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The Weight I Couldn’t Explain Until I Understood What Was Actually Happening Yes, depression can genuinely cause weight gain, through a combination of stress hormones, disrupted appetite signals, reduced movement, and emotional eating, not through a single simple cause or a lack of willpower. Understanding the actual mechanisms involved matters far more than another diet, … Read more
Introduction There was a time in my life — about three years ago — when I began to forget the things I had no right to forget. I had missed a call I had written on a sticky note. I couldn’t find a single word in the middle of the phrase I always use. I … Read more
Here’s the Short Version: After watching my sister’s sleep swing wildly between insomnia and oversleeping during a difficult stretch, I looked into how depression actually affects sleep — and found it disrupts both the amount and the quality of sleep, often in both directions at once, creating a cycle that makes recovery harder until it’s … Read more
Here’s the Short Version: After my neighbour Yusuf was diagnosed with depression despite seeming to have a stable, settled life, I looked into how depression actually develops — and found it’s almost never one single cause. It’s usually a build-up of genetic, psychological, and life-circumstance factors compounding quietly over time. Introduction My neighbour Yusuf has … Read more
Here’s the Short Version: After watching a former colleague go from our team’s most reliable person to barely getting through the day, I looked into how depression actually affects work — concentration, decision-making, and the particular difficulty of functioning while still looking fine on the surface — and why it so often gets mistaken for … Read more
Here’s the Short Version: After watching my uncle’s marriage grow quieter and more distant, I looked into how depression actually affects relationships — and found that withdrawal, reduced intimacy, and increased friction are common, predictable patterns, not a sign the relationship itself is failing. Introduction My uncle Tariq and his wife Sofia have been married … Read more
In Short Depression isn’t just a mood state — it’s linked to measurable changes in brain chemistry and even brain structure, some of which can improve with treatment. Here’s what I learned researching this after a cousin’s diagnosis raised questions neither of us could answer at the time. Introduction When my cousin was diagnosed with … Read more
In Short Depression doesn’t just affect mood — it can quietly reshape sleep, appetite, work, relationships, and motivation in ways that are easy to miss from the outside. Here’s what I learned watching it happen to a close friend, and what actually helped. Introduction A close friend of mine went from replying to messages within … Read more
Quick Answer The warning signs of young-onset dementia are rarely memory loss first. Personality changes, language slips, difficulty with familiar tasks, and withdrawal usually appear years earlier, which is exactly why it gets missed. My uncle was diagnosed at 59 after two years of us explaining away changes that, in hindsight, fit the pattern precisely. … Read more
Quick Answer Yes — certain antidepressants, particularly SSRIs, SNRIs, and older TCAs, genuinely impair the body’s ability to cool itself in the heat, and the CDC lists this as a direct clinical risk factor. My neighbour ended up hospitalised after collapsing in her garden while on sertraline, which is what sent me down this research. … Read more