Feeling Sad Or Depressed Is Not A Psychiatric Disorder

The reasons a person can become depressed are too numerous to list. Sometimes specific situations such as the loss of a loved one or some other tragic events trigger the depression. Some times people feel depressed because their bodies don’t work properly. Depression is a normal response to death or loss, not a psychiatric disorder warranting medication.

The painful feelings represent the depth of our love for the person lost. To dampen those feelings does a disservice to the loved one and to the person who suffered the loss and needs to grieve. My grandmother died more than 30 years ago. She and I were close and her death was extremely painful to me. It still is. It took me a long time to stop crying every day. Even now as I write of her my eyes fill with tears. I don’t cry because I am depressed but because I loved her and miss her dearly. My tears symbolize the strength of those feelings and the extent to which I treasure the time we had together.

Studies have found that crying can be healthy for us and not crying can be harmful. When I think of my grandmother now I don’t feel depression but a mixture of pleasurable memories and painful loss, and with that, the tears come. They are a more complex response than what the term “depression” can explain away.

IF YOU OR YOUR CHILD IS ALREADY TAKING A PSYCHIATRIC DRUG, DO NOT STOP IT ABRUPTLY. ALWAYS DISCONTINUE IT SLOWLY AND UNDER A DOCTOR’S SUPERVISION!