I think situational depression -because I do not experience situational hypomania, although I’m sure it’s a thing - is not going to be helped by medication. However, I also believe if the trigger goes on for too long, such as prolonged stress, it can develop into an actual episode that is hard to get out of.

My triggers are extreme stress. I took a job back in 2017 that I absolutely should not have. It caused me immense stress. Eventually I broke under the stress and had a depressed psychotic episode. That was an actual episode triggered by stress. However, I took another job in September that stressed me out and sent me into depression and anxiety, but I knew enough to quit early so when I did all the anxiety went away. So that was situational and I did not allow it to become a true episode.

This year, I experienced a severe depressive episode triggered by all the coronavirus upset. Because there was no way to escape that trigger, it sent me into an actual depressive episode that required medication to help.

I don’t know if any of that made sense, but that’s been my experience.