Will Depression Permanently Damage The Brain?

VelvetTelemetry Updated: 2025-09-27

Causes

Depression is a serious mental health disorder that can make it difficult to sleep, concentrate, and self-care. It can also lead to feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness.
Fortunately, there are effective treatments available to manage depression. These include medications, psychotherapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Antidepressants also reduce inflammation in the brain and strengthen connections between neurons, which helps lower your risk of heart disease or stroke.

Symptoms

Symptoms of depression can include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and loss of interest in things you used to like. These emotions are not normal and can wreak havoc on your daily activities.
If you experience these symptoms for more than two weeks and they do not go away, seek medical help. Your doctor may order a physical exam as well as blood tests to rule out another medical cause for your depression.

Treatment

Depression can be treated with medications, psychotherapy, and lifestyle modifications. Antidepressants alter the brain chemistry that causes depression while therapy helps you identify unhealthy thoughts and emotions to replace them with healthy ones.
But researchers still don't fully understand what happens in the brains when a person suffers from depression, or for how long. Experts speculate that repeated episodes of stress can damage the hippocampus and other areas of the brain, causing them to shrink.
Additionally, repeated episodes of depression can cause brain inflammation. This inflammation reduces blood flow to the brain and can result in decreased oxygen to some parts of the brain.

Prevention

Depression is a serious, chronic disorder that can permanently damage your brain. Signs include depressed mood, difficulty sleeping or concentrating, memory problems, and suicidal thoughts.
Studies have shown that certain parts of the brain known as the hippocampus shrink in people with depression. These areas are essential for memory and learning.