Research 1 - Sadness

What Is Sadness?

Sadness is a feeling — it's one of the many normal human emotions, or moods, we all have. Sadness is the emotion people feel when they've lost something important, or when they have been disappointed about something, or when something sad has happened to them or to someone else. When they're lonely, people often feel sad.

When you're sad, the world may seem dark and unfriendly. You might feel like you have nothing to look forward to. The hurt deep inside may crush your usually good mood.

Sadness makes you feel like crying, and sometimes the tears are hard to stop. Crying often makes you feel better.

Sometimes when your mood is sad, you just feel like being alone for a little while. Or you might want someone to comfort you or just keep you company while you go through the sad feeling. Talking about what has made you sad usually helps the sad feeling melt away.

When sadness starts to go away, it can feel like a heavy blanket is being lifted from your shoulders.

"There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle." -Robery Alden

When Is It Natural to Feel Sad?

Feeling sad every once in a while is natural. Maybe you didn't get something you really wanted. Maybe you miss somebody. Maybe somebody you really like doesn't want to be friends, and you don't feel so great about yourself. Maybe an illness or condition gets in the way of doing some things you want to do or makes you different from your friends. There are lots of reasons that people feel sadness.

Most of the time, sadness is because of a loss or separation, a difficult change or disappointment about something, or relationship problems.

Disappointments

Disappointments like losing a game you hoped to win, getting a poor grade, or not being invited to a party can cause sadness. Sadness is a natural reaction to those things. How sad a person feels is usually related to how big or small the loss or disappointment is.

Relationships

Relationships bring happiness and fun much of the time. But tension or conflict in important relationships, or relationships that break up, can cause sadness, too. Many kids fight with family members, especially their parents, in the struggle to grow up and gain independence.

People often feel sad when all is not right between them and their loved ones, or when they get criticized or yelled at a lot. They fight about things like money, clothing, haircuts, school, and friends. In school, problems with teachers and grades may cause some sadness as well.

When Is Sadness a Problem?

If a sad feeling goes on for too long, hurts too deeply, and makes it hard for you to enjoy the good things about your life, it's called depression.

Here are some of the signs and symptoms of depression:

• feeling empty or numb
• feeling hopeless (like there's nothing to look forward to)
• feeling guilty or worthless
• feeling lonely or unloved
• feeling irritable and annoyed a lot (every little thing gets on your nerves)
• feeling like things are not fun anymore
• having trouble keeping your mind on schoolwork or homework or getting bad grades
• having trouble keeping your mind on things like reading or watching TV or not remembering what a book or a TV show was about
• having less energy and feeling tired all the time
• sleeping too much or not enough
• not eating enough and weight loss or eating too much and weight gain
• thinking about death or thinking about suicide
• spending less time with friends and more time alone
• crying a lot, often for no reason
• feeling restless (being unable to sit still or relax)