Biochemical depression has certain symptoms that distinguish it from the depression stemming from negative life events. You have reason to suspect that you are biochemically depressed if any of the markers listed below describes your depression:
*You have been depressed for a long time despite changes in your life
*Talk therapy has little or no effect; in fact, psychological probing-- questions like "Why do you hate your father?"--leave you as confused as Alice at the Mad Hatter's tea party
*You don't react to good news
*You awaken very early in the morning and can't get back to sleep
*You cannot trace the onset of your depression to any event in your life
*Your moods may swing between depression and elation over a period of months in a regular rhythm (this suggests bipolar, or manic-depressive, disorder) Heavy drinking makes your depression worse.
Depression
*Talk therapy has little or no effect; in fact, psychological probing-- questions like "Why do you hate your father?"--leave you as confused as Alice at the Mad Hatter's tea party
*You don't react to good news
*You awaken very early in the morning and can't get back to sleep
*You cannot trace the onset of your depression to any event in your life
*Your moods may swing between depression and elation over a period of months in a regular rhythm (this suggests bipolar, or manic-depressive, disorder) Heavy drinking makes your depression worse.
Depression
