According to Health Digest‘s lates article, the global pandemic, inflation, and the Ukraine war have caused stress levels to rise.

“Throw in personal stressors like difficult family dynamics or moving, and stress can quickly pile up, even for those with the most robust psyches.”

Stress can have effects on your physical health and mental health.  It may manifest as any of the following: “heart disease, weight gain, aches and pains, anxiety, and, most notably, depression”

When you have situational depression, the symptoms are similar to unipolar or major depression.  The difference is that it usually is shorter in duration than major depression (i.e, less than a year).  You may still feel sad or blue, have difficulty concentrating, exhibit irritability or anger, experience excessive guilt or loss of of energy, have low motivation, lose interest in activities you used to enjoy and have difficulty functioning at work or at home.

Situational depression also differs from unipolar or major depression in that it is usually linked to a specific life stressor such as loss of a job, loss of a loved one, divorce or the break up of a relationship, natural disasters or an illness.  Although situational depression is often milder than major depression, it can become more severe if left untreated.  Therefore, it is not something to dismiss or downplay.

According to the article, most people may not even need treatment.  Some people need help managing the situational stress that induced the depression and some people have a predisposition to anxiety and/or mood disorders. Those factors should be considered in whether they also need professional treatment.  If you have had other episodes of clinical depression or anxiety, then it may be in your best interest to have a licensed professional help you manage the depression so that it does not become a major depressive episode.  Then, you and your treatment provider can decide what individualized treatment plan works best for you.

If you need treatment, you can always search the American Psychological Association or the National Register’s Psychologist Locator for a provider in your area. If you have experienced a natural disaster like Hurricane Ian, the Red Cross or Employee Assistance Program at your job may provide crisis and stabilization services or several “free” sessions to get you started. If you have lost a loved one through illness and that person was on Hospice, then you can also request grief counseling through that service.  Finally, you can check the National Alliance for Mental Illness’s website to see what other services are available in your area or the provider list of your local Psychological Association.