Dear Therapist: Why do I feel a void in my life?

I feel sad for no reason. From the outside perspective, my life seems perfectly normal and nobody tends to understand why I feel low at times. Even I am not able to navigate where this lingering feeling of sadness and void comes from in my life. I try to be grateful for everything I have but I keep going into this trap of feeling low and upset. How do I find a way out? — Noorain F

Dear Writer, it’s quite clear that you are struggling to understand where your sadness stems from. I am not aware how long you have been struggling with this, but I do think it’s time that you consulted a mental health professional to get to the root of this problem. On your own, you can try tracing your bouts by journaling, which will facilitate better self-awareness. Confiding to a loved one may also help verbalise the distress that you are in. Sometimes, defining sadness also helps; maybe its emptiness or numbness or something that you find missing in your life. You can be a grateful person and still be sad or even suffer from depression! ‘Out of the blue’ sadness is not common and it’s quite possible that it definitely has a trigger, perhaps few days prior to the sadness, which also means that your low mood is lasting longer than it generally does and that you have difficulty recuperating.

(Got a query about mental health? Email us on wknd@khaleejtimes.com)

• Dubai