What is depression often mistaken for?

However, depression can also cause confusion and forgetfulness, which can easily be mistaken for dementia.

Does depression make you think things aren’t true?

Whether we’re seeking a happier, more positive way of feeling or trying to cope with experiences of depression, we can make choices about how we feel and act by challenging the seemingly factual nature of our thoughts. Many of our thoughts are automatic and occur outside of our awareness.

Is there anything similar to depression?

Bipolar disorder. Like depression, bipolar disorder involves periods of intense lows. During these lows, people with bipolar disorder experience the same symptoms found in depression. They may feel hopeless, worthless, or even suicidal.

Can stress be confused with depression?

It tends to have an obvious trigger, like a move, divorce, or illness. Stress typically resolves as life events change. However, stress can lead to mental health problems like anxiety and depression if it persists over long periods without relief.

What are positive illusions and how do they work?

Positive illusions are helpful in so far as they enable us to take risks, invest in the future, and fend off despair and depression. After all, how many people would get married if they had any real sense of what awaited them?

Do people with depression make more realistic inferences than normal people?

On the basis of their findings, the authors, Lauren Alloy and Lyn Abramson, argued that people with depression make more realistic inferences than “normal” people, who are handicapped by their positive illusions.

Does depression lead to distorted thinking?

Just as it is commonly believed that mental health corresponds to accurate perceptions of the self, the other, and the world, so it is commonly believed that depression results in, or from, distorted thinking.

Are positive illusions more common in Western cultures?

Positive illusions tend to be more common, and more marked, in the West. In East Asian cultures, for example, people are less vested in themselves and more vested in their community and society, and tend, if anything, to self-effacement rather than self-enhancement.