Two years ago, (fall of 2008) I suffered a traumatic brain injury. Up until the spring of 2010, I had moderate to severe depression which caused problems at school and at home. After seeing a therapist for several months and beginning to return to normal, I thought I had put it all behind me. Now I am struggling with depression again and it is fall 2010. Even during the time I was constantly dealing with depression, it never seemed as bad in the summer. This leads me to believe that I have SAD as a result of my brain injury.

The problem I am having now is that I am at college and I have one friend who I am really close to. I have been lashing out at her lately over small things and starting arguments for no reason. Now that I realize what is going on with me, I don't know what I should do about our friendship. We've only known each other for two months, but we've become very close in that time. I've been distancing myself from her lately because I don't want her to have to deal with my problems, but it's really hard. She had a friend commit suicide 3 months ago and I'm worried that if something happens to me it will become too much for her, unless we grow apart before then. She's also been dealing with a lot of stress because of school and other friends, and I don't want to make that worse. As hard as it is to be without someone to talk to, I don't want to become another stressful part of her life. If anyone has any advice on what to do I'd really appreciate it.

For me, NOT being told about something is much more stressful than knowing about it and being able to deal with it.

Give your friend some credit, and tell her what's going on with you. It will help you two to bond even more in being about to fight your demons together than to keep secrets from each other.

There are lots of resources to help both of you. Take advantage of them!

I would tell her about what's going on with you and let her know your fear of stressing her life out more with your stuff and that's why you have been distancing yourself. If you two are close friends she will really appreciate being told what's happening... instead of being confused about you fading out of her life without knowing why!

In addition to the excellent procedural advice provided above I would advise against self-diagnosis. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) has many overlapping symptoms with Major Depression and trauma induced disorders. Differential diagnosis requires extensive knowledge, expertise and experience. It should be left to those well qualified in depression in consultation with the neurologist.

That being said, your observations are very important to the diagnostic process and should be brought to the attention of the specialist for consideration. These are things they cannot know without your input.

I sincerely hope you follow the advice of Wondergirl and Clemintine. They are 100% correct.