Depression is not sadness: how to tell them apart and why it matters
Sadness has an object and fluctuates; depression often has neither. Four practical dividing lines, where it gets complicated, and when to stop waiting.
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Depression is not sadness. Posts on how it feels from the inside, how it shows in men, teenagers and older people, what helps, and when a doctor comes first.
What depression feels like from the inside - for those who have never had it
Depression is not stronger sadness but mostly an absence. A description of the experience from the inside, for those close by and for those living it.
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Seasonal affective disorder: why winter pulls you under
Why some people's mood collapses every winter, what we really know, where the light explanation breaks down, and what can be set up in September.
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Postnatal depression: when you "should" be happy and you are not
What separates the baby blues from depression, why it often begins in pregnancy, and why intrusive thoughts about the baby are not what you fear.
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Depression in men: anger, withdrawal and silence instead of tears
In men, depression often shows up as irritability, withdrawal, bodily pain and alcohol. Why we recognise it too late, and what actually helps.
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Why depression takes your drive exactly when you need it most
Drive is not character but a quiet calculation between expected reward and the cost of effort. Depression breaks it on both sides at once.
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Behavioural activation: how to move when there is no motivation
Action first, feeling afterwards. What behavioural activation looks like step by step, why the steps must be almost ridiculously small, and where it falls short.
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Depression in a relationship: what happens to the couple, and what you can do
When one partner becomes depressed, a couple quietly reorganises into patient and carer. How that happens, why withdrawal is not rejection, and how to take the roles back.
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How to support someone with depression without burning yourself out
A piece for the person doing the supporting. How much this may cost you, how to say a boundary, and when support stops being your job and becomes a doctor's.
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High-functioning depression: when everything works outside and it is empty inside
Not a diagnosis, but it describes something real. Why functioning is not a measure of illness, why the chronic form fares worse than the episodic one, and what helps.
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