Does anyone have memory problems due to depression?

My therapist told me the other day that my forgetfulness and disorganization are the result of the depressive episode I am currently going through. I'm having serious memory issues. :He recommended that I see my psychiatrist, which I am trying to do but she is hard to reach. Has anybody else here experienced this? It has me worried. Thank you.

Hello, ~Tsunami.

I tend to have attention problems as is, but when I'm in a depressive episode/mood they tend to get a lot worse. I'll start doing something, walk out of the room, and then come back to it minutes or hours later. Remembering facts and information becomes more difficult as well. I like to describe it as living "through a haze."

I hope you get in touch with your psychiatrist soon and find relief from your episode.

Thank you convalescence. Your description of it as living "through a haze," really hits home. The world even seems to look hazy. I don't remember what I did last Monday or Tuesday (someone asked me). It's really difficult to try and pretend that I'm normal with a normal memory, when I'm not. I'm very aware of not remembering things and think I must look like an idiot to others. Maybe this is just the depression talking. I hope, also to get in touch with my psychiatrist. I'm thinking about getting a new one, because she's so difficult to contact. I need help now. I left a message and no one called me back. Anyway, thanks for listening, your reply was a big help. Take care.

I am afraid so.

ManOfConstantSorrow,
I'm sorry that you experience this, too. I was starting to think I have Alzheimer's.

Take care.

Has anyone had a medication that worked well for the depression and the memory issues? My antidepressant, Viibryd, isn't working at all.

I notice that my depressions/memory issues are much worse than they used to be. Is this a normal course for depression? I can't imagine it getting much worse, I hope it doesn't.

Tsunami,

Yes, absolutely.

I can read a book and completely forget everything I read. I misplace stuff and I have trouble focusing on a task to finish it.

Utter chaos.

I have memory problems. Whether it's the depression, the self-medication at times, or the fact that I don't do very much worth remembering - I'm not sure - but I've noticed it a lot over the years. I have major blank spaces.

I have depression and terrible memory. Never thought the two could be correlated, but you raise a good point. Maybe with depression, we have no desire to store information? Storing info takes energy and sometimes we are limited on that

Yes, it messes up my recall and concentration big time. Also my attention span goes down to the level of a gnat.

YES. This became a big issue for me and still is to this day. Years into my depression I suddenly had bad memory and concentration problems. I was just kind of spacey Like a brain fog where I felt like I was either really dumb or just straight up losing my mind. I was concerned other people were noticing as well (don't know if they were or not) Talked to pdoc and he said it was a mood thing which made no sense to me since I'd been dealing w mood stuff for a while and never had that as a symptom. But he was pretty dismissive and didn't seem concerned so I left it at that. I just have to leave lots of notes and reminders everywhere and triple check what I do. Unfortunately I haven't found anything yet to alleviate it. It can be really frustrating, I'm sorry to hear others deal with this too.

I used to have terrible memory. Not so much anymore (though to this day, I'm still not sure on how the problem got solved)

Yes, after 20+ years with depression, my memory isn't good at all. But I didnt' know that my depression was the cause until 4 years ago. When I was told by a therapist that it happens after extensive psychiatric episodes. I just learn to deal with it. Tell people, A Lot, that I don't remember and move on. I had to take a part time job and left a full time job because of my bad memory. I had a boyfriend tell me I was spaced out all the time. I can just look vacant sometimes. And not remember a thing that happened at that moment. I do think this is due to my illness but also the various medications over the years.

My psychiatrist calls it depressive pseudo dementia. There is a lot of information about it online. And yes, I also experience it.

Your antidepressant might not be helping in general. If you can, you might need to up the dosage or taper off of Viibryd onto a new antidepressant. I find that when the depression is lifted, so is the haze.

Thank you for responding to my post, I really appreciate it. I wish no one had to deal with this forgetfulness. Hopefully, it will get better. I plan on making an appt. with my psychiatrist, who can be hard to reach. Take care.