When Depression Keeps Coming Back: Understanding Depression Cycles in Women
Depression doesn’t always arrive with the intention of leaving for good. The hard season begins to feel behind us; the symptoms begin to improve, and then the cloud of depression feels like it has begun to loom over us once again. For women, this return can make the depression cycle exhausting. Women are more likely than men to experience depression, and out of those women, there is a higher number who will face multiple episodes throughout their lifetime. The first step in finding a sustainable path forward begins with understanding why the depression cycles the way it does. A woman caught in the cycle of depression feels like she’s slowly losing her footing again after doing all the hard work of showing up to therapy, leaning into faith, and making lifestyle changes. Slowly, the emotional numbness returns, things begin to feel heavy, and everyday life activities feel exhausting. You fight to get out of bed. At that moment, when depression re-enters her life, it can feel more defeating than the first episode. Why Depression Cycles Back in Women One thing to understand about recurring depression is that returning to a low season isn’t an indication of failure. Depression is rarely a single event with a clear beginning and a final ending. Many women find that it operates more like a current beneath the surface. It’s manageable for long stretches, then it rises again with a condition shift. One of the primary drivers of depression cycles in women is hormonal fluctuations. As estrogen and progesterone interact directly with the brain’s mood-regulating systems, there are shifts in these hormones. Women experience shifts in hormones after birth, often experiencing postpartum depression. Then, in her 40s another rapid shift, and a woman may find herself with shifting emotions and experiencing a new depressive episode. [...]
