Q: What is Situational Depression?
A: Situational depression is essentially self-explanatory. It can happen to anyone at any age when an otherwise mentally healthy person experiences a sudden loss such as death of a loved one, loss of a job, bad grades etc.. It is a known event and the affected person can trace their depression to that event. Grief and situational depression are very similar except that the depression lasts longer and may have more complications than a simple grieving process. Often situational depression can be resolved when the loss can be dealt with effectively, going through the grieving process, successfully finding a new job or realizing that more effort must be made to get those good grades and finding some success. If grief lasts longer than a month a consultation or a referral for therapy might be useful.
