Now even though I'm on medication for my depression (which I believe is the right medication), will there be moments (instances) during my depression where the rate of neurogenesis decreases and the rate at which cortisol kills my neurons increases beyond the rate of neurogenesis, causing shrinkage for brief moments?

I think that is very strong theory that i do think there is strong evidence to indicate it.

Even despite the fact that the medication helps increase neurogenesis and prevents damage from cortisol?

Matt sorry im cosfused do you mean the hippocampus area ??--if so its showed it going back to pre-depression size once depression symptoms improved and hormone levels like cortisol went back to normal.

What I'm saying is that even though over time the neurons gain back through medication, will there be moments during depression where the glucocorticoids will kill the neurons more than the medication is helping gain new ones?

This question applies to neurons in the hippocampus and in the prefrontal cortex.

Hypothesis --goes back to the bdnf factor ---so i think it indicates if your under high level of stress but what been studied is treaments to reduce this bdnf factor--exercise,diet,relaxation ,learning new things it has to be a combo

But even though I'm on the right medication (because I feel that it is working a bit), I still experience this sort of chronic depression. So is this chronic depression killing more of my neurons than what the medication is gaining?

I know that you said before that I am gaining more than I am losing because the medication is stopping the damage as you said before right here in quotes:

"---Its the other way around your stopping the damage and there as been studies it can be reversed with meds and possibly other treaments. ---"

But it makes me wonder if there are moments during my depression where the glucocorticoids are killing more of my neurons than what is gaining through the medication due to the fact that my depression is still chronic.

Its possible for brief periods I think and it make sense from known theories ---have u had the cortisol levels checked ? 50% chronic depression ppl showed high levels

Have you ever talked to people or seen interviews with chronic depressed people who had it 20 or 30 yrs and mentally still sharp as a whip.

It's not that I'm afraid of losing my intelligence--I'm afraid of losing my pleasure. That even though there are those brief moments like you said where the rate at which the glucocorticoids kill the neurons responsible for pleasure becomes greater than the rate those neurons gain through the medication, that these brief moments will all add up to some loss (some shrinkage).

So will these brief moments all add up to some shrinkage over time (like a couple days, or even a week's worth of shrinkage or even longer), or will the medication constantly make up and surpass all these brief moments of neuron loss, resulting in those feel-good regions of the brain gaining neurons and not shrinking for a couple days or longer despite the fact that my depression is chronic and lasts all day everyday (although there are moments where I feel somewhat alright through these medications)?