Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can involve the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, joints, and nervous system. It's more common in women than in men — eight times more common, in fact. Medi-cinenet.com describes it as a chronic inflammatory condition in which Lupus patients have unusual antibodies in the blood that target their own body tissues.

The Lupus Foundation of America notes that people with lupus often ask, “What degree of depression is normal?” and, “When should a patient seek professional help?” What these questions indicate, of course, is that depression is an inconvenient corollary to lupus. Lupus can create symptoms of depression, the medications used to treat lupus (steroids) can cause depressive symptoms, and the stresses of dealing with the disease itself can create depression. It's a triple threat.

The uncertainty of a diagnosis can lead to increased stress levels. It takes time to diagnose lupus, and there are other conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, that may mimic lupus's symptoms.

As with all the other conditions discussed in this chapter, early diagnosis means early intervention. The bright spot, however, in dealing with this chronic condition, is that most episodes of depressive illness in people with lupus are not long-term and will abate on their own within a few months. That makes coping with this condition just a bit easier.