‘I’m feeling low’, ‘I’m fed up’, ‘I’m sad’, ‘I can’t concentrate’, ‘I don’t have energy’,– you may have heard these statements umpteen times from the people around you or you may have felt this yourself sometimes and thought that you were depressed. But this may not constitute clinical depression.

Feelings of disappointment or being upset about something are just part of normal ups and downs of life. For example, grieving at a major loss is a natural process but it may seem to you as being depressed. In fact, grieving to a certain extent is actually a healing process but if grieving persists for more than two months then its time to get help. The difference between depression and ‘feeling blue’ lies in its duration, as well as degree.

Health Animation - Brain Depression

How to Handle Depression – Slideshow

Depression is when you’re persistently in a low mood or you lose interest in life and its pleasure for a long duration. If you have negative thoughts about yourself and the world, and you cannot seem to snap out these blues after a certain period of time and it is affecting your physical health, then you may be suffering from clinical depression. Clinical depression involves your mood, your thoughts, and even your body. It is the illness of the ‘whole body’.