Languishing vs Depression

bewellcoadmin 02 Feb 2025

Understanding the Difference Between Languishing and Depression

Have you ever felt stuck, stagnant, or just not quite right? Perhaps you’ve been going through the motions, not feeling great but not feeling terrible either—just a persistent sense of “meh.” This state is known as “Languishing“, and it affects 1 in 5 Australians.

What is Languishing?

Languishing is a state where someone is dissatisfied with the way they and their life are at the moment, or where their life is headed. They don’t feel good and they struggle to function as well as they could.

Their life starts to feel indifferent. They may be struggling having positive relationships and don’t feel the belong to a community. They may lack a clear purpose, direction and motivation, and/or emotional engagement. People who are languishing may feel like they are not achieving any growth and feel stuck and stagnant

It is often described as the “middle child” of mental health, failing to receive attention as we focus on mental illness on the one hand and striving for wellbeing on the other, failing to realise how bad it is when you don’t have either of these states.

While languishing can seem similar to depression, it has some key differences, and understanding these is essential for recognising mental health needs and determining appropriate interventions or where to make changes.

This blog will explore what languishing is, what it isn’t, and how it differs from depression.

What is Depression?

Depression is marked by persistent sadness, hopelessness, and a significant impact on daily functioning. If you are depressed you lose interest in all or most aspects of life, your mood is consistently low for a long period of time and need to struggle with some other specific problems including problems sleeping & concentrating.

When you languishing you are experiencing a feeling of dissatisfaction with where you and life are at and headed. You feel emotionally stagnated and may not feel much positive forward energy, or feel less interested in connected with others and a wider community

Languishing is more about a sense of indifference, a lack of joy, purpose and optimism rather than overt sadness or thinking that life isn’t worthwhile. You struggle in some areas of life, rather than the struggle making everything in life seem pointless.

Side point: we can manage conditions with overlapping symptoms quite well generally (eg stress v anxiety) and can use those to say it is nuanced in mental health.

While languishing is like a fog that temporarily obscures your path, or an invisible block that keeps you where you are, stopping you from making positive change, depression feels like an oppressive darkness that makes it hard to see any path at all. It’s important to recognise that depression is serious and can have a profound impact on your life.

Key Differences Between Languishing and Depression

Though both depression and Languishing affect our emotional experience wellbeing, they differ in their symptoms, impact on daily life, and solutions. Here are some of the key distinctions:

1. Definition and Nature

Depression

Languishing

Clinically recognised as a mental health disorder, depression is characterised by a range of emotional and physical symptoms that significantly impact a person’s life, including persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and a lack of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed. Depression can manifest in varying degrees of severity, from mild to severe depressive episodes.

This state is often seen as the absence of wellbeing rather than the presence of a mental illness. Languishing is marked by feelings of dissatisfaction with our lives, who we are, or where we’re heading. People who feel this way might feel stuck or stagnant and lack joy they used to have. Languishing reflects a lack of engagement and fulfilment in life, often described as “muddling through.”

2. Symptoms and Emotional Experience

Depression

Languishing

Depressive symptoms include:

Cognitive: negative thinking, difficulty concentrating, making decisions, or remembering things. In severe cases, there may be thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

Emotional: Feelings of guilt, hopelessness, pessimism, emptiness, and persistent sadness

Physical: Difficulty sleeping and fatigue, changes in appetite (either overeating or loss of appetite), lack of sexual interest, and poor energy levels

Behavioural: Decreasing activity levels, withdrawing from people, noticeable neglecting responsibilities

Languishing symptoms include:

Cognitive: Negative thinking,

a sense of aimlessness or difficulty concentrating, but this is less severe than in depression

Emotional: A sense of stagnation, lacking purpose and motivation, less joy, and mild feelings of emptiness or boredom.

Physical: Generally, there are fewer physical symptoms compared to depression. Individuals may feel less motivated but usually do not experience the extreme fatigue seen in depression.

Behavioural: languishers often still perform usual activities, albeit with less enthusiasm and enjoyment.

3. Impact on Life and Functioning

Depression

Languishing

The impact of depression on daily life can be profound, interfering with work, relationships, and general quality of life. Individuals may withdraw socially, struggle to meet responsibilities, and experience significant changes in their overall functioning.

Depression can feel like a deep sadness, with a sense of hopelessness and exhaustion.

Languishing can sometimes be triggered by a transition or it can slowly build over time. It feels like a lull that can last a long time. Combined with a lack of focus, motivation, and joy, you might feel like you’re stuck in a rut and tasks that once seemed engaging might feel like a chore. You are still doing many of the things you normally do, but you don’t experience the same sense of meaning or joy you once did.

Languishers will still connect with people but will feel less belonging and more isolation in a wider community.

What depression DOESN’T focus on

Depression, as a diagnosis, misses a lot of important aspects that determine whether we languish or not. Aspects that make our lives worth living including for example:

Lacking Autonomy
Lacking a sense of personal safety
Lacking enjoyment and Fun**
Lacking Belonging
Lacking purpose in life
Struggling with activities and functioning
Not feeling able to reach goals Competence
Low self-acceptance
Low sense of Achievement

These are all tangible and practical experienced that we can measure and target, and may be less likely to improve using traditional interventions designed for depression.

It’s important to distinguish between depression and Languishing so you can get the right help. Depression often needs professional treatment, while languishing is less dependent on clinical care: there is lots more you can personally do and improve with lifestyle changes.

And this starts with naming it. Recognising Languishing helps normalise that everyone can feel this way from time to time, and like a compass, can guide you in the direction you need to go.

Want to keep learning about Languishing? Join our community.

If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available—reach out to Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636) or Lifeline (13 11 14) for confidential help.