Misunderstood Reasons for the Cause of Depression

| Treatments | New Approach |

Symptom or personality disorder?

Many people have deep and enduring traits that are diagnosed as personality disorders. Some examples are obsessive compulsive personality, borderline personality, and schizoaffective personality. Many personality disorders are considered to be unchangeable. Yet many of these personality disorders produce symptoms of depression as an offshoot of the basic disturbance. When depression is highly related to a personality disorder, it will take much longer to resolve, because depression is not the actual problem, but a by-product of the basic problem.

In conventional psychiatry, goals for treating personality disorders are limited to only modifying the personality disorder. Worse yet, most insurance companies tend to drop clients from their services when a personality disorder is diagnosed. As a result, most therapists, for the client's sake, do not report personality disorders. When personality disorders are reported as depression, it appears that the "depression" takes a long time to treat. It is, therefore, important to rule out personality disorders so that appropriate treatment can focus on either depression or personality disorders so that the length of treatment can be anticipated.

Symptoms of Grief

Some people confuse grief or bereavement with depression. Grief, due to the loss of a loved one or other major loss (home, job, etc.), may feel very much like depression. The symptoms are often the same; however, it is different because grief is usually temporary. There are people who have been depressed for some time, and in addition, are undergoing bereavement. There are also people whose grief continues beyond a temporary reaction, developing into a form of depression.

Another feature that differentiates bereavement from depression is that bereavement has a clearly known cause-loss, whereas, depression often does not have an origin known consciously to the sufferer. Grief is not psychological depression.

Medical conditions can contribute to depression

Medical conditions and nutritional deficits can contribute to depression. Some examples of medical conditions that could produce depression are:

• allergies
• hormone irregularities
• candidiasis
• medication interactions
• diseases of the immune system

To rule out significant medical conditions that are known contributors to depression, it is important to have a thorough medical evaluation by a physician familiar with these medical factors. It is also important to understand that because of the strong mind/body connection, resolving emotional issues through psychotherapy can alter major physical symptoms.