What Causes Depressive Episodes?

Depressive episodes can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'needs attention' to 'very serious'. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.

Diagnose your symptoms now!

let The Analyst™ find what's wrong
have a doctor review your case (optional)
identify any nutritional deficiencies

Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose depressive episodes, we could:

Research the topic
Find a doctor with the time
Use a diagnostic computer system.

The process is the same, whichever method is used.

Step 1: List all Possible Causes

We begin by identifying the disease conditions which have "depressive episodes" as a symptom. Here are three possibilities:

Depression
Stress
Lyme Disease

Step 2: Build a Symptom Checklist

We then identify all possible symptoms and risk factors of each possible cause, and check the ones that apply:

long work hours

being very skinny

an average-stress lifestyle

pre/menstrual depression

breast soreness during cycle

refined white flour consumption

much lower back pain

loss of interest in activities

minor mood swings

numb/burning/tingling extremities

severe eyelid twitch

discontinued antidepressant drug use

... and more than 60 others

Step 3: Rule Out or Confirm each Possible Cause

A differential diagnosis of your symptoms and risk factors finds the likely cause of depressive episodes:

Cause	Probability	Status
Stress	93%	Confirm
Lyme Disease	19%	Unlikely
Depression	3%	Ruled out

* This is a simple example to illustrate the process

Arriving at a Correct Diagnosis

The Analyst™ is our online diagnosis tool that learns all about you through a straightforward process of multi-level questioning, providing diagnosis at the end.

If you indicate suffering from depression, The Analyst™ will ask further questions including this one:

Have you experienced depression?

Possible responses:

→ Barely worth mentioning / don't know
→ No, definitely not
→ 1-2 past episodes that were fully resolved
→ It is a repeating but tolerable problem
→ It is a repeating and serious issue

Based on your response to this question, which may indicate no history of depression, history of depression or recurring depression, The Analyst™ will consider possibilities such as:

Depression

Lyme Disease

Stress

Concerned or curious about your health? Try The Analyst™