Can Testosterone Treat Depression?

Jennifer Standing
3 min readMar 3, 2021

Depression is really just your body’s way of screaming something is wrong.

If you have ever dealt with depression, then you know what a struggle it can be to get out of it. Just having one good day is an incredible milestone. When you’re so desperate to feel good (or feel anything) options you may not have considered before become tantalizing. When I heard recently of instances where testosterone has been used to successfully treat depression, my ears perked up.

There are different types of depression. There are many different reasons why someone might be depressed. There may not even be a reason, at least not an obvious one. But I like to think of it like this:

Depression is really just your body’s way of screaming SOMETHING IS WRONG.

What if, for some people, that ‘thing’ happens to be low testosterone?

When you really delve into how large a role hormone balances play in our overall health, it stands to reason that low testosterone could lead to this result. In fact, one of the main symptoms of of low testosterone is depressed mood, and some other symptoms that could look like, well, depression including:

  • changes in sexual desire
  • fatigue
  • muscle weakness
  • weight gain

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Jennifer Standing

Writer, Blogger, Dog Mom. BA Psych, Certified Holistic Nutrition Consultant. Real talk about Mental Health and Holistic Wellness.