How to Handle Sadness

Sadness is a normal part of life that everyone feels at some point. Grief following the death of a loved one or the break-up of a relationship leads to perfectly natural feelings of sadness that lessen over time. In fact, under these kinds of circumstances, not to feel sadness would indicate the presence of a more worrying underlying mental health problem. However, prolonged feelings of sadness, with no obvious cause, could be a sign of clinical depression and should be dealt with accordingly. There are coping mechanisms you can use to deal with ordinary feelings of sadness.

Instructions

• 1

  Stick to your usual routine if you can, or get back to it as soon as possible. Although you may go about your daily business with a heavy heart at first, following your normal pattern will stop you from dwelling on your feelings of sadness. Allowing sadness to continue indefinitely can lead to full blown depression, so it is best to try and get over it and move on with your life as quickly as you are able to.

• 2

  Talk to friends and family and cry if you feel like it. Although you don't want to dwell on your sadness unnecessarily, bottling it up can be just as harmful. If you are sad because someone has died, others will be feeling the same way as you are and talking to them about your loved one can be helpful. Most people have also gone through a painful break-up at some point and friends will be sympathetic if you feel sad when a relationship ends.

• 3

  Treat yourself to a massage, do your favorite craft, or join a yoga class to learn stress-relieving breathing exercises. Keeping yourself as relaxed as possible will help you cope with feelings of sadness.

• 4

  Arrange social dates with friends. Although you might not feel very sociable right now, once you are with your friends it'll be hard to stay sad for long.