A woman writes to inquire how she can tell the difference between ADD and depression.
Dear Reader,
This is a very good question and one that is very often difficult to
distinguish without careful analysis even for professionals.
First, I would recommend that you go to a doctor or psychologist who is experienced in telling these apart or understanding the relationship between them because indeed you could have both ADD and depression. What you want to sort out is whether the depression is a reaction to the ADD that will improve when the ADD is properly diagnosed and treated or is it a separate condition that needs treatment along with the ADD. Often when you have ADD, you become depressed because you are so overwhelmed and depleted and your choices are leading you nowhere. You may feel stuck and trapped.
What complicates making this distinction is that when you have ADHD inattentive type or depression, both can manifest difficulties with activation. Making an effort requires too much energy. Being disorganized in your behavior is also a manifestation often of both.
What you want to understand and sort out is the chronic nature of the symptoms and the severity. Often a person becomes disorganized after a major life change like a death or a divorce. At these times of depression or normal grieving even symptoms like ADD can appear and they can be severe but they CAN STILL BE TRACED to an event rather than ongoing ADD. Or a person can have low levels of depression or attention problems chronically but that donāt interfere with their lives enough for the ADD diagnosis and requirement of severity.
As you see these need to be sorted out by an open minded and experienced mental health professional with whom you feel like a partner in sorting through these issues. Good luck.