Hi Everyone:

I want to find out how long cognitive confusion lasts, after one starts to recover from depression? Does one ever get back to where one was before the cave-in?

I have been in recovery from a severe depression since about November. The depression probably started in 1999 and it took until 2000 for me to see a therapist. It worsened dramatically when a lot of bad things happened in 2003, and I really "caved in."

During this time, I seemed unable to make decisions or think clearly about anything. I've always been a voracious reader, and I hardly read at all anymore. Still.

I am, however, starting to make decisions again, starting to take up the lines of life again. Today, I met with a financial rep from the retirement plan, something I haven't kept track for the past two years. When he started to tell me about changes and flip through thick form, I became completely overwhelmed. He was urging me to do something that I couldn't grasp. Finally, I asked him to stop and explained that I was recovering from a "nervous break down" -- seemed the easiest way to put it.

Then he stopped, and I said I'd look over the forms, but in the end, he took a bit more time and explained things to me more slowly and clearly.

I am a smart person, and I understand financial matters, and I don't like blurting out things about my heatlh to strangers, as I did.

How long does it take to get one's cognitive abilities back? Will I always be overwhelmed and confused? Should I be more capable than this by now?