Situational Depression
Many years ago, I went through a period of suffering various physical discomforts that doctors were unable to diagnose. At one point, a neurologist gave me an MMPI test[i]These days, you can take the test online for free. and immediately put his finger on the problem. It seems that I had, and probably still have, a strong propensity to turn mental or emotional stress into physical symptoms. With that newfound information, I was able to get back to normal after some talk therapy and a few bottles of pills.
Fast forward a few decades, and I point to a good friend who suffered from an injury that affected his balance. He naturally felt depressed until doctors found the right combination of medical and psychological support. He is back to normal and a pleasure to be with.
Another person close to me suffers from a progressive autoimmune disorder with symptoms that would make anyone feel depressed. Her doctors, recognizing her mood, immediately prescribed an antidepressant, which quickly resolved the issue.
Unfortunately, this condition is not always recognized and treated. My father, for instance, having lost the love of his life after 67 years of marriage, suffered 14 months of unhappiness because none of us realized until it was too late that his depression was perfectly normal and could be easily helped.
I, like these others, had all been suffering from what doctors call Situational Depression, or Situational Affective Disorder. In layman’s terms, it is simply a short-term reaction to a trauma or a stressful event of some sort. It is not a mental health question, and sufferers are not required to go to the loony bin.
If someone were to fall on their stairway, and break a leg, then suffer for a whole year from a resulting surgical infection, we should expect that person to feel sad, fatigued, or agitated, and to lose interest in work, hobbies, and other activities. That would be a perfectly normal and natural result. The good news is that those symptoms are totally curable, and any good doctor should be able to anticipate the probability of that happening in advance and prescribe a cure beforehand.