Symptom
Depression
Depression deserves serious psychiatric care. It also deserves a medical differential when symptoms are persistent, atypical, treatment-resistant, or medically patterned.
Review frame
How Depression gets reviewed
Inputs
- Labs
- PHQ-9 and GAD-7
- Insomnia screen
- Medication and supplement list
- Sleep, caffeine, alcohol, and substance pattern
- Symptom timeline
- Top goals
Output
- Symptom and timeline summary
- Lab-pattern read in psychiatric context
- Medication, supplement, sleep, and substance review
- Psychiatric-medical differential
- Named pathway for care or monitoring
Not this
- Not emergency care
- Not a diagnosis from labs
- Not a medication or supplement change by website
- Not a replacement for primary care, psychiatry, or therapy
- Not proof that biology explains every symptom
Clinical read
Depression needs a differential, not a reflex label.
The psychiatric explanation may be real
Depression can be primary mood disorder, bipolar depression, trauma-related, grief-related, substance-related, medication-related, or medically amplified.
The body can amplify the signal
Thyroid disease, iron deficiency, B12 deficiency, inflammation, sleep apnea, chronic pain, or endocrine changes Medication effects, alcohol, cannabis, sedatives, steroids, or metabolic changes Insomnia, hypersomnia, circadian disruption, or non-restorative sleep Psychosocial stress, trauma, isolation, or grief that still deserves direct treatment
One cause is not assumed
The goal is to decide what fits, what does not fit, and what still needs a clinician.
Common contributors
What can cause, mimic, or amplify this symptom.
- Thyroid disease, iron deficiency, B12 deficiency, inflammation, sleep apnea, chronic pain, or endocrine changes
- Medication effects, alcohol, cannabis, sedatives, steroids, or metabolic changes
- Insomnia, hypersomnia, circadian disruption, or non-restorative sleep
- Psychosocial stress, trauma, isolation, or grief that still deserves direct treatment
Useful inputs
Labs and screens are chosen by pattern.
- CBC, ferritin, B12/MMA, vitamin D
- TSH and clinically appropriate thyroid follow-up
- Glucose, HbA1c, lipids, liver markers when medication/metabolic context fits
- PHQ-9, GAD-7, insomnia screen, bipolar risk screen when appropriate
- Medication and substance timeline
Common questions
Questions people ask before they start.
Can this symptom diagnose the problem?
No. This symptom can change what belongs in the differential. A responsible review still requires clinical history, symptoms, timing, medication context, risk review, and the appropriate clinician relationship.
What does the review actually give me?
A written psychiatric-medical synthesis: what appears more likely, what remains possible, what seems less likely, what needs another clinician, and what should be monitored or left alone.
Is this emergency care?
No. If symptoms are acute, dangerous, rapidly worsening, or involve possible self-harm, psychosis, mania, delirium, withdrawal, chest pain, neurologic symptoms, or medical instability, use emergency or urgent care.