What are the real causes of Depression
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- Why do people get depressed and what causes depression in the first place? Follow me down this dark rabbit hole.
Depression is a horrendous mental disorder. It destroys perspectives, steals your joy, and isolates you from the rest
of the world. In this video, we will discuss what causes depression to begin with and why it’s so difficult to answer that question.
First, depression is NOT the same thing as being sad.
Depression is a highly biologically disorder and we can see that in its symptoms. People with major depression have
disrupted sleep cycles and often wake up early in the mornings without being able to go to sleep again.
Appetite is reduced and very often people with depression eat less. A third symptom is motor retardation as well as
the fogginess of thoughts and slurring of words.
The biological (hormones specifically) nature of these symptoms points depression being clearly more than feeling sad.
So what is happening in the brain of people with depression? What is the Neuroscience of depression?
What decades of research have discovered is that depression has something to do with imbalances of neurotransmitters in the brain.
Especially Neurotransmitters such as Noradrenaline (Norepinephrine for our US scientists), Serotonin, and Dopamine.
Researchers discovered that if people have low amounts of these neurotransmitters in their brain some of them get depressed. And
if you give depressed people drugs that increase Noradrenaline, for instance, they get better.
Pretty simple, right?
But as always things are not that simple.
How do psychologists even define depression?
Usually by using a checklist of symptoms from the Bible of psychiatry - the DSM (currently in its 5th edition).
If depression can just be explained by brain chemistry we wouldn’t expect social environments to matter much, right?
Wrong! They matter a lot.
Work satisfaction and engagement has been linked to depression and suicide by famous studies in London. If you work
in a job where you have little autonomy and your efforts are not recognized you were much more likely to suffer from depression.
Another important social aspect is Loneliness. How lonely you feel influences your chance of getting depression.
Loneliness questionnaire: philipbrandner...
So basically your social connections and your work life are also really important factors in what causes depression.
The real causes of depression are therefore multifactorial - there are many different interacting ones. Not a single thing
causes depression. Your genes matter, your hormone levels matter, your childhood experiences matter, your work-life matters,
your social connections matter. All of it plays together to form a cocktail that either increases your chance of depression or decreases it.
Thumbnail Artwork with permission from:
Robert Carter. Go check out his website and Instagram below, he’s great!
www.crackedhat.com
cracked_hat_illustration
References
[1] Kandel et al. Neural sciences, 2015, p. 1410ff.
[2] Joanne Cacciatore and Kara Thieleman (2014): “When a Child Dies: A Critical Analysis of Grief-Related Controversies in DSM-5”
[3] Marmot et al. (1991): Health inequalities among British civil servants: the Whitehall II study.
[4] Maier & Seligman (2017): Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from Neuroscience.
[5] Robert Sapolsky: On Depression
[6] Cacioppo et al. (2006): Loneliness as a Specific Risk Factor for Depressive Symptoms: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analyses
[7] Johann Hari: Lost Connections (2018)
[8] Robert Putnam: “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2001)
Links
Loneliness questionnaire:
philipbrandner...
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Have you ever suffered from depression or know someone who is? How do you think about the disorder and its causes? I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences!
Yes! I did. I learned that It's caused by Brainwaves and heart connection incoherent. And also addicted emotions in our body. Meditation helps. I am a depression & mentally abused survivor lol ... Still alive!!!!
@@belle_cestlavie Hey Leo Lady, I hope your process of working through the depression continues successfully. I wish you all the best in the future :)
@@Brainstorm69 Hey thanks! I am much better and alive now !! ! Thanks for your video too...
I love how you explain things !! BRAVO
Rise in awareness = rise in incidence. It is much more talked about now and out in the public knowledge and awareness.
I was depressed many years but didn't realize it because I didn't know what it was. Until a good PCP told me to see someone.
Thanks for sharing Taggah2000!
I'm sorry to hear about your experience with depression. Hopefully you are doing better now.
I'm wondering about rise in awareness as well. It definitely explains part of the rise in incidence. But does it explain
all of the rise? Personally I don't think so. Why would we see a larger rise in teenagers compared to adults? Wouldn't adults
be much more likely to have more awareness in depression compared with adolescents? Also rates of self-harm are also increases. So it's not just better diagnosis and awareness, actual negative self-inflicted behavior is raising too, highly correlated with the rise we see in depression.
Thanks so much for your comment!
@@Brainstorm69 yes, which is why adults observe the symptoms in their teenagers and get them help. Teenagers don't take themselves to the doctor and pay for themselves. Hence, more rise in teenagers. It is MUCH easier to see the problems in someone else than yourself.
I like your argument. You might be right. Could be all due to an increase of awareness. But why would we see such a rise around 2010/2012? Depression campaigns have been going on for decades.
You don't think the spike in reported feelings of loneliness connect here at all?
@@Brainstorm69 I watched something a while ago, I believe it was Jonathan Haidt, saying there is a big spike in depression/anxiety around that time period (2010-2012) because of the increase in social media
@@Zeon7510 great reference. I like haidt a lot. He used the same data that I looked at by Twenge. He was one of the people that got me interested in this question. :)
Excellent Video! I really enjoyed it.
Fraser! Appreciate it man.
Beautiful work mate!
Thanks a bunch Evi! Glad you liked it :D
I have had a extremely rough upbringing. Maybe not as bad as others but still pretty difficult. I was born into this world with parents who were splitting up. I went to live with my grandparents. They gave me everything I wanted. At one year old I was punched in the face by my mom’s ex she beat him. At two years old I was abused by my dads ex. I got that memory of abuse in a dream. I struggle with depression. Childhood events do significantly effect mental health. PEOPLE WHO HAVE ABUSED KIDS/OTHER’S KIDS: YOU DESERVE TO HAVE YOUR JOB TAKEN, YOU DESERVE TO BE IN JAIL, AND YOU DESERVE KARMA.
(The abuser that did the most damage committed suicide in 2014 as for her son I hope he is in a good place).
I can’t sleep. I try to. I can’t eat. I try to.
Hey Ethan, if you are suffering from mental health issues please go see your GP/physician and talk to them about possible help.
I Feel that I Have Depression
Hey Chris, I'm sorry you are going through a difficult and dark time right now. If you think you are getting depressed or just not feeling well, talk to your GP, or seek a mental health professional (therapist, psychiatrist). The help they can give you is so important during these times. I hope you get through this as soon as possible. All the best mate! Take care of yourself!
Dammit Robin!
It's always the same with that guy!
People have ditched me because of my depression. Wish I could just drop dead at this point. Apparently I will according to the statistics LOL
Mia, I'm sorry to hear what happened to you. If you are depressed and feel alone please talk to a professional and try to get the help you need whatever that might be. Forget about the statistics, they have no meaning for the individual, for you as a person. Keep up the fight! I wish you all the best in the future!