How do you tell the difference between dysphoria and depression and or how did you know the depression you had was actually dysphoria?
Dysphoria can certainly cause depression. There may be some depression from other things. Often, it's a mix of things that add to it all. What you could try to do is separate, in your head, any depression caused by your dysphoria and see if there's any left. Ask yourself, "If I didn't have dysphoria, would I be happy? Or would there still be something bothering me?"
For me, it's hard to say. I feel like I've displayed symptoms of depression from a young age, as young as nine when I first raised an internal question about suicide. I was really little. While much of it had to do with things like my family and school, much of it had to do with dysphoria and being "trapped" even if I never gave it much thought then. Now that I'm older, I can easily say that much or most of my depression is rooted in my dysphoria. I also second what Tai said.
Dysphoria can cause depression, so it's hard to say. I try to look at whether or not my depression is related to gender in any way, or, as Tai said, I try to imagine myself without depression to see how I would feel. For example, a lot of my depression is caused by my social anxiety, so I try to imagine what I would feel like if I didn't have that, to see if I would still feel dysphoria
