You can be perfectly alright with your life but still feel way too uneasy all the time about pretty much anything. Oppositely, you can be the most at-ease person on the planet but still feel down in the dumps and with a cloudy outlook toward everything. The first person might have generalized anxiety disorder, and the 2^nd definitely has depression. As with any mental health disorder there is always a lot of detriment that comes with either, but can depression cause memory loss? Or can anxiety? We can start by saying that losing memory is not one of the traditional symptoms listed for either disorder.

However, what is possible is that there be secondary effects from depression or anxiety systems that can make people’s memory worse. Continuing with can depression cause memory loss we can say that these cojoining symptoms are usually not that pronounced, and with memory it is usually only short-term memory that’s impaired. The most logical explanation for people with either disorder that are ‘forgetful’ or worse is that they have insomnia because of their illness.

It is true that chronic lack of sleep can affect short term memory, but a person who is depressed or has unrelenting anxiety should have serious long-term memory loss. Anyone who has been diagnosed with either disorder and is experiencing significant memory loss should see a doctor about it without delay, as amnesia or other serious memory loss disorders are very serious matters. But can depression cause memory loss of this type? No, it’s not something that will onset because of a mental health disorder. But there may be an exception to this for people with long-term untreated depression at least.

Hard to be Mindful

A person with severe brain neurotransmitter imbalances causing their depression may experience memory loss. And especially if those imbalances are so bad for long enough that it reduces the volume of the brain’s hippocampus, one of your neuro components that is important for memory. These people may see a decline in memory ability and that it is not as easy to be mindful of the things they need to remember in the way it used to be. Even can depression cause memory loss.

So, in this way yes, it is possible for does depression cause memory loss, but this isn’t going to be much of a chance for people with mild depression or anxiety and who are taking antidepressants or anxiety reduction medications. If you are depressed or anxious and it has any connection to traumatic experiences this can also promote memory loss for some people. But the theme here continues; if you have depression or anxiety but it is manageable then you likely won’t have any type of memory impairment.

The last thing we will mention for can depression cause memory loss is that sometimes people who have depression tied in some way to a traumatic event in the past may have targeted memory loss. This may or may not also include stronger memory for negative memories and weaker memories for positive ones. This will differ from selective memory of course, but there is crossover in the workings of both.