It's weird - most of the time I'm not depressed at all (I've experienced some mild depression before, so I know the difference). Mentally and emotionally, I feel pretty together during the "plateau" periods (about 70% of the time) and "better" or improved stretches (about 10-15% of the time).

It's really only during setbacks that the depression-like thoughts and emotions come crashing in. And these periods (around 10-15% of the time thus far), while extremely unpleasant, seem to be getting briefer - the last two have lasted for a day or two only, whereas earlier ones seemed to sideline me for 3-5 days or more.

These two states (plateau/improving and setbacks) are like day and night. During the former, I feel OK - I just have to cope with the tedium and uncertainty of recovery. During the latter, I feel awful and completely pessimistic, and my symptoms seem to get worse.

I guess my hope is that over time, as I become stronger and more resilient (and more attuned to my triggers), the setbacks will become less frequent and less severe - and hopefully will end altogether someday.

In any case, I will ask the neuropsychiatrist about antidepressants (and medications generally), if only to have an option if the problem continues to recur.