12.4  Grief and depression

Grief and depression share similar characteristics; however, there are important differences between the two. Grief is a natural response to a loss and depression is an illness. But it can sometimes be hard to distinguish between the two. An important distinction is that people who are grieving are still able to enjoy things and can look forward to the future. But those with depression tend to have constant feelings of sadness and have little enjoyment or positive expectations of the future.