Depression or laziness test?

In this blog guide, we will provide you with the difference between depression and laziness, various online depression and laziness test, signs and symptoms of depression and a few similar signs of depression and laziness that usually leads to confusion. 

Depression vs laziness

Depression as we know is one of the most common and dangerous mental health conditions. People with depression are usually sad and do not feel like doing anything. They have lost interest in any kind of work, food, or sleep. Generally, people who start feeling depressed become more lazy than usual. On the surface, depression and laziness are very similar, but once you dig deeper you understand that there is a fine line between depression and laziness. 

The central issue of clinical depression is that individuals would prefer not to feel that way. It is totally out of their control. They didn’t do (or neglect to accomplish) something that achieved the depression. While scenes of feeling depression might be achieved by expanded pressure, by and large, the vast majority with this condition can’t follow it back to anything in their life.

Laziness, then again, is a reasonable and straightforward decision. If we let it be known, when we’re being apathetic, we’re essentially deciding not to get things done in our life. “Goodness, cleaning the condo? I’ll get around to that tomorrow… “

So the basic difference lies in the fact that depression is not chosen. With depression, the person might want to get out of it. However, laziness is not the same. Laziness is no mental health disorder, it is just a choice a mere habit that makes us procrastinate and delay things. 

Being lazy isn’t a criminal offense. However, it shouldn’t be mistaken for genuine psychological maladjustment all things considered. Because you’re feeling especially unmotivated one day to get up, go to class or work, and do what’s anticipated from you doesn’t mean you’re dealing with depression. it is possible that it can be your rest day or just feeling a little ‘meh’. 

Depression on the other hand doesn’t simply keep going for a day or two. For clinical depression to be analyzed, it expects you to feel that equivalent, unmotivated path for at any rate fourteen days as indicated by the American Psychiatric Association. The vast majority who experience the ill effects of this condition go weeks — and here and there even months — feeling repulsive, unmotivated, forlorn, and in misery before truly looking for treatment. 

That is a key contrast. Ordinarily, in case you’re simply feeling lazy, it’s a passing mindset that inside a day or two, will pass. Before sufficiently long, you get up, you go to class or work, you clean the condo. You do what’s required, and you can do as such. 

Individuals with depression don’t have that capacity. They’ve lost all idea of importance in their life, of time, of obligations. It simply doesn’t make a difference. Nothing matters.

Nevertheless, being lazy once in a  while is appreciated, but when it happens for an irregular time frame, you should be aware that it can act as a symptom of mental health conditions especially mood disorders like depression. Sometimes, individuals themselves might start to feel that they may be faking depression. So here’s a list of symptoms on how you can differentiate between depression and laziness.

Symptoms of depression 

Depression causes extreme distress in those who are dealing with it. However, the severity may vary depending on the person and the rigger that caused it in the first place. To know if you are dealing with depression or mere sadness here and there, you need to first learn about the symptoms and signs of depression. 

Signs and symptoms  of mild depression may include: 

• Misery or feeling “alone”. 
• Loss of interest in pastimes. 
• Peevishness or dissatisfaction. 
• Sadness. 
• Changes in rest design. 
• Changes in craving (gloom and weight pick up, weight reduction). 
• Uneasiness. 
• Sleepiness, loss of energy. 
• Low confidence, blame. 

Signs and symptoms  of severe depression may include: 

• Failure to decide. 
• Fanatical self-destructive or musings of death. 
• Persevering, unexplained actual torment like migraines, stomach related issues, or joint and muscle torment. 
• Powerlessness to feel joy or happiness. 
• Trouble in reasoning and memory.

If you’re facing this, it may be a good idea to seek the help of a therapist or other mental health professional. You can find a therapist at BetterHelp who can help you learn how to cope and address it.

Signs of depression that are seen as laziness 

Now we come to the question that why are depression and laziness seen with the same lens? Why is it that people find it difficult to differentiate if they are just feeling lazy or depressed? 

The answer to these questions is that a few signs of depression are very similar to that of laziness. In this part of the guide, we will give you a list of symptoms that are similar to both depression and laziness. 

Spending most of the time on social media

It is seen that people who are depressed usually try to distract themselves by scrolling through social media or just spending most of their time on the phone playing games or doing other stuff. Using a phone constantly is also considered an activity done by a lazy person. Those who are usually lazy will be found to spend most of their time scrolling social media instead of doing something more productive. Hence this sing has been usually confused by many. 

Falling behind in work 

People who are depressed usually lose interest in doing any kind of work. They are not interested in any work be it at home or office. All they want is to snuggle in their bed and stay there. The house goes uncleaned for days, they do not care about personal hygiene. People who are lazy to procrastinate in doing their daily activities. Cleaning the house, doing the laundry are activities they do not want to do. They rather just stay in their bed watching Netflix. However, this very sign is usually confused. Those who are avoiding cleaning due to the fact that they are depressed are usually misjudged as being lazy. 

Oversleeping 

A very important symptom of depression is either lack of sleep or excessive sleep. Those who are depressed usually spend most of their time sleeping and doing nothing else because they genuinely feel like doing nothing. These are usually misunderstood as being lazy and staying in bed all day. If your parents do not understand the difference between the two, then might get upset about the fact that you wasting most of your day sleeping and doing no work. 

Taking a lot of breaks 

Those who are dealing with depression face the symptom of extreme fatigue. In the very first place, they do not have optimal work performance. In addition to this, they need more than usual breaks to recharge themselves and work better. This is always confused as the person being lazy. People start to believe that the person is just procrastinating and avoiding work. 

Difficulty getting out of the bed 

It is not just lazy people who find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning. Who does not love an extra hour of sleep right? However, people, who are depressed find it difficult to get out of bed every single day even if they want to do so. They wake up in the morning only to dread the fact that they have to live one more day. Whilst those who are lazy just want to snuggle and sleep more. They only want to avoid any sort of hard work. This particular sign is confused usually as a sign of laziness by those who do not know that you are suffering from depression. 

Eating fast food 

People who are usually lazy do not like to cook and then clean the kitchen, wash the dishes, and put them all back. It is a long and tiring process. So they end up ordering food from outside. But those who are depressed do not have the strength to go through the long and tiring process. They are easily fatigued for no reason whatsoever. 

No sense of personal hygiene 

It is easier to confuse depression and laziness because people of both the category, avoid healthy personal hygiene. One because they do not have the interest and the strength to do so, the other because of mere procrastination. They might avoid showering, making their hair, wearing cleaned clothes, putting make-up on, dressing appropriately, etc. These are signs of both depression and laziness. 

It is very heartbreaking and rude on our part to declare someone lazy when they are actually depressed. Therefore, it is always a better suggestion that you either not say anything or ask the person before throwing a judgment. You may neer know what is happening to the person inside. Making a judgment by what you see on the surface level is just harsh. Depression and laziness have similar signs. Hence as individuals of humankind, it is our responsibility that we refrain from making any ill judgment. 

How to tell if you are depressed or lazy? 

Well, this is easy. You can quickly differentiate between depression and laziness by taking a few quizzes or tests online. 

Here is the link to a few tests 

https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/depression-quiz

https://quizol.net/am-i-depressed-quiz/

https://quizol.net/do-i-have-depression-quiz/

https://www.psycom.net/depression-test/

https://patient.info/news-and-features/quiz-am-i-depressed

If either of these quizzes suggests that what you are going through are depression and just laziness, it might be rue. Hence the first thing you do is visit a mental health professional. They will assess your signs and symptoms and diagnose your scientifically. For better reasons, you can skip the part of taking online tests, and directly visit a therapist or a psychiatrist. They will make a better judgment and tell you if you are depressed or lazy. 

Conclusion 

In this blog guide, we have provided you with the difference between depression and laziness, various online depression and laziness test, signs and symptoms of depression and a few similar signs of depression and laziness that usually leads to confusion. 

FAQs: Depression or laziness test?

References 

https://psychcentral.com/blog/am-i-depressed-or-just-lazy#3