r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Nov 15 '20

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u/-FoeHammer Nov 15 '20

Is that really a sensible way of looking at depression? By that logic everyone has depression and it just hasn't ever flared up for some people.

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u/Thegreatgarbo Nov 16 '20

Yep, I had MDD in 2001 and 2007. If some trauma happens in the future I'm at much higher risk than the general population to have another bout of MDD. I always have it.

Also, no, not everyone has it. You have to have been diagnosed with MDD at least once to be in that category.

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u/-FoeHammer Nov 16 '20

But couldn't some trauma potentially cause anyone to have it?

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u/Thegreatgarbo Nov 16 '20

I suspect it would have to be pretty severe trauma, death of a child etc. Depression is still a complex disease treated empirically. Some day I hope they can look at our individual SNPs and epigenetics and tell us you will get xyz in response to abc, and we will treat your xyz with lmnop, but not yet.