Let's look at "primary depression" versus "secondary depression".💙

Primary depression is what I had. It's outright major depression, clinical depression, with no other adverse mental or physical illnesses. 💙

By contrast, "secondary depression" is something that comes on as a result of having another medical condition. It could be a psychological condition or it could be a physical condition. So often you'll see in the case of people with chronic illnesses, especially chronic pain or chronic fatigue, that they'll withdraw socially, they'll start having more negative thoughts, and that's where secondary depression will come alongside the medical condition. 💙

It's very important to ensure there isn't an underlying cause to depression, because trying to treat the depression without finding and treating the underlying cause is fairly futile. On the other hand, if the underlying cause is treated, the depression will likely resolve on its own. I've heard from someone who was treated for years for depression with no recovery, until someone looked deeper into their symptoms, diagnosed and treated ADHD, and the depression went away. The depression was secondary, and needed the underlying ADHD to be treated. 💙