We often talk about depression like it’s one condition. But in reality, it’s a combination of symptoms with many causes. Some of these causes of depressive symptoms are psychiatric, such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizoaffective disorder. And some of these causes aren’t psychiatric at all — they’re related to physical illnesses.
Common medical conditions that can mimic depression include thyroid disease, anemia, vitamin deficiencies, glucose dysregulation, low testosterone, neurologic disease, and substance and medication use.
Because of these different factors, a medical workup, including laboratory testing, may be necessary to accurately diagnose depression. Although there aren’t labs that can diagnose the psychiatric causes of depression, there are...
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