Sadness is a typical emotional response to loss or too many of life’s struggles. When does sadness equal clinical depression? When intense sadness including feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness lasts for many days or weeks interfering with you living your life, it may be clinical depression. Clinical depression is a treatable medical condition. Treatment for depression varies from lifestyle modifications, psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of the three depending on the severity. Depression symptoms are not limited to just the feeling of sadness. A few other possible manifestations of depression include irritability, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, loss of appetite, and difficulty sleeping. The lifetime prevalence of clinical depression is estimated to be 1 out of 20 persons with females being more affected than males.