Are You Depressed Or Do You Have A Terrible Life? 6 Questions To Ask Yourself

Having Depression and having a terrible life is not the same.

Nowadays, we're quick to come to conclusions and self-diagnose. It's good that we now have more awareness of mental health issues, but a misdiagnosis can be truly harmful.

And misdiagnosing happens more often than you might think.

Misdiagnosing puts a label on someone that doesn’t belong there. Imagine you’ll be medicated for a condition you don’t have. That’d be devastating. It’d be like breaking your arm but getting treated for your leg.

So, let’s see how we can differentiate between clinical Depression and a terrible life.

6 Questions You Should Ask Yourself

If you think you have Depression, don’t diagnose yet. Ask yourself these 6 questions:

1. Are You Sad Or Numb?

Sadness is only a small part of Depression. Depression is when you feel numb. When you don’t feel anything anymore.

Negative Emotions mean that you are alive. That you care. If you don’t feel emotions at all, you are dying. You stopped caring about life.

So, if you feel sad, you are unsatisfied with your life. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’re depressed.

2. Are You Following Your Interests?

Depression is when you spend your life with things that interest you, but you still feel numb inside. The outside is good, but you feel bad inside.

If you spend your time with things that don’t interest you, of course, you feel depressed.

Look at your work. Does it interest you? Spending 8 hours a day with something you don’t like doing is very hard on your soul.

Even worse, doing things you don’t like prevents you from doing what you like.

3. Do You Have Goals?

Long-lasting positive emotions come from pursuing a goal. From progressing in something you care about.

If you don’t have goals, you’ll lack those positive emotions. And this can then be understood as Depression.

And when you lack long-lasting positive emotions, you’re more inclined to pursue short-term positive emotions, such as drugs, endless phone scrolling, alcohol, porn, sugar, and other unhealthy behaviors.

4. Do You Have Social Connections?

Do You Have Friends? How’s your relationship with your family? Do you have an intimate relationship?

We are social creatures. We want to be part of a community. If the answers to those questions above are negative, that’s a problem.

We get into a dark place when we feel lonely. It’s normal to feel depressed when you don’t have people that care about you in your life.

5. Are You Moving Your Body?

When somebody comes to me and tells me that they are depressed, my first question is always: Are you moving your body?

You’d be surprised by how many answer with a “no” and believe they have Depression.

Our bodies are designed to move. Our bodies and minds don’t function well if we keep them inactive. We need to move.

Going for a walk when we feel depressed can do wonders.

6. Are You Authentic?

Inauthenticity is the worst thing we can do to ourselves. It drains all our energy. Your body is occupied with burning all its energy to keep up the persona.

Our bodies are resilient, so they can do that for years. But eventually, you’ll crash and go into dark places.

You’ll notice that you feel tired, avoid social events, isolate yourself, and are physically inactive. These are all symptoms of Depression. But also symptoms of inauthenticity.

So Ask Yourself:

• Are you speaking your truth?

• Are you expressing what you really think?

• Do people around me know who you really are?

If you cannot answer these questions with “yes”, that’s a problem. It’d be only natural to feel depressed.

Final Words

There are some human needs we need to live a happy and fulfilled life. If you don’t fulfill those needs, your body will respond with a depressed mood. But that doesn’t mean you have Depression. That means you have a terrible life. And I’m saying with as much love as possible.

If you don’t have them met, you need to work to meet them. At least some of them.

Once you make those changes in your life and start to meet more of your needs, reevaluate. Are you still depressed?

If yes, there’s a good chance you suffer from Depression.

And remember, you don’t need to have Depression to seek help. Even if you don’t think you suffer from Depression and you want to get out of your rut in life, professional help is useful.

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