Stress and Depression Are Not Same – Powerful Reasons

 

I am not writing on a topic like this to just show you the difference between stress and depression, but also to make you aware of their individual causes so you don’t misunderstand that you are depressed, in your stress level.

It’s a generation where more than adults, adolescents’ go through mental health issues. Why do you think students get suicidal and running away thoughts? Because they think their daily life stress is their depression. They think that whatever is happening is causing them depression which is not true. 

There’s a saying, ‘You become what you think’ and if you let your mind accept your thoughts, you become that person and go through its symptoms.

So when these students start calling their stress as their depression, their minds accept the suggestion and destroy them just as depression does to people. In their subconscious mind, they believe that they are depressed and their body starts reacting the same.

Now when people themselves are destroying themselves it has become so important to let them know the magic of the mind. I am here because I have been through all of it too and if a psychology student can face mental health issues what do you think would non-psychology students be facing?

When you start realizing what is happening to you, you also start realizing what would be the condition of people who still don’t know what is it that is happening to them and why?

So I am here to help you with how to differentiate between depression and stress, and what causes what.

The daily life crises that we call it as Mid Life Crises are actually the stress that we go through.

See below the difference between stress and depression through its individual causes.

What cause you stress?

• Times when you feel you aren’t being loved by your parents and family because of the presence of your siblings. You think that you are given less priority. You start complaining about your family and your parents to your friends and lover.
• When people sarcastically or out of jealousy and hate start telling you that you are useless, you accept their suggestion and start overthinking about the same.
•  Sitting idle and thinking about how unproductive you are, also causes stress which leads to self-isolation, headache, sleeping issues and avoiding outings and meeting with friends and family.
• Fear of judgment is another reason for being stressed nowadays.
• Peer pressure, school and college pressure, examinations tension and competitions also lead to stress.
• Trying to find a partner, going through fights, feeling low about yourself, jealousy for others (especially in your own group) can lead to causing you stress.

And it has happened that because of the reasons mentioned above people think that they are in depression and it is harming them.

It is true that stress sometimes is not good as it brings changes to your body but is manageable. However, a depressed person requires a treatment that needs to be followed to come out of it.

There are different treatments to help people come out of it. And these different treatments vary from the acceptance of mind and body of different people.

Depression is more like a disease. It is a serious issue that some people have to face in their lives. And there are not many specific causes of depression because it connects to shocks and mournful situations in life.

Now, what are these situations that causes depression?

1. Medical illnesses

When people go through medical illnesses, they sometimes, not always, attract negativity in their lives. They start thinking that they have become useless and their presence does not matter in any way. Since they spend most of their time in either bed or home or hospital, they tend to overthink things that might not be the case in the future.

Why do you think people lose hope and give up on their lives?

Because they tend to overthink so much that the positivity never gets entry to the room. And it’s acceptable that these people may attract negativity because of how their whole routine changes from going to work to resting in bed.

For example – if a person has met with an accident and is on medical treatment to enable functioning, he/she might get depressed because of the negative thoughts passing by their mind.

• Rape cases/ mental abuse/ child abuse

In such situations, people are hardly in their senses. They get lonely because of what happened and because of the hate that these typical societies offer. And this happens in the case of children as well.

Child abuse is not limited to physical abuse. When family members get mad at their children, beat them, show them candles and lock them in their rooms also comes under child abuse. This makes children start to hate their parents or get detached which causes serious issues in their growth and developmental process.

• Death or loss

People are for years in shock of the death of the loved ones or loss that happened in their lives. This sometimes leads to serious mental health issues and is kept in the medical environment for the rest of their lives.

• Drug addiction, Strict family environment, and  other personal problems

In such situations, people often get depressed. Families with old beliefs put a lot of restrictions which leads children to the wrong path, and they start getting suicidal thoughts.

Students in their teens get addicted to drugs and alcohol because it is the age where they feel the loneliest and if it connects with the family in any manner it becomes a serious issue to resolve. They require better treatment to drop addiction and encourage a better lifestyle.

Depression is not anything that you ever thought of. We use the word so often and not realize what it is actually. And the only suggestion I would want to give you to manage stress is to be aware of the fact that you are stressing over something and you immediately need to engage yourself in something that interests you. If I am stressed I order food, go to places I like and write poetry about whatever is going in my mind. The more you bring out your thoughts or share them with someone; you are more likely to be stressed less.

 I hope now you know the difference between stress and depression and will try to attract positivity more than negativity to avoid serious illnesses.

Remember, “You are the problem, you are the solution”.

In case you are going through depression or stress and want to talk about it to someone but hesitate because of the fear of judgments, I will be always there to help. You may find me on Instagram @rukayyazirapur