Sadness is a natural thing and everyone experiences through it at least ones in a life. If you suffering from sadness or depression and a sad person around you for which you want to figure out the problem, this blog is for you. This blog will help out for figuring the problem and hope you will get rid of the problem. More over this blog will figure out when you should go to a therapist.
Sadness
Sadness is an emotional response to a loss, failure and miserable events. Sadness can be characterized by unhappiness, sorrow and worries of a person. If a person undergoes these state like sorrow then we called him/her a sad person.
Sadness should not be merge with depression. Sadness and Depression are two different things. Depression is condition which require medical attention. Whereas sadness is a temporary state. Sadness may be due to these things:
- If you are a student, then you may undergoes sadness due in failure in exam or may be due to not delivering expected result.
- If you are mature person you may undergoes sadness due changes in your life.
- Some recent events are also a cause of sadness.
- Financial instability, office’s work stress
- Health related issues
Sadness is normal response to every up and down in everyday life. But ones should be careful that the sadness should not be converted into depression. Depression is deeper term of sadness and any person often depressed when it crossed the limits of sadness. You can recognize depression by changes in your sleep (not able to sleep comfortably), appetite, memory loss (forgetting about things) and many other severe conditions.
Signs of Sad Person
While most of the signs of sadness and depression are same but depression is the next stage of sadness. By configuring the symptoms of sadness we can help someone and offer him/her timely support. The signs of sadness may include:
- Behavior Changes: Changes in routine or habit and lack of energy
- Emotional Changes: Irritability and hopelessness
- Physical Changes: Fatigue, sleep disorder
For example: A person who is social and have a lot of energy. Seems that he or she has taken withdrawal from social activities and seems very weak, may be suffering from sadness. Or a person who is very punctual may become to miss deadlines. These changes especially he/she does for it more than few weeks, are the signs that the person is a sad person.
Sad person Daily Life / Impact of Sadness
Withdrawal. Because you said “secretly”, if someone is really trying to hide it, it will be subtle. Look for things that “aren’t themselves.” Of course everyone normally does all these things differently, but what you’re looking for is a deviation in baseline for them:
For calls, they may still answer the phone, but find an excuse to get off pretty quickly and they don’t talk with enthusiasm about anything. Just listen to you to be polite, then go.
For texts, delay in response longer than usual. Kind of “phone it in” answers. They may just look at something when before they’d add to the joke and start some joking back and forth.
They may be able to fake it pretty well at in-person things, but it will be hard so they may go into another room for a bit for a made-up reason, or leave early. This is hard, so they may start to cancel things.
They may talk about travel or moving to a completely different place or talk about a dramatic job change. (Obviously super happy people can do that, too, so you have to put it in context of their overall demeanor. Are they excitedly talking about moving? Or are they talking about it in a hollow, distant-eyed “It’s gotta be better than here” way.
If you live with this person or are with them all the time, you’re looking for things off baseline. They don’t talk as much, don’t laugh as much, either don’t engage as much at all. The kinds of things they listen to or watch may be different. They may stop watching the news even though they used to, or either stop watching depressing/scary movies or switch to depressing movies when they used to like comedies. They may suddenly become interested in weirdly childish or comforting shows they wouldn’t have liked before.
Remember in teenagers, depression is often expressed as anger, irritability, refusal to do things, and drawings of sad things. It looks different than in adults.
Approaching a Sad Person
When approaching a sad person, you should be non-judgmental. You should be patient, active listener and express understanding by maintaining an eye contact, noodling your head and answer to their questions.
Do’s:
- Offer practical help, such as providing a listening ear.
- Encourage them to participate in activities they usually enjoy, even if they don’t feel like it at first.
Don’ts:
- Avoid minimizing their feelings with statements like “It’s not that bad” or “Others have it worse.”
- Don’t try to “fix” their problems immediately.
Therapeutic Interventions
A sad person can get benefit from various therapeutic options. Few are listed below:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Any type of functional therapy that can be applied in your life with intention can be positive: trying to train your brain and body, breath work, theory and framework, even traditional therapy for acceptance, being advised on managing responsibilities while inexplicably disabled without warning for what can long periods sometimes you need to hear you have to aim for a life that can be handled and is manageable (4 day work week preference vs wanting to be the president or ceo, change expectations for what you want and is achievable to be happy and healthy without feeling like a failure).
CBT in short is a therapist asking their patient where the patient would like to be regarding an issue or circumstance and helping them figure out the steps to get there. It could help people in a lot of ways.
Interpersonal Therapy
In IPT we pick a focal area (complicated grief, conflict, role transition or sensitivities) to consider how that focal area relates to depression and our relationship with others. Each focal area has different strategies but the main aim is to improve symptoms of depression and utilize relationships for support with that. Complicated grief or role transition could both apply. See it as good middle ground between CBT and counselling as there are active strategies that can help with symptoms like CBT but also space to process emotions. As long as depression/grief is the main problem, rather than PTSD,
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduces activation in brain regions related to self-blame in patients in remission from depression. These areas of the brain are linked to emotions such as guilt and embarrassment. Reduced self-blame from this therapy was linked to greater self-kindness.
Case Study
“CBT teaches you Meta thinking. How to think about the way that you are thinking, and then how to change the way you’re thinking when you don’t like it.
I’ve done it, and found it helpful in finally breaking unproductive or outright self-destructive thinking patterns. In the beginning, there’s a lot of the therapist just saying back to you the things you’re telling them, and it’s wild how hearing your own words makes you realize how distorted your thinking is.
Then you get into creating exercises to practice different ways of thinking and responding in the moment. You kind of come up with actionable projects together and then implement those ideas and come back each week to talk about how it went and decide what to try next.
I highly recommend it. The things I learned in CBT in my early 20s have stayed with me all through the rest of my life (I’m in my late 40s now)”
How to distract a Sad Person?
As sadness is a temporary condition but it may be a cause of depression. So proper care and medication is compulsory. Here are few things that can adopted in order to overcome sadness:
Regular Exercise
Regular exercise is a great tool to distract a sad person. By exercise, our body releases endorphins that are helpful for boosting our mood. A sad person may be socialize in this way.
Healthy Eating
Healthy eating is a key factor in order to restore your health. A healthy body keeps a healthy mind. By eating good and say good bye to alcohol, reduces sadness.
Social Support
Engaging with friends and family members is a powerful tool for distracting a sad person. If you have a pet (dog, cat …), then engaging with your pet reduces your stress. You can go for a walk with your pet and play games with your furry friend.
Playing Games
Playing games and solving quizzes can be helpful for a sad person and improve their mood. These activities not only provide entertainment but also distract a sad person. Try our quiz game in order to get relief from sadness.
How to Seek Professional Help
It’s crucial to recognize when sadness has escalated to a point where professional help is necessary. Indicators include:
- Persistent sadness lasting more than two weeks.
- Inability to function in daily life.
- Suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
If these signs are present in you or in a sad person nears you then it’s time to seek a professional and qualified therapist or counselor help in order to overcome sadness.
Conclusion
Sadness is a natural thing but in a limit. Beyond the limit it will have a great impact on a person life. Understanding the nature of sadness and recognizing its signs and knowing how to approach to a sad person, we can make a significant difference. Encourage a sad person to seek professional or qualified therapist help. Remember offering support as a sad person also requires social support in order to overcome sadness.