I thought depression meant extreme sadness, so why sometimes do I not feel anything at all?

Depression is so much more complex than that, Ive experienced overwhelming sadness, numbness, emptiness, sometimes just weakness in general, the lack of desire to do anything and so many other random emotions I never saw as depression. The stereotype that depression=sadness is inaccurate and harmful because just because we dont feel sad we assume were fine, which means we arent seeking help and in turn causes the depression to worsen. My most common symptom is numbness, I dont even realize it because well.. im numb. I dont feel happy or sad, I dont feel angry or excited, no emotions ever settle in and since I cant tell, it ends up progressing into other things like lack of drive and motivation and THEN all the sad stuff. Its important to pin point any abnormal feelings you may be having because they may or may not be related to depression and if caught early enough, can save you a harder time

This is actually very common in depression. Some people feel it as numbness, others as sadness, and others as both. Neither is the "right" or "wrong" way.

Depression is multifaceted and can appear in many forms. This is why the official diagnostic criteria have various subcategories, in an attempt to encompass the whole spectrum. The feeling of emptiness is quite a common aspect and it is usually what leads to nihilistic viewpoints and the whole "what does it even matter" thought process.

Depression has many diffrent forms ... Feeling numb or nothing can be a symptom of depression ! It's great that your in touch with how your feeling it shows great insite 😊

Feeling nothing or emptiness is another aspect of depression. Everyone feels depression differently; for some people it is extreme sadness, for others the dominant feeling is nothing or numbness or even just chronic boredom.

Sometimes, when we're depressed, we tend to think of every thing that's wrong with ourselves or the world around us. But other times we tend to feel absolutely nothing at all..

Numbness or separation from emotion is an extremely common sign of depression. Don't worry, it's valid.

Sometimes we feel so much emotional all the time that we become blind to it and we forget what it feels like to be excited or happy and that can lead to feeling numb. I've been this way for awhile now.

Depression varies from person to person. People doesn't feel same kind during depression. It rises from different circumstances and thus provides different emotions. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed by our feelings that it seems that emotions no longer exist.

I'm sorry to hear that you are going through a tough time with depression, sometimes depression can mean different things to each individual who suffers from it, there are many many symptoms of depression, feel free to check this link out for more info http://www.healthtalk.org/young-peoples-experiences/depression-and-low-mood/what-does-depression-feel-emotional-cognitive-experiences. So you maybe persistently sad and unhappy, or you may feel that you're not feeling anything at all, this is the feeling of numbness, we feel numb when we are experiencing a lot of thoughts and feelings in our brain, it makes us too afraid to feel the emotions and make us depressed and therefore feel numb, however, you gotta try sorting your feelings out one by one and managing them and gradually learning to recognize what you're feeling. Feel free to check out our lovely 7cups Managing Emotions Self-Help Guide! :)

Sometimes extreme emotional feelings are too much to bear and your brain might block them. This may cause a feeling of numbness or of feeling nothing at all. To compensate, eventually those buried emotions might be released a little at a time; for others they may later come out in a flood. Having resources and a good support system is crucial in healing from all types of depression.

Depression does include increased sadness, but "numbness" is a part of it, as well. What happens is we feel so tired and sick of feeling sadness, that we become still and have no emotion towards anything. That tends to be worse. It's almost like a state of not caring about anything anymore.

Depression isn't just always just extreme sadness.. as there are many different types of depression. Depression can just simply being numb and not feeling anything.

Depression comes in several forms and one of those forms is called Dysphoria, it's exactly the opposite of Euphoria, it's the distinct inability to feel emotions. It's just another face of depression and you should seek professional help if it's been going on for a while.

Depression doesn't necessarily mean extreme sadness. Sometimes you get depressed thinking about things like if you're being bullied, or if your lonely. Thinking about all your problems at once can result in you being depressed with extreme sadness or being depressed and left feeling completely numb because sometimes we just want to shut off the pain and not feel anything instead of being sad.

Depression affects everyone differently, so it varies from person to person. One person might be extremely sad, but another can feel extremely numb, meaning they don't enjoy the things they used to do anymore.

Depression can come and go. It can be extreme somedays and also be like it's completely gone on other days. It can be triggered by certain situations and then come back all at once.

Different people experience depression differently. Feeling "nothing," blank, empty, or distant from your feelings is one way people can experience it, and feeling extremely sad is another. You can also go back and forth between the two.

You can be happy and still feel depression. You can be sad, lonely or not thinking straight and still go through it everyone has different signs and symptoms and how they cope with it afterwards. You're mind is probably blank because you've been avoiding all things for awhile so it's just a phase through it, until you recognize you need a change in your mood or fix what's in your reality then it would help to move forward with your life ☺

The high level effect of depression on the human brain is that the chemical connections that make many parts of our brain function a certain way are absent or inhibited. Feeling nothing at all is a side effect of the connections in our brain responsible for feeling various kinds of emotions not working in ways they are supposed to. This is what sometimes leads to an absence of both positive and negative feelings, resulting in a senses of numbness, indifference, and/or not feeling as if we are able to feel anything.