What is a way to overcome sadness? What's the reason for always being sad? Question asked here. Time: 12:20 am 12th June, 2017. Popular self-help, reductionist answer: The philosophical and quasi religious answer first. You may want to please skip this part if you are feeling really empty, crying spontaneously or feeling severe bursts of panic. If you are feeling suicidal then too, the next para is not for you please. Please scroll below and see the point-form answer. Thanks. There is something in Christianity called The Dark Night of the Soul which is a replication of Jesus's abjection or feeling totally abandoned by God on the Cross. This is the humancondition. No matter who you are, how learned, how good-looking or how gifted you are, if you are human, you will feel lonely and meaningless. Even with great kids, an understanding spouse and a very fulfilling life including positive work satisfaction. If you are human, you will be imperfect and God or Brahman (in Advaita Vedanta) alone can fulfill you totally. Nary your great contacts, nor your friends, nothing in fact will work. The poet W.H. Auden (1907–73) wrote these lonely lines: Within these gates all opening begins: White shouts and flickers through its green and red, Where children play at seven earnest sins And dogs believe their tall conditions dead. Here adolescence into number breaks The perfect circle time can draw on stone, And flesh forgives division as it makes Another's moment of consent its own. All journeys die here: wish and weight are lifted: Where often round some old maid's desolation Roses have flung their glory like a cloak, The gaunt and great, the famed for conversation Blushed in the stare of evening as they spoke And felt their centre of volition shifted. One explanation of this poem is that when Jesus Christ chose to suffer and willingly atoned for our pride, arrogance and hatred and lack of kindness; the "gaunt and the great" found and continue to find themselves redundant. How does it help you to run to a house bereft of your near ones shouting you have got this or that prize when your arrogance has emptied your house of your family? Philosopher have called this feeling of loneliness existential angst; in short, the anxiety of being fully alive with uncertainties. It is impossible for an intelligent person to be always happy, upbeat and seeking companionship. As Wordsworth famously said we lay waste our powers sooner or later due to too much human company. One way to find stability in life is to accept that we are all broken and we need other human beings in small doses to make their lives more meaningful and happy. Stoicism does not help. Now for the more pointed answer: a) If you have a family history of mental ill health, then if you are feeling low , lethargic and teary without reason, seek the help of a psychiatrist with an M. D., psychiatry. Not Diplomas. The person should have written exactly this in India after her or his name. XYZ MBBS, M.D. Do not waste time with psychotherapies. Unless you take medicines you will NOT feel good about anything. After medication, if you have the money and the time seek out someone who might want to counsel you. But with good new medications you will be fine. b) If you feel that you want to die of loneliness, immediately seek out a psychiatrist. Have you been feeling more or less sleepy? Were you abused physically even once by anyone? Do you feel voices giving you instructions? See a psychiatrist and you will be fine in about ten days. People are unwilling to take newer anti-depressants but willing to drink alcohol. Look at your problem this way: we have diabetes; we take anti-diabetics daily; we have heart issues, we take statins. If you or I have brain issues; which is normal, we have to take neurotransmitter-regulating medications. There are absolutely non-sleepy ones. If alcohol can make you drunk; newer anti-depressants can cure you of eating more in anxiety or eating less in anxiety. But going to quacks or people with only MBBS won't really help since in India, MBBS syllabi do not have much psychiatry in them. Diploma holders are better than nothing but I am certain you can find an MD, psychiatry anywhere in India. tell your doctor to give you a newer anti-depressant and you will NOT feel lonely anymore. Remember studies show that Yoga, meditation and other techniques help AFTER that medicines have kicked in. If you have a diagnosis for Major Depressive Disorder then no self-help pundit can help you. Seek allopathic medical help. Don't listen to anyone telling you otherwise. Incidentally, I am majorly into religion and write for and ON Hinduism but I want you to access Hinduism with proper support from proper scientific medication. Pax. Whoever is reading this; you are not alone. Seek help from a formally trained doctor. Ask for her registration number and then seek help, may be, but do not delay. You need not suffer unnecessarily.