What is Depression?

Dr. Jon Deam discusses a common-sense approach to diagnosis, understanding when symptoms are improving or not, available treatments, and the ultimate struggle with robbed motivation when feeling down.

Jon Deam, MD, is an experienced psychiatrist and telemedicine mental health provider at Aveo Wellness based in San Diego, California. For Dr. Deam, it all started with a question, namely, what do I want? And what does anyone want, for that matter? After years of working with people from all walks of life, faiths, creeds, and nationalities, Dr. Deam stumbled on a simple but challenging answer: to be loved, to be accepted, and to be connected to those we choose to love and accept. 

The first step in that journey was growing up and being educated in Florida. Curious and motivated, Dr. Deam ended up with two bachelor’s degrees, a love of travel after schooling in Scotland, and a clear direction for his life: to help. After graduating from Florida State University College of Medicine, the first new medical school in the United States in 25 years, he made the leap from sunny Florida to snowy Boston to train at Boston University for his psychiatry residency. 

Always drawn to those with stories, Dr. Deam has spent his career helping people navigate transitional, and sometimes painful, steps in life. Some of those stories have been joyful, some touched with sadness, and some touched by serious mental illness in need of treatment. 

Having lived and worked across all four corners of this country, Dr. Deam has seen we aren’t that different after all. The cities change, but the stories are the same. From being the lead doctor on inpatient units, treating those with serious mental illness, to comforting a new mother overwhelmed in a routine appointment, the lesson is clear and lasting: Connect. Grow. Be you.