When chronic depression is caused by a virus, are the strains involved ones that can lead to dementia? Are these conditions just different degrees or perhaps reflecting different inherent vulnerabilities of the host to viral attack?

There is a potential for almost any pathogenic virus that gets a foothold in the brain to bring about dementia, ultimately. It is evident from the timetable for appearance of symptoms, that what is happening with dementia is most typically a very long-term, smoldering, chronic presence at a low level that causes cumulative damage. This is why someone can experience depression for years as a functional consequences of virus presence, but if they were killed in an auto accident, for example, and given an autopsy there might be no discernible microscopic abnormalities within the brain tissues, given the low-level perturbation and lack of irreversible damage thus far in the person's life. But over many decades, accompanied by a decline of host defenses and maintenance of tissue youth and resilience from age-related deficits, such a viral infection might well bring about the appearance of frank dementia in some who suffer lifelong depression. It is also the case that people who have a lifelong struggle with depression that is karmic in origin, do have larger degree of vulnerability should they be exposed to a virus capable of causing loss of neurologic function. The self-creation of a state of resignation, hopelessness, and surrender bring the force of consciousness to bear in the worst way to undermine the self directly and create an environment favoring loss of cognitive function. This is why we have explained to you for some years now, that a state of dementia in the elderly involves, in effect, a self-decision to escape, at least within the deep levels of the mind. It is not that this is the sole story. Feelings of depression create an environment of vulnerability. Becoming a victim from giving up on life in a state of despair will greatly increase the likelihood of viruses finding a home and favorable breeding ground, because it is a match to what they do to the host by turning them into a victim.