
How Does Personality Change after Depression: Understanding the Impact
Personality change after depression means changing the person’s feelings, acts, or thoughts. Clinical depression, MDD, or major depressive disorder, is commonly called depression. This disorder obstructs adaptive functionality, and behaviour, cognition, and mood are affected by it.
One’s lifestyle is wholly impaired since the disorder results in minimized pleasure or interest in activities, and continuous sadness is experienced.
The most noted symptoms are despair, intense sadness, and continuous and severely low mood. A person’s personality changes since depression directly affects the brain.
Dr. Sanjay Jain, the leading psychiatrist, and psychologist in Jaipur, helps people identify symptoms associated with depression and overcome them.
So let’s understand personality change after depression
Understanding Personality Change after Depression

1. Get Angry Very Easily
Although getting angry is not among the significant symptoms of depression, several individuals dealing with depression often experience irritation, frustration, and anger. It could significantly affect one behaviour and attitude towards life quality and others.
Anger attacks include intense or sudden anger that you usually do not have and isn’t appropriate when you get angry in situations where you should not. But, when it fades, people often regret and feel guilty.
Symptoms of Anger Attacks Include:
- Object or property destruction
- Losing control
- Feeling or physical or verbal lash out at objects or people
- Feeling fearful, anxious, dizzy, or shaking
- Feelings of numbness, tingling, or needles and pins in extremities and limbs
- Unable to breathe deeply
- Chest pressure, pounding, or feeling tight
- Increased sweating and flushing
Besides, people with bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and certain other mental health conditions may also experience anger attacks.
2. Not in the Mood of Adjusting: Resistance to Change

Depression can lead to excessive reactions when changes in behaviour, strong emotions, and negative thoughts are experienced.
So, people do not get along or adjust with others at school, home, or job place. This disorder affects your thinking and perception about others and yourself, significantly affecting your behaviour and actions.
Symptoms of Resistance to Change:
- Not enjoying this or interested in that you previously liked
- Feelings of hopelessness, sad, and crying often
- Feeling jittery, stressed out, nervous, anxious, and worrying
- Less eating, difficulty in concentrating and sleeping
- Suicidal thoughts and acting on them
- Social withdrawal
However, these symptoms may vary from one person to another due to other underlying mental disorders, health conditions, environment, and circumstances leading to stress.
3. Anhedonia: The Loss of Pleasure

People with a major depressive disorder often experience Anhedonia, a common symptom of dysthymia, substance-induced depressive disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, and several other depressive disorders.
People experiencing Anhedonia have no interest in activities or their interest changes, negative concepts about the world and life, numbness, etc. Although depression affects any age, it is most common in people from 18 to 29.
Common Causes of Anhedonia:
- Hormonal dysregulation
- Stress or trauma
- Depressive disorders
- Self-criticism, pessimism, or other personality traits
- History of anxiety or some other mental health disorders
- Heart disease, cancer, or other severe illnesses
- Overuse of recreational drugs or alcohol
4. Become Stubborn

A significant personality change after Depression in people is being stubborn. You don’t have control or avoid your urges, behaviour, and mood. This behaviour makes you have a feeling of fulfilling everything you want or want to do. When stubbornness affects your behaviour, it is ODD or oppositional defiant disorder.
People with depression tend to be stubborn, and this disorder is noticed when they are angry quickly, blame others for mistakes or their behaviour, make a hateful or mean speech when upset, upset or annoy others, quickly get upset and annoyed by others, temper issues, questions limits and rules, refuse to requests or regulations, and argue with adults.
Common Causes of Being Stubborn:
- History of the family member with ADHD (attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder), depression, substance use disorder, and other mental health issues
- Inconsistent parenting
- Harsh treatment
- Exposure to criminal or violent behaviour
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5. Lack Of Concentration

The primary symptom of depression is concentration and focus loss, which gradually worsens depression when it becomes a habit or a part of a negative cycle.
Depression interferes with concentration, necessitating reaching a goal or performing an activity you do. People lose enthusiasm, feel low, hopeless, and do not participate in any task they usually enjoy.
People do not know where to focus or concentrate, so it becomes challenging to understand what to do. Everything seems meaningless when you can’t focus and can’t complete the task due to depression. It leads to anxiousness and makes you feel that you aren’t capable of doing the job or the activity.
It then becomes a part of depression. Several brain areas are responsible for memory retrieval and creation, and irregularity greatly influences concentration abilities and how the person processes memories.
6. Social Isolation

Every depressive disorder or mental illness may gradually lead to social isolation or withdrawal because of feelings of losing interest in routine activities, hopelessness, shame, fatigue, guilt, and many more.
People with manic depression or seasonal affective disorder also experience social isolation. This isolation can result in possibilities of premature death, cardiovascular problems, worsening of immune response, increased cognitive degeneration, and impaired thought process.
Social isolation can become severe and problematic when the feelings of loneliness are enhanced. It is a common factor in people experiencing major depressive incidents or depression.
It occurs when people isolate themselves from society or the public. It may be due to feelings of what people think about you, fear, shame, damaged confidence, and self-esteem.
Symptoms of depression may worsen when loneliness and life circumstances are not thoughtfully addressed. When depressive feelings surround them, people tend to distance themselves from society and stay home. They avoid social gatherings when they are unable to manage situations.
Common Causes of Social Isolation:
- Substance use disorders
- Mood disorders
- Pain
- Health conditions
- Stressful life-transforming circumstances
- Abuse
- Relationship issues, traumatic experiences
Avoiding feelings of social isolation may lead to unhealthy diets, substance abuse, lack of or avoiding physical activities, and negativity. It may intensify or prolong depression.
7. Sleep Disturbances: Battling Insomnia

Sleep issues and depression are closely connected since people dealing with sleep issues are more likely to develop depression and many other mental disorders than those who sleep well. Also, people dealing with depression mostly have insomnia or sleep issues.
Worries, repetitive and racing thoughts due to anxiety can disturb sleep patterns, can result in panic attacks, and keep you awake. Besides, you feel uncomfortable and unsafe and have nightmares or flashbacks when you experience traumatic events. It results in fear of sleeping, being in the dark, or closing eyes, causing insomnia.
Psychosis and paranoia can also make going to bed or falling asleep challenging. When you try to sleep, you may find disturbing or frightening things or hear voices (hallucinations). It all contributes to being awake or disturbed sleep patterns.
Besides, a few psychiatric medications can cause insomnia, oversleeping, nightmares, disturbed sleep, etc., and avoiding them may create other mental health issues.
Common Causes of Insomnia:
- Prolonged commuting
- Arguments with co-workers or spouse
- Financial worries
- Everyday stresses
8. Become Short-Tempered

People experiencing depression are more likely to experience being short-tempered. When dealing with this disorder, you may become annoyed at yourself, your past, events, or others. It affects professional and personal relationships and worsens depressive disorder since it is challenging to control temper due to the intensity.
A short temper is a mental health issue or disorder and common and unpleasant emotion that people often experience. But, if a short temper is intensified, inappropriate, maladaptive, or uncontrollable, it may negatively affect your personality.
Common Causes of Short-Temperament:
- Financial problems
- Stress
- Family issues
- Alcoholism
- Other underlying disorders
Avoiding such changes in personality and behaviour can worsen depression and may result in other mental health and medical disorders. Therefore, reaching a professional and taking an expert will help you overcome challenges faced due to changes in personality, behaviour, and mood.
About Dr. Sanjay Jain – Your Trusted Depression Consultant in Jaipur
Suppose you feel you’re behaving differently, unable to enjoy the moments, or carry a sad feeling every time. In that case, there are potential chances of depression, and Dr. Sanjay Jain can help you with the best counseling and treatments.
Dr. Sanjay Jain is the most recommended, highly-qualified psychologist and psychiatrist in Rajasthan, with 13+ years of experience, and has satisfied patients from Jaipur and other parts of India.
His extensive experience and expertise in using medication or different strategies to help individuals cope with depression or mental disorders is Dr. Jain’s USP.
For all those individuals facing mental health or depression issues, opt for a detailed consultation with Dr Sanjay Jain to know more.
Conclusion:
When a person cannot notice the changes in behaviour, mood, or personality that bothers them, it is depression. You cannot control inappropriate behaviour or mood and other personality factors.
Your attitude can swing from happiness to sadness or anger when depression surrounds you, and you cannot feel changes in your behaviour and mood.
They are unaware of the changes they experience, including sudden anger, lack of concentration, becoming short-tempered, stubborn, un-adjustable with others, social isolation, Anhedonia, and many other personality issues.
They start misbehaving, use inappropriate words, feel negativity in everything and with everyone, cannot follow the everyday routine, and have disturbed sleep patterns or insomnia.
Besides, consulting with Dr Sanjay Jain will help you address underlying factors affecting personality changes due to depression and help manage this disorder that contributes to several behavioural, emotional, and personality issues.

Dr. Sanjay Jain is a highly qualified and one of the best psychiatrist in Jaipur, India, with over 13 years of experience. He earned his medical degrees from SMS Medical College and Hospital. Dr. Jain is known for his global research work on mental health. He believes in not just using medicine but also educating and working with patients to find the best treatment plan. He was recognized as one of Jaipur’s top psychiatrists in 2020 by threebestrated.com, a trusted US-based ranking company.
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