Jennifer Butler Murray files for divorce from her husband/actor Bill Murray. Breakups can be tough and with it comes sadness and possibly depression. I’m not saying that there Jennifer Butler Murray is sad or depressed. She could just feel relieved for all I know. One thing to note though is that there is a disparity between sadness and depression. Most of the time, sadness and depression are termed as one. This is somewhat of a misconception. Some people believe that sadness indicates that you have a disorder called depression. While others believe that sadness is just a normal occurrence and is just way too different from depression. So, what exactly is sadness and how did it become the number one symptom of depression? Is there any way we can eliminate this feeling from our lives? Let us take a deeper look at the discrepancy between sadness and depression.

Ok. According to my pocket-size dictionary, sadness is described as an expression of grief or unhappiness. Depression, on the other hand, is listed as a medical condition in which there is an extreme form of sadness and is chronic in duration. The difference between the two is that, sadness is likely a normal occurrence from time to time. However, if unhappiness persists for weeks or months (or even years), then it becomes the disorder we commonly call depression.

Why Am I Sad? That’s a question lots of people ask themselves sometimes. Well, there are a number of factors which can trigger this feeling and it differs from person to person. Whether you are a child or an adult, you experience sadness from time to time. Usually it’s because of a particular event that has transpired. Some of the causes of sadness are: disappointments in life, the loss of something essential to one’s life, or perhaps just empathy to another person. Although people feel this naturally once in a while, sadness becomes threatening if the feeling of grief doesn’t go away. It can consume you and your activities and can even trigger clinical depression.

People must always put in mind that sadness is a natural occurrence in life, and should be treated accordingly. People must simply not take it in too deep because it may inadvertently lead to another disorder. Yikes. That can’t be good. If you ever feel sad, try cheering yourself up by taking time to see some friends and family, and you’ll see how time can help you see things in another light.

Sadness, however, can become a problem when it fully consumes a person. If the feeling of grief lasts for a very long period of time, and if it makes a person stray away from the good things in life, then we can call it a problem. Sadness and depression should normally be separated because sadness is only a temporary feeling while depression can last a lifetime.

If these signs and symptoms appear, then your sadness or depression could positively be called a disorder. There are a lot of indicators such as numbness of the body, feelings of worthlessness, troubling of your mind, feelings of being unloved and unaccepted, loss of appetite, and sudden weight gain or loss. If you’re feeling any of this, try seeking help from a medical professional. Anyway, I really do hope that things aren’t as bad as the media are reporting about the divorce between Jennifer Butler Murray and Bill Murray.