Is there a difference between emotional and chemical depression?

Question

Is there some sort of test to know the difference or both just treated in the same manner?

Answer 1

There is a difference between acute depression, like after losing your entire life savings in the stock market, and chronic depression that doesn't seem to have an immediate cause. Acute depression responds well to humanist/cognitive psychotherapy, or even just a little time, while chronic depression is less likely to be alleviated by talk.

Chronic depression is thought to be caused by biochemical deficiencies, specifically of the chemical seratonin. This can be genetic, from physical trauma, lack of proper diet and exercise, or other medication or drugs.

However, whether all or even most chronic depression is biochemical is debated. Cognitive behavior therapists and psychoanalysts tend to disagree. William Glasser, in particular, believes that depression is almost always a way of dealing with life problems rather than a biological problem.

Depression seems to stem from overload of the synapses. Seratonin gets used up too quickly, and some neurons start getting shutdown. In acute depression, this overload stems from frustration/stress. Readjusting how you look at the world will relieve this frustration and reduce the burden on the synapses. Meditation also helps, since it clears and focuses your mind.

In chronic depression, it is debated whether this burden more often comes from a physical health problem, from developmental problems, or from persistent environmental problems.

If you're feeling depressed yourself, I'd recommend looking up Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy on the web, such as http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/ellis.html or buying a book by Albert Ellis, and also buying a copy of "Choice Theory" by William Glasser. Their theories are worlds apart on paper, but produce similar results, and I suspect are even complementary, in practice.

Antidepressants actually carry a risk of suicide in some cases, especially teenagers and young adults, as well as a risk of dependency in some cases, and so I recommend avoiding them unless necessary. However, if your depression is really bad, definitely go see a professional.

Answer 2

There is a difference but, emotional depression will create a chemical imbalance within the brain.. causing a chemical depression. Is very important just what you do with your thoughts.Self induced depression should be avoided, like the plague.

Answer 3

Chemical depression is caused either by hereditary or other natural chemical imbalances in the body, specially the brain, which impede the natural level of an individual. But emotional depression begins with a cause in the thoughts and feelings of a person and causes certain chemical aftereffects in the brain which depress, in turn, the brain.

Answer 4

Yes. Chemical depression is clinical. It is your body's own chemicals, out of balance, and wreaking havoc on your mind and body. However, emotional depression, free of chemical imbalances and fluxuations, is more like a form of self-hypnosis.
They generalize bad things about themselves and the world around them, criticize everything, and this behavior is a result of their attitude. You may know that an attitude is a largely unconscious process. You don't have to consciously choose to have a good/bad attitude, you just do it. You don't have to think about it.
Emotional depression is like a hypnotic loop. First, they criticize and then find the evidence that they're right (seeing what they want to see). Then they derive a feeling from what they have generalized about. It's kinda like synesthesia. Emotional depression is just a bad habit, and it can be as easy to treat as changing your mind about something. It's just a matter of putting better thoughts (instructions) in the mind.

Answer 5

Is it emotional...situational or biochemical no tests yet sometimes treated the same because situational may also trigger biochemical depression

Answer 6

The way I understand it, the two aren't mutually exclusive for one thing. That's the only thing I'd add to some of the answers I've seen.

Answer 7

they sorta blur into eachother so...sorta