Sadness or dejection refers to a depressed and negative mood. Usually there is a specific cause for the sadness. Often, dejection is accompanied by listlessness, exhaustion or psychosomatic symptoms.
What is sadness?
Acute sadness often affects one’s enjoyment of life and can lead to a life crisis. Sadness or dejection is a normal and healthy feeling in everyone’s life. It is usually triggered by particularly distressing or discouraging events. Acute sadness often impairs the joy of life and can lead to a life crisis. Under normal circumstances, such phases of sadness are a healthy reaction that reflects the ability to deal mentally with certain events. However, there is also a misdirected sadness that arises seemingly for no reason and can last for a very long time. This type of sadness or dejection may be a sign of depression. In depression, there may also be attention deficit disorder, sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, cardiovascular problems, low self-esteem, or attention deficit disorder. Sadness is one among several symptoms.
Causes
Sadness can have several causes. Thus, psychological and social causes can be responsible for the dejection. In detail, this can be the death of close people, serious illnesses, but also missing a person, lovesickness, longing or even lack of success. Taking certain medications can also lead to sadness. Various diseases cause sadness. These include, for example, changes in the brain after a stroke, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Hormonal disorders, for example after menopause, can also cause sadness. Sometimes dejection occurs due to winter depression. In this case, changes in hormonal balance and the lack of sunlight are responsible for the sadness.
Diseases with this symptom
- Burnout syndrome
- Menopause
- Hormonal imbalances
- Hypothyroidism
- Stroke
- Parkinson’s disease
- Bipolar disorder
- Cushing’s syndrome
- Diabetes mellitus
- Multiple sclerosis
- Schizophrenia
- Huntington’s chorea
Diagnosis and course
As soon as the feeling of sadness persists over a long period of time and the affected person can no longer get out of the emotional low alone, a doctor should be consulted, so that the cause is diagnosed and an appropriate therapy can be used. The doctor will first talk with the patient to find out whether depression is the cause of the sadness. It is important to find out how long the symptoms have existed and whether other symptoms of depression are present. These include listlessness and loss of interest. Frequently, questionnaires are used in self-assessment and peer assessment to diagnose existing depression. If there is no psychological cause for the sadness, physical causes must be investigated. Various examination methods are used for this purpose. Usually, these include a general physical examination and a blood test. Depending on the suspected cause, further examinations may be performed. A normal phase of sadness can always be traced back to a specific trigger. Those affected can overcome these phases of dejection without help. If a person affected cannot name a trigger for his or her sadness and does not manage to overcome the phase of dejection on his or her own, medical help is necessary. Otherwise, the sadness can extend to a life low and to absolute hopelessness.
Complications
Sadness most often develops in the context of an adverse event. This can end in depression. Depression often occurs with an anxiety disorder. In addition, most suffer from sleep problems. A chronic lack of sleep leads to irritability and also increases the risk of developing diseases of the cardiovascular system. These include a heart attack or strokes. An eating disorder also usually occurs in depressives.This can lead into bulimia or obesity, both of which are also related to cardiovascular problems. Obesity also increases the risk of developing diabetes. Consequential diseases of diabetes are blindness (diabetic retinopathy), kidney failure (diabetic nephropathy) or ulcers on the foot (diabetic foot). Sufferers of depression also usually have an increased consumption of alcohol or other drugs. Too much alcohol damages the liver, causing cirrhosis, which can turn into liver cancer. In the worst cases, chronically depressed people have thoughts of suicide, which about ten percent also carry out. Bipolar disorder may also be behind the sadness. Those affected usually have complications similar to those of depression. In addition, they often meet with rejection in society and thus become socially isolated, which intensifies the depression. In addition, sufferers of mania tend to commit crimes more often.
When should you see a doctor?
Sadness is a normal and healthy emotional response to stressful events or influences that are perceived as bad. The death of a loved one or animal, a personal setback, or even a disappointment all lead to sadness. However, unhealthy can be persistent or extreme sadness, even if it is understandable. Together with other signs, it can indicate the onset of depressive mood and even true depression. Objectively bad events such as the death of a loved one or a bad personal experience naturally carry a higher risk of dangerous persistent sadness than less serious events. If sadness occurs recurrently, intermittently, or persistently in varying degrees of severity, without any identifiable trigger, this is also a warning signal. Depressive moods do not always need a reason to develop. It can be difficult to persuade those affected to visit a doctor, because they often do not realize on their own that their sadness should have been examined by a doctor long ago. There are not always only psychological reasons behind it. It can be just as well that a physical change affects the mood unnoticed and leads to sadness. Since such organic causes can usually be remedied well and then no longer cause any symptoms, a visit to the doctor in case of recurring, persistent or severe sadness is not excessive caution, but common sense.
Treatment and therapy
In most cases, the feeling of sadness does not require treatment. The dejection diminishes on its own over time. Comfort and conversations with outsiders help those affected to overcome the difficult time and find their way out of the emotional low. If depression is the cause of the sadness, psychotherapeutic treatment is usually carried out. Depending on the severity of the underlying depression, talk therapies or cognitive behavioral therapies are used. Various medications in the form of antidepressants can also be used for depression. In the case of winter depression, light therapy is often helpful. The therapy is always based on the underlying disease present, provided that the sadness is a symptom of a physical disease.
Outlook and prognosis
In most cases, sadness does not need to be treated by a doctor. It occurs throughout life in all people and is part of every person’s life. Even without treatment, sadness usually disappears after a few hours, days, or weeks. The length of time it takes a person to overcome sadness depends greatly on the cause of the sadness. It can happen that people suffer from sadness for months, for example, if their parents or children have died. These are common conditions. However, friends and family should take care that sadness does not turn into depression. This is often a smooth transition, which the patient himself cannot recognize. In such cases, a conversation with a psychologist or with a pastor must take place. Often, conversations with friends also help. If the sadness is very strong, without treatment, in the worst case, suicidal thoughts and other strong psychological problems can occur. However, people can usually overcome their sadness themselves, so there are no further complications.
Prevention
Sadness that goes beyond the normal level can only be prevented to a limited extent. An intact and consolidated social environment can help to overcome phases of sadness better and faster. If extended phases of dejection occur frequently and repeatedly as a symptom of recurrent depression, it makes sense to carry out long-term preventive therapy to prevent deep phases of sadness.
Here’s what you can do yourself
Approaches to self-help in the case of sadness are strongly dependent on the cause. If there is an understandable reason for the sadness – such as grief – it helps to talk to a trusted person about the reason and work out possible solutions. Not suppressing feelings, but giving them space – for example, by crying hard – also helps. A deeper-seated, fundamental sadness that is not related to any specific cause, but sometimes considerably restricts everyday life, indicates a depressive mood. Talking to a trusted person usually does not help here. Physical activities, on the other hand, can help restore mental balance. Depending on preference, the activity can be a (endurance) sport – jogging, swimming, cycling – but also physical activities such as housework and gardening. Interaction with animals also has a positive effect on people’s state of mind. Activities should take place in the great outdoors, if possible. Under no circumstances should people who are frequently sad resort to mood-lifting medication. Such medication is indicated only if a sadness results in a depressive episode. Similarly, the patient should not withdraw. Being alone, ruminating too much, and consuming too much media cause sadness to become more severe.
