Originally Posted by
jfsully
I'm a psychiatrist.
I think you can see the difference between being "bummed after losing your dog" and "your life stops and you feel paralyzed and helpless for 4 years after losing your dog." (I paraphrase) One is a normal reaction, not mental illness. The other could be considered illness, ie a depressive episode triggered by a profound loss, and in your case probably exacerbated or perpetuated by low T. It's academic at this point, but I think you may have met criteria for depression (in the clinical sense) at that time. It may have been that in your case you were at risk of a depressive episode (in the clinical sense) and that the loss of your dog and/or the drop in T were tipping points that led to something more severe than normal grief.
The point, obviously, is that there are normal experiences of sadness/fatigue/loss that in some ways resemble depressive episodes as part of a mood disorder, but are clearly not an illness that would need medical treatment. My point did not have to do with whether losing your dog qualified you or disqualified you from being described as depressed.
If your T levels were far below normal, and taking supplemental T restored you to your normal level of function (or maybe allowed you to continue to function with a normal instead of a superhuman effort to do so), then I don't think it's debatable whether the testosterone helped you, or whether the low T caused or at a minimum significantly contributed to your difficulties. Both are clearly true.