Depression Maps
Depression Maps.
Nine visual maps that connect the experiences inside depression, so you can see how they relate.
Depression doesn't show up as one symptom. It shows up as a cluster. Anhedonia arrives with self-criticism, brain fog, fatigue, and a slow withdrawal from things that used to matter. High-functioning depression hides everything behind performance. Postpartum depression shows up wrapped in identity shift, sleep deprivation, and guilt about not feeling the joy you were supposed to feel.
Each map below is a single picture of one of these clusters. Tap any node to read the page on that specific experience. Most people find that recognizing the pattern they’re in is the start of working with it differently — because patterns respond to treatment in ways that lists of unrelated symptoms don’t.
If you’re new to the Maps, the Depression Map (right below this) is the right place to start. The eight maps below it dig into specific clusters within depression.
Cluster Maps
The Anhedonia Map
Reduced pleasure, motivational dampening, blunted reward, and the slow flattening of the things that used to matter.
Open the Anhedonia Map →The High-Functioning Depression Map
Outward performance, hidden exhaustion, self-criticism, and the gap between how you appear and how you actually are.
Open the High-Functioning Depression Map →The Postpartum Depression Map
Hormonal shifts, sleep deprivation, identity change, bonding difficulty, guilt about not feeling joy, and isolation.
Open the Postpartum Depression Map →The Depression with Anxiety Map
Worry and low mood, racing thoughts and rumination, sleep trouble pulling both directions, and the cluster where about half of depressions actually live.
Open the Depression with Anxiety Map →The Suicidal Thoughts Map
Passive thoughts and active thoughts. Hopelessness, burdensomeness, perceived loss of belonging. Risk factors, protective factors, and the steps that change the trajectory.
If you’re in crisis, call or text 988 anytime.
Open the Suicidal Thoughts Map →The Treatment-Resistant Depression Map
When two antidepressants at adequate dose and duration haven't restored remission. Augmentation, TMS, ketamine, ECT, and specialist care.
Open the Treatment-Resistant Depression Map →The Seasonal Depression Map
Seasonal Affective Disorder is its own cluster. Late-fall onset, oversleeping, overeating, carb cravings, social withdrawal, and the energy crash that arrives with shorter days.
Open the Seasonal Depression Map →The Bipolar Depression Map
Hypersomnia, mixed features, rapid mood shifts, severe anhedonia, prior hypomania, family history. The distinction that changes the entire treatment path.
Open the Bipolar Depression Map →How to use these maps
Each map is built around a central node — a cluster name — and a set of spokes radiating outward. Each spoke is an experience that travels with the cluster, and each spoke is a link to a fuller page about that specific experience on DepressionResource.
The maps aren’t a diagnostic tool. They’re a pattern-recognition tool. If you read one and find yourself nodding at six of the seven spokes, the map is probably describing your situation. If you find yourself nodding at one or two, it might not be the right cluster — try a different map.
Below every map is the same “What people describe” section, where two or three anonymized vignettes show how the cluster shows up in real life. Many readers say those vignettes are the most useful part of the page. Reading someone else’s version of what you’re experiencing is often what makes it possible to name your own.
If a cluster you experience isn't mapped here, write to us at support@depressionresource.org and we'll consider adding it.