Stages of Depression Have Fuzzy Boundaries
For those who suffer from tenacious, unrelenting depression for many years, an episode of depression is when the depression becomes worse than usual. The stages of depression may become less discernable because the changes are relative. So, the five stages of depression below may be more helpful to those who have “well-behaved” stages of depression. That is, the depression episode follows a common course with a recognizable beginning and end. Although the stages of depression have fuzzy, overlapping boundaries, they often follow a similar pattern to grief stages.
Five Stages of Depression Episodes
Nevertheless, it’s helpful to know how the stages of depression shape the course of depression. I think of the stages of depression as follows:
- Onset: Onset might be more blue moods and irritability than usual. The onset stage usually includes things like disruptions in sleep, sudden increase or decrease in eating, and a lowering of tolerance to stress.
- Syndrome: A recognizable pattern of symptoms emerges in a way that makes the stages of depression somewhat predictable. The pattern of symptoms does not include every possible symptoms of depression. The pattern is formed by a subset of the possible symptoms of depression in combination with each other.
- Impairment: A man or a women will say I have a drop-off in energy, discouragement that robs him or her of motivation.
- Intervention: In stage four begins with some decisions: “I will go see my doctor,” or “I will see a psychologist.”
- Recovery: A person feels himself or herself emerging out of the soup of depression. The stages of depression are winding down, despite temporary setbacks.
Now, if you have a chronic or treatment resistant depression to deal with, then you may or may not recognize your own experience in this list. For you, the stages of depression are not well-behaved. They are persistent and unruly. At the same time, it may be helpful to use these stages as point of reference to think and speak about what is happening to your mood.
