Featuring Dr. John Ogrodniczuk, PhD

Video Title: What are the Triggers for Depression Duration: 2 minutes, 20 seconds

There could be a variety of triggers for men and we really don't have any evidence to suggest that triggers for depression are different among men and women.

But, there are particular circumstances or events that do seem to be particularly problematic for men, and thus, may indeed be stronger triggers. And these usually revolve around issues of loss and grief.

And it's not always about death losses, while indeed that is a very strong event for any of us to deal with. But loss in more general terms, it could be loss of employment, loss of childhood dreams that as we're adults we realize that may not necessarily come true, loss of physical prowess, loss of esteem that we've invested in a particular job that we've now given up because retirement. So like I said in a broad sense, issues around loss and grieving those losses seem to be quite troublesome for men.

Depression doesn't necessarily last for a set amount of time. It's quite variable if a man has experienced depression around a particular acute event, for example, a job loss. The depression may last until the time that the man finds a new, perhaps equally rewarding, employed position. But in the general sense, depression tends to come and go.

And the longer a man doesn't seek help for depression, the longer those periods of down time will be, and the shorter and fewer the up times will be. So that over a course of many months and years, the man will tend to find himself down for most of the time. And the longer that that persists, the more difficult it is to treat his depression effectively.

Presenter: Dr. John Ogrodniczuk, Psychologist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Psychologist