Help Me Understand Depression

Depression is caused by an abnormality of chemicals in the brain. It is not caused by a feeling. For example, two people could have the same feeling, one person will become depressed (that person has an inbalance of the chemicals in their brain) the other person will not become depressed and will beable to cope with the feeling because their brain chemicals are in balance (norepinephrine and serotonin).

An inbalance in brain chemistry is what makes the person unable to cope with life, a feeling, a situation or just not able to cope, everything feels hopeess even minor incidents. everything feels difficult, So yes, someone can be depressed just because they feel depressed.

Someone who is depressed can have intermittent feelings of happiness or laughter, but even with this temporary feeling of enjoyment they are still depressed they still have feelings of hopelessness and despair even though they may laugh at a joke or appear happy.

Someone who is not depressed can have intermittent feelings of sadness or the blues, feeling sad once in a while is not the same thing as depression. Someone may feel sad for a day or two about an unfortunate situation but beable to cope and get over the feelings of sadness in a relative short time.

Someone who is depresed cannot "snap out of it" due to the chemical inbalance in their brain they perceive things in a faulty way and have trouble seeing things in a realistic manner.

There are different types of depression: For example;
dysthymia is a chronic feeling of sadness, just sadness that does not go away, unhappy but not deep dark despair, someone feeling this way should see the MD

clinical depression is a deep dark place that often needs psychiatric care,

Simple answer? Yes.

In my own personal experience involving myself, my husband, several of my friends, it usually boils down to some sort of chemical imbalance & whether that was brought on by a life-altering experience (like post-partum as I had) or not (as my husband AND my best friend, just generally clinically depressed). If you had 15 or 20 years I could give you tons of examples, but really, a very small amount of research on the subject can garner you a ton of information.

There are two types of depression, exogenous and endogenous, so with either an internal or a situational cause. With the internal kind, it is believed it is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, the result of certain neurotransmitters not working properly. The causes for these imbalances are not really known, but with many types of depression, a proper diet, exercise and quality sleep are as effective as antidepressants in balancing things out. In fact, anyone who doesn't get enough sleep usually ends up feeling depressed. So even if it is "internal," there is a lot the individual can do to regulate things.

Yes - definitely. Its some sort of chemical problem in the brain.

I've had depression on and off since college. At first, I was really upset with myself. I come from a "keep a stiff upper lip" "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" type of family and all I could think was that I was weak for not being able to deal with regular every day occurrences. I couldnt finish a term paper and felt so bad about myself that I ended up in the emergency room in a hospital.

Before you start thinking that I am some sort of nutcase - I am NOT. If you met me and talked to me, you would think I was smart and well adjusted but there have been times in my life that I have been debilitated by these terrible feelings, that are triggered by nothing really.

In the years since college, I have learned that I suffer from depression, which is a disease just like any other. If I take medication, I am mostly ok. Its hard for people, especially my husband, who is perfectly emotionally well balanced, to understand. I've burst into tears before in a restaurant, looking at a menu, because I cant decide what to order. Or to explain that I was late meeting him because I couldnt make the decision to switch lanes to exit off the highway and drove 15 miles out of my way until I could do it.

It took years for me to stop thinking that I was mentally weak - not trying hard enough, and to realize that it is a real and valid illness - not something fabricated by people who are lazy or seeking drama.

So yes - people can be depressed without having a real cause.

I wish there were a differant word to describe it. I wouldn't call my onset of initial symptoms depression. I wasn't sad. I think chemical imbalance fits better. I had a chemical inbalance that affected my emotional wellbeing. I wasn't depressed. I was off balance!

There is "clinical depression" "situational depression" and "seasonal mood disorder"
Mine was clinical. I was happy, in love, in school, fulfilled, and crying and sleeping 20 hours a day. There was no situation that brought it on, but it caused enough probelms inmy life until I eventually had situational depression as well. I was lost in my own head. I went too far introspective trying to figure out what was wrong with me. All that introspection made me even more depressed. It's a bad cycle.

Well yes, one can be depressed without having an external causative event (i.e. death of a loved one) but there is still a cause or reason for the depression...namely a chemical imbalance. The same goes for anxiety disorders. One can have chemically caused panic attacks rather than the conventional externally triggered panic attack.

Chemicals in the body vary from day to day. Therefore a person who has a chronic chemical imbalance may have both good days and not so good days with out an environmental catalyst.

For instance there are medications called serotonin uptake inhibitors. They cause the receptors that process the serotonin to not take as many and process them out of the system. The results is that a person feels happier, I don't know exactly why, that is beyond my psychology background.

There are other reasons for depression, environmental ones for example.

Christopher Lowell said that your bedroom is the last thing you see at night and the first thing you see in the morning. It sets your feelings of self worth or mental mood for the day. If your room is depressing then you may have feelings of sadness and feel sad about your living environment the rest of the day, it can even become what you feel every day just due to the constant expectation of feeling that way.

Stress, death of a loved one, natural disasters (these may make a person deal with their issues of mortality or empathy for the people who died and their family's left behind), many various reasons for someone to experience depression. Even things that happened a long time ago can still be the root cause of depression that is environmental. Talking to a good psychologist can often find the root cause in this case and help close the door on the issue where the person can move on and start to function normally and wean off the meds.

But still, some depression is biological and will need meds for the rest of that person's life. Only a doc can decide which way to go in the long term but using med to stabilize someone while they are working through issues is what will work for now.

Yes, you can simply be 'depressed' without rhyme or reason.

There are many different kinds of depression.

http://www.depression-help-resource.com/types-of-depressi...

Yes. My husband has a mild form of bi-polar depression. He has long phases of depression (6-8 weeks), weeks or months of feeling neutral, and short bursts (a few days or a week) of mild "mania," which is, in his case, a period of increased energy, insomnia, and the compulsion to make weird decisions (I must quit my job...today! or buy this car...now!).

None of his phases are predictably triggered by external stimuli. He can weather tremendous stress with no problems and then slip into a depression mode on a normal day with a snap of the fingers. There are many times where we start the day with all being well, make plans for the evening, and by evening time he's crabby and canceling plans or has gone to bed suddenly and then 6 weeks later, returns to normal.

It's a terrible and unpredictable way to live. Medication has helped make the non-neutral phases farther apart, but they still do come and go a few times a year. It's maddening for him (and us) for him to feel a certain way without a reason - at least if there were a trigger, we could fix the problem or address the trigger and when that's resolved, he'd feel better. But it doesn't work that way.

J.:

The way that I understand depression is that it's not just "one" thing. For everyone is different.

Some get depressed because of a situation, cause, circumstance.
Some get depressed because their serotonin levels are off.

I believe that women are more prone to depression than men. I do NOT know this for a fact. But I do know I've seen more women depressed than men. It might be that men (being men! LOL!) don't want to admit there is a problem.

If you have a medical condition and it has changed the way you live your life - then it could cause depression. I would talk to my PCP and the doctor who is handling my medical condition to see if there is a medication I can take that will not further denigrate my medical condition or interfere with the medicine (if any) I needed to take.

Men also don't like to "talk" like women do. So they keep things bottle up and don't express it. As many (not all) men were raised that "boys/men don't cry".

I hope this helps. I hope I didn't cloud the confusion any further.

My mother and I have both dealt with depression in our lives. Mom's is a chemical issue. I have dealt with it on a situational basis.

Depression is kind of like the "nurture/nature" argument. Some might argue that one or the other is the primary etiology, but each person is different.

The answer to your question is, YES....it's is absolutely possible to feel depressed without an overt environmental cause. The cause in this case is usually physiological. There are two main types of people with depression:

Some folks have a chemical or hormonal imbalance, related to their unique physiology, which makes them feel depressed. These people usually battle depression for their entire lives.

And some folks are dealing with circumstances, which results in a chemical or homonal imbalance, which makes them feel depressed. These people usually have "normal" depression, related to sad or depressing circumstances.

In both of these cases, the ability to deal with depression depends on the individual. Hormone testing, medication treatment, and behavioral cognitive therapy (learning coping mechanisms) can all help. But there is no cure-all. Each will need to research, talk to their doctor, and be an advocate for their own mental and physical well-being in order to manage their depression.

I think so. I think that is where the 'blues' come from when you live in a climate where you don't see the sun for days on end, (wisconsin in the winter, :)), or you're feeling blah but can't put your finger on it. My guess there is always a factor even if we can't put our finger on it. But I also think those are the blues that you can move past-change your environment, focus, etc. Where chemical depression you can't shake without meds, therapy or whatever.

The biggest misunderstanding, in my opinion, is that you CAN'T explain depression. It's there for either day to day reasons (a crappy job), tragic events (marriage problems, illness, death in the family), or chemical reasons.

My husband recenly stopped Lexapro cold turkey. He feels that his 'head is clearer'. Unfortunately, it also means that he reverts to his a&&hole behavior that makes him need it in the first place. I don't think he thinks he depressed - I just think he feels he's always right.

I, on the other hand, have been through major, major depression. I can't say how I got out of if. I probably still am but with other (unhealthy) outlets to deal with it.

Definitely depressions does not have to be triggered by an event. I wake up depressed sometimes after a good night's sleep. Depression is just a feeling. Yes, events and circumstances can causes us to feel bad but an ongoing psychiatric diagnosis of depression (clinical depression) usually means that there is no known cause for the feelings. That is why medication helps relieve the feelings.

I have a medical diagnosis of clinical depression. In my case, nothing in life changes but I get depressed. My depression lifts with medication alone tho talk therapy helps too. At times there is an event or a way of thinking that starts the downward spiral but at other times, even after several talk sessions nothing seems to have happened to start it.

For me personally, it was being overwhelmed by a lot of small things. So if you asked me then what was wrong, I was embarrassed to say because they all sounded so minor. The problem was that all those minor difficulties accumulated to the point that I could not handle them. I couldn't deal with each one individually because I was seeing them altogether and overwhelmed. It's like my brain and my body were on overload and just shut down. I felt embarrassed and confused that I couldn't fix a single on of these little things.

It wasn't until I started to address each little issue, one at a time, that I was able to come out of it. Once I took them all apart and focus on one thing, I was able to see that I could fix one little thing with a simple behavior change. That gave me the confidence that I was capable of handling things again. Then I slowly started attacking one more little thing. I started to see that, by themselves, they were small and manageable. I just had to separate them.

The short answer is Yes. We use the word "depression" in a variety of settings, each with a different 'flavor' or nuance. For example, I might talk about feeling depressed, but I could mean "feeling blue" or "feeling dejected" or "feeling hollow".

That's my two-cents worth.

If you are referring to medically diagnosed depression---I don't know. But maybe what you are thinking about is more "the blues". That seasonal melancholy that sometimes sets in during the winter when we don't get enough sunlight... ? That technically involves "a reason", but not a specific EVENT or anything....
?

Yep. I sometimes feel blue. The deep reason is loss of youth, loss of looks, underemployment, etc. I come out of it but I always go back.

I suffer from manic depression, known as Bipolar Disorder. You don't need a reason to feel depressed, you just do for no reason at all. Hope you get the help you need. You may need to try different medications to help you with your depression. Hope this helps.

I think it can be both. I have felt it one day of my life. I took zyban to quit smoking in 2006 and the effect was a severe depression that lasted one day. It was really freaky. I now understand sadness and depression are quite different. I've always been able to remain optimistic and hopeful, even through my parents untimely deaths and my husbands parents untimely deaths. I always wondered why some people could be so sullen. I really do think that a real depression is a malfunction in the brain. That pill I took blocked my brain from functioning that day. Probably a malfunction in the receptors that release saratonin and dopamine. I got a glimpse of it and it scared me to death.

Looks like you have plenty of answers here but it's all due to chemicals in the brain. They change day by day so you might not see any rhyme or reason to a good or bad day. It's an imbalance. Try to evaluate whether this person has always been this way or if it's something new. I have never struggled with depression other than a trauma in my life. Then 2 years later, I struggled with major anxiety after the birth of my second child. I think maybe the trauma and then the crazy hormones might have both contributed to my problems. It lasted on and off for a couple of years and then suddenly disappeared (for the most part). I also had some physical changes (hair, skin, etc.) so I knew there were some wacky things going on with my hormones/chemicals that took years to balance themselves out again.