[BPgf]

How long would you say your average length of depression is? Not the extreme cases, just the average.

[Resident Bipolar]

A few months normally (:

[Victoria'smom]

3-4 mths

[wiretwister]

the deep want to die ended about last july, been slightly depressed since..,so I guess 8-9 months...

[silentmatt2]

I read a 2010 study comprised of survey data and observational research that concluded the "average" length of any episode (mania or depression) is 13 weeks.

[gemini_double]

About 7-9 months at least.

Mine lasts about 3 days every 3 days or so. I know, that means I'm not bipolar, but the meds sure do work! Lol

Usually several months.

[onionknight]

Near constantly?

I can really only think of a few times in my life when I wasn't depressed to some degree.

[Crazy Hitch]

It's hard for me to work on "averages"

But I guess I'd say around 3-4 months .......

(Longer at times.......)

[RisuNeko]

For me its more like 8 months. I guess I'm just "lucky". sometimes they last a year and a half.

[scatterbrained04]

Wow mine are so all over the place from a few months to a few years. I can't begin to pick an average.

My depressions last 4-6 months up to about 18 months. Depending on the severity I can either work on it and get myself out of it, or if its bad I usually wait over 3 months before going inpatient.

In saying that I've been in and out of hospital over the last year with Mixed and agitated depression, with the mixed I lasted 3 weeks before going inpatient the first time, for this depression I waited 6 weeks before realising I need to go inpatient if I wanted to succeed in my goals this year (uni, work, state championships and royal show with my horse).

[RisuNeko]

I'm so afraid to go inpatient, so I just don't. Maybe someday I'll have to, but I'm going to do whatever I can to put off that day for as long as possible even with mixed and agitated depression (maybe mine's less severe than yours?). I just do not want to disrupt my life goals.

[travelbug2015]

My depression usually last from three weeks to a month. My first severe bout of depression lasted for about 6 months.

[kmptrgeek]

I guess I'm a rapid cycler now because my depression only lasts a month at most, and I go from major depression to hypo..not just in the middle. However, I have gone more than a year depressed and only came up for air for a few days then back under. I call those the "Dark Ages".

[Homeira]

Four to five months. Debilitating. Cant work, just take care of me, my son and my home is enough to cope with then. Meds dont help.

About six months in the Winter and about four months in the Summer.

[Wander]

Around two months of major depression (with severe mixed episodes thrown in for fun) but it happens at least three times a year with hypomania in the middle and the occasional small period of being close the baseline.

[dxj5069]

My depression usually lasts around 3 months average. The worst was over a year due to a lot of traumatic family issues and everyone splitting apart. Sometimes, the explosive anger, annoyance, irritability and agitation occurs throughout my depression, or I sometimes even feel energized to do something despite feeling empty. I think that's what you call a mixed episode...

[RisuNeko]

I get that way in most of my depressions.

[BipolaRNurse]

Originally Posted by BPgf

How long would you say your average length of depression is? Not the extreme cases, just the average.

Normally only a few weeks, mainly because I won't put up with it and will holler at my pdoc to do something about it. OTOH, I went through a depression that went on for most of 2014 and wasn't completely over with until early January. It wasn't severe all the time, just a nagging sense of hopelessness and sadness that never really went away even with treatment.

It all came to a head at Halloween when I came thisclose to attempting suicide and wound up in the hospital. I got a lot better in there, but of course when I got out I went right back to the life which had made me miserable in the first place. Still, the hospitalization was the smart thing to do because it kept me safe until I was no longer a danger to myself, and gave me some good coping skills so the depression wasn't as hard to handle. Like I said, it went away completely after the first of the year, and I've been stable now for a couple of months. Lately I've been dancing with a bit of early spring pre-hypomania, but otherwise I'm safe and steady, and there's no depression in sight.