The 8 types of sadness: characteristics, possible causes, and symptoms.

Several authors have theorized about sadness and its subtypes.

Be it for one thing or another each and every one of us has been sad at one time or another.. We may have suffered a loss, a breakup, been given bad news, had a fight with someone we care about, failed to achieve a goal, or simply been moved internally by someone else's discomfort.

We may not even know exactly why. But in each and every one of these cases it is common for a feeling of suffering, pain, frustration, emptiness and inner coldness to appear, which can alter the way we see situations, the world and ourselves, generally with a negative vision.

Sadness, like its counterpart joy, is a universal emotion and is shared by all human beings as well as by other animals. But although the basic emotion is one, we often speak of different types of sadness depending on we often speak of different types of sadness depending on aspects such as what it is due to or whether or not it is coherent or useful with respect to its origin..

And it is about these different types of sadness that we are going to talk about in this article.

What is sadness?

Sadness is one of the so-called basic emotions, along with joy, surprise, fear, surprise, anger and disgust. It is, as we have already mentioned, a universal emotion shared by all mankind regardless of culture, race or way of life, although it can be expressed in different ways.

It arises as a reaction partly psychic and partly physiological to some kind of event, which can be external or internal.which can be external or internal. That is to say, it can appear derived from external events or stimulations (or the absence of these) or from the existence of concrete thoughts that are aversive to us and about which we consider that we cannot or that we have few options to do something.

Symptoms

It is usually defined as a feeling of discomfort, fatigue and low energy level that usually appears together with a perception of emptiness at the chest or intestinal level, a decrease in self-esteem and a tendency to isolation and introspection. A certain motor slowing and lower than usual Muscle tone is common. It also usually goes hand in hand with ruminations about what has generated its appearance, as well as a decrease in the capacity of attention towards the rest of the environment.

Sadness is a highly aversive emotion: most people do not like to be sad, as it usually implies discomfort and psychological and/or physical suffering.. However, there are also people who come to experience a tendency or search for states of sadness, due to the lack of desire or fear of changing the situations that generate it or due to the existence of secondary benefits.

However, and in spite of the fact that in general we all try to avoid those situations that generate this emotion, the fact that we can feel sad (as long as we do not reach pathological levels) is much more beneficial than we might think.

Main adaptive functions of sadness

The existence of sadness as something that we can all feel and that, in addition to us, a great number of animals possess is not something accidental: sadness has an adaptive function and favors our survival.

Like pain, the perception of sadness can help us to take some kind of action that allows us to get out of the situation that generates the feeling of discomfort.Although sadness generally decreases energy, it also makes it easier for us to make changes in the future that prevent us from returning to the aversive stimulation. In other words, it can motivate us to change.

Another beneficial aspect is that the reduction of energy that it generates allows us to save strength at a physical level, in addition to favoring reflection and rumination on what is happening around us. In this way, sadness provides us with a context in which we can learn about the reason for its occurrence and strengthen ourselves in the future.

It also makes us able to enter into a state of introspection and to know deep aspects of our being that we would not consider in any other state of mind. Likewise, feeling discomfort allows us to train our ability to cope with adversity, and over time it can alter our perception of competence and self-esteem.

Finally, as a general rule, sadness generates empathy and compassion in the members of the group.In this sense, expressing sadness can lead to our environment paying attention to us and taking care of us. In this sense, it also has a function of protection and group cohesion.

Types of sadness according to its functionality

Broadly speaking we can identify four main types of sadnessdepending on whether its existence is functional or not.

Adaptive sadness

We will consider that we are in front of an adaptive or functional sadness. when the emotion felt corresponds to and is justified on the basis of the situation or aspect that has generated it.. It is therefore a sadness that arises in response to an internal or external event and after which our body may need to lower the level of activity and process the information to achieve acceptance and adapt.

It is therefore a healthy sadness, and is characterized by the fact that with time or action it will begin to diminish and even disappear. The most typical example is the sadness we feel at a time of grief.

2. Maladaptive sadness

Sadness is in principle naturally adaptive. However, it is possible that in certain people and in certain situations the emotion remains in a continuous way, unable to be managed and causing persistent suffering.. In these cases, sadness is an additional problem that must be managed.

This is what happens when there is a blockage of emotion and its expression. A poorly resolved and unacceptable grief would lead to a type of maladaptive sadness.

3. Pathological sadness

We consider pathological sadness to be the sensation or feeling of sadness, discouragement and lack of interest in the world in which the person shows little capacity to react on an emotional level, but which usually goes together with bursts of crying. usually goes together with explosions of crying..

This state of mind is not congruent with any event or lack of it, or it appears in such a proportion that it is disproportionate to the situation from which it starts. It can lead to isolation or even in extreme cases to self-destructive behaviors. It is the type of sadness that can appear in depression or other disorders.

4. Instrumental sadness

We consider instrumental sadness to be that type of sadness that is used in order to achieve a specific objective through it.. It is a voluntary use of the emotion, although it may be partly sincerely felt.

On the other hand, sometimes we can also be faced with a complete simulation, in which there is only the externally observable part of sadness, and not the subjective part.

A philosophical view: types of sadness according to St. Thomas Aquinas

Sadness is and has always been one of the most basic human emotions, and has been studied since antiquity.. In this sense, historically some authors and researchers have tried to make various classifications regarding the existence of different types of sadness. An example of this was St. Thomas Aquinas, who used his research and previous classifications made by authors such as Aristotle to make his own classification in this regard.

Although it may not be scientifically valid, this way of classifying the types of sadness is interesting from a historical and philosophical point of view, and it can make us think that the different categories it shows, although they are known as different emotions, have elements in common. Within this classification we find the following types of sadness.

1. Sadness for one's own evil

This type of sadness is characterized by appearing on the basis of the suffering that one feels for oneself when some kind of painful or aversive situation occurs, or due to the deprivation of a painful situation.or by the deprivation of our needs and wills. It would be linked to deprivation or misery.

2. Compassion

Under the philosophical prism established by this author, compassion could be considered as another type of sadness, which in this case refers to the suffering that we perceive in others.. Observing the suffering of a loved one moves us and can cause us sadness and discomfort.

Compassion is a characteristic that makes solidarity and helping the vulnerable possible, which is the foundation of societies.

3. Envy

Another type of sadness can come from observing how others come to have some kind of good or achieve some goal that we would want for ourselves.

To see that others do have what we want and cannot have can generate sadness and suffering, from which envy arises.from which envy arises. It is an emotional tension that arises from the comparison with those we consider successful in some way.

4. Discouragement or anguish

Sadness and anxiety are often deeply related. In this sense, discouragement or anguish can be considered a type of sadness that is linked to the loss of mobility or motivation by not finding anything that satisfies us or allows us to move towards our goals. It is also related to uncertainty and the desire to keep some kind of good or to stay on track toward one's goals. On the other hand, this psychological factor is associated with demotivation.

Depression: beyond feeling sad

One of the concepts that is generally associated with sadness is depression. In major depression or during depressive episodes, one of the main and most important symptoms is the existence of a sad mood.

However, it would be wrong to identify depression with sadness since the first implies besides being sad a set of symptoms among which stands out the anhedonia or absence of ability to feel pleasure, sleep problems (both insomnia and excessive sleepiness), loss or increased appetite, hopelessness and passivity, the vision of the world, the self and the future as negative and aversive, lack of energy, concentration and libido or even suicidal thoughts.

• Recommended article: "The 6 differences between sadness and depression".

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