Depression

Overcoming seasonal affective disorder

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Seasonal Affective Disorder

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder? Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder that occurs during late autumn and winter. It is characterised by lethargy, low mood, anhedonia, fatigue, and (in some cases) impaired sleep. Due to low energy and the loss of interest in activities the individual may become socially isolated, and prone to … Read more

5 signs of depression and what to do about them

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Signs of depression

What depression is This article explores the five most common signs of depression in its early stages. The advice given here relates to situational depression related to adverse life events. For advice on long-term depression please consult your medical doctor or a psychotherapist. Depression is a mood disorder characterised by persistent low moods; thoughts related … Read more

2 Empowering ways to break depression

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Breaking cycle of depression

The basis of depression

Clinical depression is defined as a mood disorder. In which changes to brain chemistry lead to anhedonia, low mood, lethargy and tiredness. However, these changes in mood are the symptoms, not the cause of the problem.

The real cause of depression are the hopeless thoughts in which we become entrapped in reaction to some unwanted life event. That could be loss of employment, the end of a relationship, bereavement, or some other problem we are struggling to overcome. In my last article on the subject Seven Keys to Unravel Depression, I describe how the problem emerges from learned helplessness when we get stuck in our disempowering thoughts about life problems.

The cycle of depression

Cycle of DepressionOne major complication is that the depressed state can become self-perpetuating.

Depressive thoughts lead to symptoms such as anhedonia (loss of pleasure) and lethargy, which trigger the feeling that nothing is worth doing, which in turn leads to more hopeless thoughts. This cycle is illustrated in the diagram on the right.

Within this cycle the two keys that keep it going are a) a pre-occupation with those hopeless thoughts, leading to more depressed symptoms and b) withdrawal from potentially rewarding activities that could overcome learned helplessness.  Each time we give in to symptoms of depression, and stay in bed we reinforce the state of apathy that underlies the condition.

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7 keys to unravel depression

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unravel depression

What is depression?

Clinical depression is a mood disorder in which there are significant changes in brain chemistry. Specifically, reduced levels of the neuro-transmitters dopamine, serotonin and noradrenalin. Common symptoms include:

  • Persistent low mood
  • Anhedonia (loss of pleasure in activities)
  • Disturbed sleep
  • Daytime lethargy
  • Reduced motivation
  • Poor concentration
  • Racing thoughts

It is estimated that over 60% of adults diagnosed with depression and given anti-depressants in the USA, are not in fact clinically depressed. Rather, they are sad, despondent or demoralised. However, in some cases this initial state of despondency can evolve into clinical depression.

This article relates to both clinical depression and to despondency.

Sources of depression

The causes of depression do not lie in changes in brain chemistry. Rather, those are the effect rather than the cause. The deeper cause lies in complex bio-social-psychological factors that lead to learned helplessness. Adverse life circumstances combined with loss of resilience lead to people believing they are overwhelmed, stuck and powerless to change their situation. Other cases result from stagnation, as individuals either withdraw from life or settle down to a life-style with too much routine and too little fulfilment.

This, in turn, leads to a kind of shut-down, in which the body goes into a state similar to hibernation as the body reduces neurotransmitter activity.

Adverse life circumstances include: early retirement, stressful work, failing (or abusive) relationships, post-natal complications and adjustments to parenthood, financial loss, social deprivation, serious illness and bereavement.

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Four main causes of depression – and what to do about them

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depression

What is clinical depression?

The first month of 2011 has come and gone and statistics show that January is the most depressing month, in that more people will seek help for depression than at any other time of the year. As it happens, I have been more than usually busy with depressed clients since the New Year came on; a fact which prompts me to write this article.

First, let’s be clear about what clinical depression really is.

In my view, many of the people who are diagnosed by their GP as having depression are not, in fact, clinically depressed at all. Instead, they could be sad, despondent, fed up with life, or unhappy. This is one reason why anti-depressants don’t work for many. Anti-depressant drugs such as the SSRIs – which increase the amount of serotonin in circulation in the brain – will only work, obviously, if the patient has serotonin depletion in the first place, which may only be the case if they actually have clinical depression.

Whether you are depressed, sad, fed up, or unhappy, this article may still apply to you.

The four main sources of depression

1. Fusion with anxious, or depressing thoughts

If you are a habitual worrier, perfectionist, or guilt-tripper then, on a daily basis, your body will become accustomed to high anxiety levels. Since Bodymind cannot tolerate over-arousal for too long, it will seek to reduce the problem by damping down the system. Typically, this means reducing serotonin (which elevates mood), which leads to the symptoms of clinical depression. In this respect it has been estimated that over 70% of depressed people also have high anxiety levels.

The solution is to defuse from unhelpful thoughts.

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Moving beyond depressed thinking

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Depressed thinking

Is depressed thinking a good thing? One very strange result of studies on depression is that depressed people are a lot more realistic than most. Their judgments about what they can and can’t do, their predictions about events, and their guesses about what others think about them, tend to be shrewder than non-depressed people. Their … Read more