Depression Types and Treatment

What a great question. Depression is just like a cough. On the surface, most coughs sound similar, but if you listen carefully, they really have some subtle and sometimes blatant differences. They also have many different causes. 

We have several medical categories for depression:

1. Major Depression - this is clinical or deep depression lasting for more than 2 weeks
2. Bipolar Depression - depression in a person who also has manic episodes
3. Dysthymia - often low grade depression lasting more than 2 years with more than 50% of the time feeling down. 
4. Depression caused by medical conditions - like parkinsons, low thyroid, anemia, heart disease
5. Depression caused by medications - heart meds, steroids, certain antibiotics
6. Depression from Drugs or Alcohol - all the drugs
7. Adjustment Disorder with depressed mood - depression secondary to a difficult situation, like losing a job, divorce, car accident, etc - usually temporary for a couple days
8. Complicated Bereavement - grief after losing someone
9. Depressions from spiritual issues - problems with sense of purpose, value, connection to others and God, not feeling loved of cared for, etc