Depression is a serious mental health disease. It can be persistent but often comes in bouts, spells, or episodes. Because there’s a natural ebb and flow, you can think depression goes away on its own. While more mild feelings of depression can resolve independently, your depression type and severity influence whether it goes away without intervention.
Depression Type
There are several depression types, and they don’t all last the same amount of time. Depending on the severity and the classification below, they can influence your ability to self-heal.
- Situational or Reactive: Typically short-term, this depression develops from experiencing a traumatic event or series of events in your life. This type can resolve more easily on its own.
- Perinatal and Postpartum: Depression that develops during pregnancy or within the first year of giving birth falls in this category. Both women and men can experience this type of depression.
- Seasonal Affective Disorder: This depression is prevalent in the fall and winter when daylight is at its shortest. It usually resolves as spring and summer come around.
- Major Depressive Disorder: This is clinical depression that’s a long-term or recurrent illness. Once you’ve reached this diagnosis, it is unlikely it will resolve without intervention.
- Persistent Depressive Disorder: Similar to major depressive disorder, this is a persistent depression with symptoms lasting more than two years that will also require treatment.
Severity of Depression
Unlike a more straightforward disease, depression doesn’t present the same way in every person. You can experience depression symptoms at a different intensity than other people with the same diagnosis. There are three main levels of severity:
Mild
Mild depression is one of the main types that will resolve without treatment. You may experience a low mood and some of the other hallmark symptoms of depression, but at a less intense level that will allow you to continue your daily life. These symptoms can fade or disappear after a short time. However, mild depression can also persist for months to years.
Moderate
If you fall into the moderate category, your depression symptoms are more noticeable. You may struggle to maintain your standard workload, reducing your productivity as your concentration and focus plummet. You tend to see changes in your weight as your appetite is also affected.
Severe
If you are experiencing a severe depressive episode, continuing your daily activities can be a challenge. You can struggle to get out of bed, care for yourself, and frequently have intrusive suicidal thoughts. Severe depression can often persist for greater than six months.
Recognize The Signs
If your depression resolves without intervention, you should be aware of and be able to recognize if it’s starting to come back. Signs and symptoms vary but can include a low mood, fatigue, sleep issues, and losing interest in activities you typically enjoy. Your eating patterns or appetite may change significantly, impacting your appearance or weight. You can also struggle to make decisions or concentrate. You may start to isolate and avoid loved ones. You can experience increased feelings of agitation or anxiety.
You can also experience thoughts of passively dying or imagining suicide. Before making a plan, you must seek emergency mental health treatment. Depression is treatable with more options than ever before. Beyond traditional drug and talk therapies, there are alternative options to consider.
TMS Therapy for Depression in Seattle
Practitioners have used TMS therapy for over 30 years, and in 2008 it received FDA approval. It’s the newest widely accessible treatment for depression when compared to antidepressants. The benefit over traditional medications is that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a localized treatment to your brain, so you don’t experience the other pesky side effects from the drugs. It’s also a relatively short-term treatment course with long-term results; many patients opt to come off their medications following treatment, while others find TMS the missing puzzle piece in their treatment regimen. It’s a treatment option with the versatility to choose what works best.
TMS providers utilize MRI-strength magnets to deliver pulses to your brain via a coil placed gently on your scalp. This helps stimulate growth and repair in regions of your brain associated with regulating your mood and emotions. After completing an initial treatment course, you may occasionally need shorter maintenance sessions if you suffer from more severe or highly recurrent depression. But the majority of patients see their depression enter remission and then recover.
Untreated depression affects your mood, thoughts, body, and relationships. You can struggle with work performance or be more likely to engage in substance use and other risky self-coping practices. Your diet and sleep health will suffer, leading to other chronic physical diseases in the long run. If you have clinical depression, you can unlikely pull yourself together to get out of your episode. Depending on the severity and length of time untreated, it can increase your risk of suicide. If you are concerned you have even a mild case of situational depression, speak to your doctor about depression treatment options.