John Michaels: Bob, let me start off with an important question that I know you feel people need to understand. Please explain the two types of depression for us so we aren’t confused?

Bob Olson: It’s important to know the difference between the type of depression that every human being is used to dealing with, known as Normal or Reactive depression, and the depression caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, known as Clinical depression (aka chronic or major depression). I call this “Chemical” depression.

Normal Depression, or the depression that everyone is used to dealing with, is often triggered by an event or circumstance in which you react to emotionally, such as the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or the breakup of a relationship. This type of depression is psychological  because you are emotionally “reacting” to something that has happened. Hence, the term “Reactive” depression.

A reactive depression will normally go away on its own within a few days to a few weeks. No medication or treatment is usually necessary. The person will grieve the death of the loved one or the loss of the relationship, or he will likely find another job and move on. There will be emotions to deal with and adjustments to make, but the person is generally not debilitated by the event, at least not for very long. At most, he may require some talk therapy.

Clinical / Chemical Depression is more serious. The depression that doctors call “clinical” depression (major, chronic), and what I like to call “chemical” depression, is the depression that is triggered by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Hence, the term “Chemical” depression. This is a biological disorder of the brain, but it has psychological symptoms. This type of depression need not follow any sad, stressful or upsetting event; it can kick in for no apparent reason at all other than a change in one’s brain chemicals.

People who suffer with clinical (chemical) depression find they have little, if any, control over their emotions and moods. Since there are no obvious triggers for their depressions, it is not possible to avoid them. And since one cannot mentally control their brain chemicals—it requires medication—it is impossible to “heal” this depression with counseling or self-help techniques alone.

What makes clinical (chemical) depression all the more confusing for people is that events and circumstances can trigger a depression the same way it does for people who suffer with reactive depression. In this way, the death of a loved one or loss of a job might cause this person to become depressed in the normal, reactive manner; but then the reactive depression triggers a chemical reaction in the brain that turns this reactive depression into a chemical (clinical) depression. At this point, the person who has a predisposition to chemical depression finds himself unable to overcome the depression that was initially triggered by the death, job loss or relationship breakup.  

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John Michaels: All right, so a reactive depression is triggered in reaction to an event or circumstance in your life, and a chemical depression is triggered by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Correct?

Bob Olson: That’s absolutely correct.

John Michaels: Furthermore, for people who are susceptible to chemical imbalances in the brain, a reactive depression can sometimes turn into a chemical depression. In these cases, the person’s brain chemicals do not return to normal after the reactive depression, and the depression continues for more than a few weeks. Is this correct?

Bob Olson: Right again. And there is a major sign that helps you know if your depression is reactive or chemical: When a depression exists for most of the day and nearly every day, and it lasts for more than a few weeks, and certainly if it has extended over a period of months, you are likely dealing with a chemical (clinical, major, chronic) depression.

John Michaels: Excellent, that’s very clear now. Can you explain why different names are used? Wouldn’t it be easier just to use one name for each?

Bob Olson: Yes. The term “Normal Depression” is just a layman’s term. Doctor’s will better understand the term “Reactive Depression,” as most people confuse their normal depressions with their chemical depressions.

And the term “Chemical Depression” is really my term. I use it because I think it best describes what causes this type of depression—a chemical imbalance in the brain. However, doctors are more likely to call this type of depression a “Clinical Depression,” a “Major Depression” or even a “Chronic Depression.”

John Michaels: So how does it benefit people to understand the difference between reactive and chemical depression?

Bob Olson: The purpose to understanding all this is that reactive depression and chemical depression are treated differently, so you need to know what type of depression you have in order to know how to treat it. If you need treatment at all with reactive depression, you’ll go to a counselor for talk therapy (counseling). But chemical (clinical) depression will be treated with medication—antidepressants—in most cases.

With that said, oftentimes, people suffering with what appears to be a normal, reactive depression later find out that their depression is, in fact, caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Yet, the reason they did not know earlier was due to their lack of knowledge about clinical (chemical) depression. It’s very easy to mistaken the two.

I know that when I was growing up, I was dealing with chemical depressions long before I was ever diagnosed. I was diagnosed at age 27 but can trace depressions all the way back to third grade. And it is common for people with chemical depression to blame their symptoms on events and circumstances in their life, as if they were normal depressions.

For instance, while in my twenties, I blamed my gut-wrenching sadness on law school. I didn’t know I was suffering with chemical (clinical) depression, but I knew I was unhappy. And since most of my waking hours were spent either going to law school or studying for it, it was the most obvious source of my unhappiness at which I could place blame.

So I quit school. Unfortunately, a few months later, I still felt terribly unhappy (that’s how I defined all my depressive symptoms at the time), so I knew it wasn’t law school that had been causing it. That was actually the first major signal for me that I might be dealing with some disorder. It took another nine months to finally seek help from a doctor, but it was the beginning.

I wish I had come across an interview like this one. Maybe I would have been diagnosed months earlier.

THE ABOVE WAS EXCERPTED FROM How To Beat Depression! A Private Interview / Seminar With Bob Olson, THE NEW EBOOK FOR DEPRESSION SUFFERERS & THEIR SUPPORTERS.

click here to read about Bob's new ebook on beating depression