Tired of people overusing the word depression?

Question

Why is it that when someone has a bad day at work that they come home, grab a tub of Ben & Jerry's, sit themselves on the couch & describe themselves as 'depressed'?

Depression is a serious illness which affects many people. I find it totally offensive that the word depression has become synonymous with unhappiness in everyday conversation. Having known someone who struggled to get out of bed & endured hospitalisation for clinically diagnosed depression, it strikes me as incredibly thoughtless for someone who has experienced one shitty day to use this word to describe their general mood. As far as I know, the DSM-IV does not suggest depression can be developed in the space of one day.

Let's reserve this word for those who actually are affected by this disabling illness & send them our love & support.

co ed: Um, how about unhappy? Or sad? Upset? Blue? Melancholy?

Any of these words would suffice & don't take away from those with genuine depression.

Not too anal! Just seems strange that it's still acceptable to use the 'D word' freely, yet we are discouraged from using other medical-related words like 'spazzo' or 'retard'. Double standards perhaps?

Answer 1

Wow, I know exactly what your talking about...I've struggled with Depression/OCD for most of my life...and I've been on meds for a few years now, and then some people try to act like 'they have it too', when they don't....I just want to tell them "you have no idea".....

Answer 2

Saying one is depressed is not the say as saying they have Depressioin. BIG difference. I am not offensed is someone who is sad from a bad day at work, who said they are depressed. I suffered from the disease depression. I know what it is like first hang how hard it is to get out of bed, and how it sucks to have to go into a psych unit because of depression. But I don't think when someone says they are depressed that they are thinking about suicide, or that they need to be on medications.

In the Encarta Dictionary:
1. sad: unhappy or hopeless
2. having depression: happing the psychiatric disorder depression
3. economiccally lacking: lacking economic resources or actitivies
a depressed area
4. Weak: less active or strong than usuall
a depressed dollar
5. Lower: lowerer than the surrounding area
6. flattened: BIOLOGY flattened as if from a downward pressure.


So how does that relate to depression.... let me look that one up in th e Encarta Dictionary
welll gosh.. pretty much the same thing....

There are things you can use the word depressed about and then there is depression, the pysciatric disorder. if one said they had depression after one or two days of feeling sadness then I would get upset. Since the illness to be clinically called depression is at less 6 weeks if I remember right of feeling sad, hopeless, lacking engery, unable to function in daily activites like work, sleep and leisure activites the and only then can a Doctor make the call that they have depression.

There are so many other words that get thrown around that are miss used as as well. Are you wanting history to go back and change the era known as "The Great Depression" ????

Answer 3

People use the word depression every time they are feeling a bit down, which I can understand, but it does annoy me sometimes. The fact that it is overused means that those of us with clinical depression as seen as just feeling sorry for ourselves etc, rather than having a serious illness.

Answer 4

When I was growing up...

Depression WAS just what we were when we were unhappy...

For me...

It didn't become an "iconic" term for mental illness until I was near college age...

So...

It takes getting used to...and I don't see any thing wrong with understanding that the word (like a lot of words in our English language) has more than one meaning...

I think you're being a little to "anal and touchy" on this subject...

Clinical or not...depression isn't a good thing no matter how ya' look at it...

(But I won't let this question "depress" me ...because I know you wouldn't like that in more ways than one...)

Lol...

Answer 5

I have had to distinguish for people the use of the term "depression" as it is used as a diagnosis, a mood (a feeling that lasts for a long time), and an affect (a momentary feeling that may pass quickly). Depression is an overused term that can have clinical and non-clinical meanings. I doubt its usage is going to change.

Answer 6

Over the last five years I had begun to have increasingly withdraw into a downward spiral of depression..

But now with the method I can fully focus my energy and thoughts into a decisive line on how to make my life better constantly. And it works like magic! I'm beginning to attract people to me once again and things have just been looking up since then.

Helping you eliminate depression?

Answer 7

There's depression and ''clinical depression'', these are two different things. Clinical depression means a prolonged period of sadness and the person is recieving professional treatment for it. Feeling the blues for one day is different to having clinical depression.

Answer 8

i agree with you. too many people use that word too often. (although that might be a hypocritical statement on my part) the overuse of the word has watered down its meaning, and there are people out there who think that those diagnosed with depression can just cure themselves by smiling and saying "everything will be alright!"

Answer 9

Yes: let's resurrect "melancholia".

Answer 10

yep, when people are not happy, they are too quick to tho=row the word "depression" around.