The feelings of low motivation and low energy that characterize depression make it especially hard to take care of yourself and pull yourself out of your slump. Fortunately, even small but consistent efforts toward recovery can yield a significant improvement in your symptoms faster than you might expect.

Key points

• Depression is the most commonly occurring mood disorder, affecting between 5-10% of adults in the US
• Depression saps your enjoyment in life and affects your ability to function effectively at work and at home, and impacts your relationships
• Even small improvements to your lifestyle can yield noticeable improvements in your symptoms
• Professional help is available, and highly effective to treat depression

Overview

Depression is the most commonly occurring mood disorder, affecting between 5-10% of adults in the US. Depression saps your enjoyment in life and affects your ability to function effectively at work and maintain healthy relationships. Fortunately, depression tends to respond well to treatment, often without needing medication.

Symptoms of depression

• Low moods, feeling sad or gloomy without a specific reason, that lasts at least 2 weeks
• Low motivation and difficulty completing even basic tasks
• Feeling tired or lethargic even when you get enough sleep
• Difficulty getting adequate nutrition and gaining/ losing weight from not eating enough, or making poor food choices
• Reduced pleasure from activities you usually enjoy
• Withdrawal from social activities

Causes

It’s impossible to know why one person suffers from depression and someone else with similar life circumstances doesn’t. However, depression is more likely after experiencing a stressful life event, such as a divorce or bereavement, losing a job, or while you’re transitioning between different life stages. Starting or ending a career, getting married or divorced, becoming parents or empty nesters are all times when you’re forced to re-evaluate your identity and self-worth. This can easily lead to depression if you don’t have the proper support in place to get you through the transition.

Risk factors for depression

Risk factors that increase your likelihood of developing depression include genetics (having at least one family member with depression), environmental factors (a history of abuse or trauma, undeveloped life skills, and lack of a suitable support system), and biological factors (certain medical conditions, brain chemistry or certain medications that you might take to treat other conditions).

Diagnosis

In order to make an accurate diagnosis, it’s important to see your healthcare provider, for a proper evaluation. Clinical depression will be treated according to what type of depression you have. For example, Seasonal Affective Disorder (a form of depression that develops with colder weather) will be treated differently from postpartum depression (depression after giving birth). Similarly, depression that occurs alongside another mental health condition will need to be treated differently from depression caused by an underlying medical condition.

A qualified healthcare provider will do a thorough evaluation of your symptoms, health status, family history, and any other factors that might have contributed to your depression and will make recommendations accordingly. Sometimes bloodwork is required to rule out any underlying health condition that might be causing your depression. Your doctor might also refer you to another service provider, such as a therapist or psychologist if needed.

Treatment

The appropriate treatment for your depression will be determined to a large extent by what’s causing your depression and how severe are your symptoms.

If your depression is caused by an underlying health condition or as a side-effect of other medication you’re taking, your doctor might adjust your medication or change it completely. For mild depression, making healthy lifestyle changes such as improving your diet, getting into a regular sleep routine, or getting regular exercise can do wonders to ease your symptoms. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or other types of psychotherapy can help mitigate symptoms while building lifelong coping skills.

In cases of severe depression, your mental health provider might recommend medication, at least in the short term to help you get through a particularly difficult period.

Fortunately, depression often responds to the right treatment. Although you might feel unmotivated to ask for help, as soon as you reach out for help, you already start the process of getting better. Even small efforts on your part can create significant improvements to your symptoms. You just need to start!

Depression and other mental health challenges

Depression very often occurs together with other mental health disorders, such as anxiety and OCD. Sometimes depression is caused by trauma, or triggered by bereavement or a breakup. People with depression are prone to alcohol abuse or other unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Working with your mental health professional, you can disentangle the complex web of cause and effect that can grow up around depression. You can work through your issues. Reach out today to take the first step.

References and further reading

Cuijpers, P., Karyotaki, E., Wit, L., & Ebert, D. (2020). The effects of fifteen evidence-supported therapies for adult depression: A meta-analytic review. Psychotherapy Research.

Cuijpers, P., Oud, M., Karyotaki, E., Noma, H., Quero, S., Cipriani, A., Arroll, B., & Furukawa, T. (2021). Psychologic Treatment of Depression Compared With Pharmacotherapy and Combined Treatment in Primary Care: A Network Meta-Analysis. The Annals of Family Medicine.

Pablo, G., Solmi, M., Vaquerizo-Serrano, J., Raduà, J., Passina, A., Morsillo, P., Correll, C., Borgwardt, S., Galderisi, S., Bechdolf, A., Pfennig, A., Bauer, M., Kessing, L., Amelsvoort, T., Nieman, D., Domschke, K., Krebs, M., Sand, M., Vieta, E., McGuire, P., Arango, C., Shin, J., & Fusar-Poli, P. (2021). Primary prevention of depression: An umbrella review of controlled interventions. Journal of affective disorders.