Depression can present itself in many different ways, but not all states that we call depressive are depression. It happens with sadness, with pessimism, with nostalgia or with melancholy. While melancholic depression is an illness in its own right, melancholia, which is about a state of mind, is not.
That the melancholic character is not a depression does not matter to him, since we are talking about a character trait that prevents you from enjoying life, always thinking about the past, always surrounded by sadness, disappointment and dissatisfaction. That is why we would like to learn to distinguish between melancholy and depression.
Depressed or melancholic
- Melancholy is characterized by a feeling of sadness, verging on agony, and by an inability to enjoy life. It presents traits common to a bad mood, such as insecurity, pessimism and restlessness. And we can also find ourselves wanting to cry without a specific reason and agitation.
- As we already know, all those symptoms of melancholy are also symptoms of depression. The difference is found in the extent to which those emotions affect your daily life. A melancholic person lives or survives carrying his grief for that past time that was always better, but he can perfectly continue with his daily activities.
- While a person suffering from depression sees how all these symptoms are not satisfied with clinging to his personality, but directly interfere with his daily life in the form of insomnia, anxiety, fatigue and a reluctance that can paralyze the initiative more basic.
Treatment for melancholy
- Once melancholy and depression are differentiated, we must move on to find solutions and overcome this emotional imbalance. If what you have is depression, the treatments to overcome it are varied and can include anything from drugs to natural remedies to psychotherapy.
- If what you have is melancholy, you probably cannot recover from that state if it is not with some psychological therapy and with a great desire to be happy. Because most of the time, when we are not facing a disease, but rather an attitude, we ourselves are the ones who boycott our happiness. Reasons such as guilt or lack of self-esteem are responsible for why we do not try to be happy by all means.
- Therefore, the cure for melancholy is not a specific remedy, but a change in attitude, being well aware that we deserve to enjoy life, no matter how much we are surrounded by adverse circumstances. But to believe we have the right to be happy, we may need psychological help.