Depression treatment can help

Not at all. One person with depression may have some overlap with another person’s symptoms, but it can look very different in different people. Some people get sad, others feel empty or mad. And some people feel extremely anxious, while others feel like they don’t worry as much because they feel so low. Sometimes sleep or eat too much, while others too little. And some people have thoughts of suicide (thoughts don’t necessarily mean someone intends to do it though). The constellation of symptoms in each person can be very different, and they can come out in very different ways.

By definition, a depressive episode lasts at least two weeks. But typically, it can continue for a few months to a couple of years. However, some people experience symptoms of depression, but their symptoms don’t rise to the definition of a depressive episode. In these cases, the person’s symptoms may not be consistent daily, but they can come and go. Just because they come and go and aren’t a full episode doesn’t mean the symptoms still are not affecting someone’s life in profound ways. So catching and treating these symptoms early can be life-changing.

Yes! Acknowledging that you’re experiencing depression is the first step. Then, you can work with a depression therapist to figure out what are the different factors that are making it better or worse. Next, you make a plan with small steps to start tackling it. Everyone can begin to take some steps, and the more steps you take, the further you can get in moving past it.

Usually, it will take a few months to get a full positive effect, but a number of people begin to feel significantly better within 2 to 4 weeks. Improvement doesn’t happen overnight, but rather as a person gets better, they will gradually notice that their symptoms are less frequent or less intense. In some cases of more chronic depression, it might take much longer to treat, but over time, there will be noticeable improvements.

Most people that experience mild or moderate depression can improve with a number of lifestyle changes and therapy. Some of these people will still choose to add medicine to their treatment plan and it may help them get better even faster. For others with more severe symptoms that are really interfering significantly in their lives, like with work or relationships, it often makes sense to start a medicine first, as treatment and lifestyle changes alone may not be enough. Even when someone takes medicine and it helps significantly, it’s often still not enough by itself and needs to be combined with other strategies.

It’s usually recommended to take a medicine for depression for one year after you’ve recovered so that you stay well and have less of a chance of falling back into a depressive episode. After one year, you would begin a medically supervised taper off the medicine that typically could take a few months to fully be off. Some people choose to discontinue medicine earlier than the one-year mark and others choose to keep it on preventatively.

Mood swings happen in both bipolar disorder and depression. Bipolar disorder is known to be defined by “highs” and “lows” that a person “cycles” through at various time points. With a depressive episode, a person is consistently in a “low” state. This is such a simplistic definition though, that it often doesn’t apply to most people. Like most things, people don’t easily fit into boxes.

Most people with depression experience “mood swings” too, like periods of high anxiety or irritability. Their low moods could be punctuated by short periods of feeling particularly good. This doesn’t mean it’s not depression, but rather that it doesn’t present in just one way. When mood swings during a depressive episode are particularly severe though, this could mean that the disorder is more like a bipolar depression. 

Depression isn’t just about feelings and behavior, but its strongest effects are on our brains. So, it predominantly affects our cognition, the way our brain perceives, emits, functions, and processes. When these areas are affected, it makes sense that we may feel “slowed” or “not as sharp.” Many people feel that their memory is worse, or that they just can’t focus anymore. Others describe persistent brain fog. Luckily, all these symptoms improve with depression treatment.