decreased ability to focus and concentrate, 7) thoughts concentrated around death, suicide. These are the signs that could be an alarm for having major depression. I think being sensitive is another thing, the way we react to things does differ heavily.

This is a great question! For you to be depressed you would have to be experiencing symptoms of depression. These vary from person to person, but here are some common ones.continuous low mood or sadness feeling hopeless and helpless having low self-esteem moving or speaking more slowly than usual changes in appetite or weight (usually decreased, but sometimes increased) constipation unexplained aches and pains lack of energy low sex drive (loss of libido) changes to your menstrual cycle disturbed sleep – for example, finding it difficult to fall asleep at night or waking up very early in the morning feeling tearful feeling guilt-ridden feeling irritable and intolerant of others having no motivation or interest in things finding it difficult to make decisions not getting any enjoyment out of life feeling anxious or worried having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming yourself avoiding contact with friends and taking part in fewer social activities neglecting your hobbies and interests having difficulties in your home, work or family life To find out if you have depression you can use the above list as a guide, if you think you may have depression you must seek a diagnosis from a medical professional. I hope this helps answer your question, please connect with a listener if you need more guidance! -Emi