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The meaning of the word “depression” has changed drastically over time. Some time ago, the word “depression” used to mean “An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and that affects the way a person eats, sleeps, feels about himself or herself, and thinks about things,” according to UCLA Health, but in today’s world, “depressed” is used as a generalization for being sad. Even the current dictionary definition isn’t completely correct. The Oxford English Dictionary claims the definition of depression is “a state of feeling sad” or even “a mood disorder marked especially by sadness.”
The term depression or depressed is vastly misused. People use this word when in reality, they are just sad, or feeling under the weather. This is not the correct use of the word. Depression is not the same thing as a passing mood of feeling blue or sad. It is not a sign of personal weakness. It cannot just be wished away. You cannot just, not be depressed or simply, just be happy.
Throughout history, the true definition of depression has been highly debated. One of the first few explanations of the word was by Hippocrates. His early understanding of the word was a “state of fear and sorrow.” Quite some time later, in the 1920s, Kurt Schneider, a German psychiatrist, defined two different forms of depression, each with its own definition. The two types were “endogenous depression,” which resulted from changes in mood, and “reactive depression,” depression resulting from reactions to outside events, yet the only real difference between the two was the severity of the case. Rollo May wrote the book Love and Will in 1969, defining depression as “the inability to construct a future.” A few years later, in the early 1980s, Albert Ellis, an American psychologist, declared that depression, unlike “appropriate sadness,” stemmed from “irrational beliefs.” Ellis continued to write that sufferers are “ill-equipped to deal with even mild setbacks.”
Scientists and physicians have been trying to define what depression is, medically. In 1952 The American Psychiatric Association tried to standardize the definitions of mental illnesses. Depression was listed under the broad category of “disorders without clearly defined physical cause,” which also included schizophrenia, paranoia, and mania. In 2013 the DSM-V was published with depressive disorders having their own chapter. The diagnostic criteria were mostly unchanged from the previous version, with the exception of one additional symptom: “Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feels sad or empty) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful).”
There has been some discussion of changing the word for depression, that is diagnosed depression or “clinical depression,” because the word has been so misused. Society seems to not understand what depression truly is because the term is used so loosely. Depression is one of the worst and one of the hardest burdens to bear. Depression takes over one’s life, you no longer want to do what you used to love, you either don’t want to eat at all or you can’t stop eating. Depression makes you feel like you are chained to a rock and are slowly sinking, and sometimes drowning, with no hope of ever being rescued. Depression envelops your mind, body, and soul. Depression feels like a criminal, trying to take away everything you once were.
The loose definition has been massively used among middle schoolers to young adults. While most people don’t find their misinterpretation to be at all harmful, this misuse of the word “depression” and/or “depressed” also pushes the narrative that depression is not a real illness. Personally, I have found this to be commonly the case in some cultural groups such as my own, where there is an attitude of 'sucking it up' and that 'it's in your head so you control it.' Depression is misconstrued as laziness, unwarranted spending, and reckless behavior described as 'spoilt and ungrateful.' Anxiety, which commonly comes hand-in-hand with depression, is weakness and panic attacks are 'dramatic' or, I quote, 'brought on by yourself.' These damaging misconceptions about depression are extremely damaging. It makes those who suffer feel like their problems are not real and don’t deserve the proper help or respect.
Although the true meaning of depression has been widely debated over hundreds of years, depression should never be taken as a joke or seen as a made-up illness. It is important that even as society continues to try and find the meaning of and reasoning behind various mental illnesses, people continue to be supportive and loving of others.
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