This is a part of the Hot Topic podcast series from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center on TBI and Depression. Dr. Peter C. Esselman discusses Depression vs. Situational Sadness.
It’s a life changing situation that an individual has had a significant brain injury. And there is appropriately some situational sadness because their life has changed with that. So you have to assess that and if they continue to be working in therapy, making goals, that may not be depression but a very appropriate reaction to a change in their life and their relationships with that.
But you have to be aware that that can easily cross over to a significant depression and if it continues too long, if it really is impacting participation in therapy, working towards the future, then you could do a more formal assessment for depression. And there are formal ways to assess depression and then you can evaluate that treatment options.
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