When someone is "down on themself"?

Question

I know this means "self-critical", "having a low opinion of oneself". Does it also tend to mean that the person is depressed, or not necessarily?

Many thanks, native speakers of English. I'm preparing a lesson for non-native speakers and wanted to ask your opinions.

Just to clarify, not necessarily clinically depressed and such.

I just meant as in sad, down in the dumps (short or long-term).

Answer 1

No, not necessarily. Of course many of the same people who are depressed also have low self-esteem and vice versa.

Answer 2

To me personally, not necessarily, just depends how low they tend to feel in the first place and how quickly they can get out of that self-critical situation with themselves. I personally would say that if someone was already depressed or has depression then it may be a part of it, because then they would go deeper into depression and eventually just with drawl...it is all psychological how you feel about yourself and how others perceive you.
Everybody gets down in the dumps sometime in their lives, they become stuck in a rut or stagnant., then they do feel sad, but most time with a good support system with friends, family and resources things will pick up for them again. They may get another high for motivation and determination. But, they should not stretch to far ahead of themselves to only feel like a failure once again. Start in small steps and work your way up...towards your goals.

Answer 3

Not necessarily depressed but more on the side that maybe once in that person's life,he had experienced extreme failure that lead him to the thinking that he's no good anymore.

Answer 4

Depressed is a mental state of complex outcomes, one of which can be "down on themself", but usually the term is used for people who are NOT depressed but have fallen into a rut of criticism where they only see failings or limitations.
"Do you think you can be secretary of the club, Judy?"
"Well, I don't know if I can write fast enough or if my handwriting is good enough."

Answer 5

well mostly when people are dow on themselves...we cheer them up!! and it does'nt really mean that they are depressed maybe its just a small sitch like they got a C- or a low grade ya know the worrying kind of people thats why we cheer them up to turn around the problem like "its okay you'll do better next time" kinda like that

Answer 6

No. It's actually usually a temporary situation. If someone is down on himself permanently, that can go hand in hand with depression though.

Answer 7

I think "down on themself" means low self-esteem and "down" means depressed.
If I feel down on myself, I feel I am worthless or useless, which may or may not make me feel depressed.
If I feel depressed, I feel down and unhappy, but I may not necessarily feel down on myself.
Hope this helps.

Answer 8

yah basically i think it does.. someone who is ashamed of themself all the time and looks in the mirror and thinks negative thoughts about themself..