Continued from ‘Depression’ is ‘not being able to feel’
Some people think that people become depressed if they don’t have enough friends or relatives around. Many times have I heard people say that if such and such was not alone, he/she would not be so depressed. This is a basic misunderstanding of the nature of depression: putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.
Here, I am not speaking of a natural grieving process – a sound support system is helpful there. Nor am I speaking of other specific mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder and so on, but only about the one many doctors term ‘garden-variety depression’: where an otherwise healthy brain fails to function properly because of an imbalance or shortage of specific neurotransmitters.
From an evolutionary point of view: our brains have, as their deepest goal, to keep us alive, as best and for as long as possible.
‘Pleasure’ is nice – it is our brain’s reward for ‘good’ behaviours. From foods that nurture us best to reproduction to forming the social bonds which aid our long-term survival – these are all the types of ‘good’ behaviours which aid our long-term survival and propagation as a species. Our brains reward these ‘good’ behaviours by directing the neurotransmitters to activate the ‘pleasure’ and ‘feel good’ centres of the brain. That is how we feel pleasure and happiness.
These behaviours, however important in the long-term, are not helpful in urgent ‘short-term’ survival of ‘fight-and/or-flight’ type situations. When faced with an immediate threat, a person has to react quickly and effectively, or the long-term benefits become rather irrelevant.
These ‘danger’ type situations, out of this necessity for immediate survival, ‘anger’, ‘fear’ and related feelings are capable of being triggered even when the neurotransmitter levels in the brain are too low to trigger the ‘long-term-benefit’ reward ones.
That is why people who are depressed – who are suffering from a physical shortage/imbalance of the neurotransmitters in the brain – stop feeling ‘pleasure’ and ‘happiness’ before they stop feeling ‘anger’ and ‘fear’, and even, at times, the feeling of ‘self-pity’…
Which also explains why, very often, these people end up alone.
This emptiness of ‘not feeling’ is horrible – it is like one’s body is mechanically walking through life while the self/soul is in a coma. Most people will do just about anything to avoid this desolate emptiness of ‘not feeling’.
Some people react to this ‘inability to feel’ by isolating themselves from friends and other experiences, in order not to be reminded that they can no longer feel. The memory of the experience – while being unable to feel it now – is so painful, these people will avoid any ‘opportunity to feel’. They will keep busy with tasks that do not evoke emotions to the exclusion of everything else – or they will simply withdraw from ‘experiencing life’.
Other people deal with this emptiness by trying to evoke even echoes of their earlier experiences. They will seek behaviours which, when they were well, made them feel ‘most intensely alive’: from thrill-seeking on down. Needless to say, this may become self-destructive.
These people will soon find that as the neurotransmitter levels decrease, they will need more intense experiences to get even an echo of a ‘feeling’. And, since the ‘fight-and/or-flight’ responses take the lowest levels of neurotransmitters to make a person ‘feel’, many people spiraling down into a depression will try to evoke those emotions – it’s their ‘last chance to feel’.
This usually means ‘picking fights’ and starting arguments – arguments deep and angry enough to evoke those ‘fight-and/or-flight’ responses in their brain!
Because even the most negative feelings are like a balm for the soul which is unable to ‘feel’!
Of course, this tends to be hard on the people around such a person… Seeing the anger and facing constant arguments and fights – and no positive emotions in the ill person, no positive feedback – that will drive just about everyone away!
Therefore, people are not depressed because they are alone – people are alone because they are depressed!
This is why it is essential that when people notice a loved one is either withdrawing from ‘life’ or seems constantly angry and filled with only strong negative emotions, they get them help from medical professionals.
Depression is a physiological deficiency of specific chemicals, just like deficiencies in other parts of the body are. It strikes people in all walks of life – and of all ages, including children.
It needs to be diagnosed and treated by medical professionals. And the person will need to remain on any medication they are prescribed for as long as their own body is not making the ‘proper’ balance of them.
Like a diabetic may take insulin to function properly, so does a person suffering from depression.
And, just like there are some diabetics who, after getting their diabetes under control can, perhaps, maintain control over their condition without the need to take insulin regularly, some people with depression may be able to do the same thing.
But, this is not possible for all diabetics. Nor it is an option for everyone suffering from depression. The medicine may be different, the organ affected may be different, but the underlying medical problem is ‘the same’: their body is not making enough of some things for all parts of the body to function properly.
Just as one would not fault a diabetic for needing insulin for the rest of their life, one ought not demand that a person ‘should get off’ of anti-depressant medication after some period of time. It is not a question of ‘toughness’ or ‘weakness’ or ‘willingness to try’: it is a function of the medical condition itself and must be understood in those terms.
Depression is a terrible thing to experience.
Let’s try to use information to shed some light on it in the hope that it will help somebody seek the proper help. If you have some things related to depression you’d like to share, please, leave a comment!
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 
November 17, 2010 at 13:33
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November 18, 2010 at 10:10
i read both posts. well explained
Xan says: Thank you!
November 28, 2010 at 22:40
Xanthippa:
Depression results when anger remains unresolved for such a long time that the brain is depleted of certain neurotransmitters. That is what causes the emptiness and lethargy.
So what you say about depression is true, as far as it goes: it is cause by an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain. But such an imbalance doesn’t just materialize out of thin air for no reason. So you have to ask:
What causes the anger, and what prevents its resolution?
If you solve those underlying problems, you cure depression without drugs.
If you fail to solve them, do amount of drugs will cure you.
Unfortunately, both the causes of the anger and the factors which prevent its resolution are chronic and endemic in our modern way of life.
We are trapped on a treadmill in a house of mirrors.
We are treated like chattel by our employers, like prisoners by the state, and like dirt by almost everyone else. We cannot cease the daily grind, and we may not call anything by its true name.
No wonder people are angry, and no wonder they keep repressing the anger until they become depressed.
The stress and the insult never stop, and any attempt to deal with them, as they should be dealt with, is punished. And when you can’t handle it anymore, they sell you antidepressant drugs.
This is worse than deliberately breaking your leg and then selling you a crutch.
Because they keep re-breaking the leg before it ever has a chance to heal.
Xan says:
Much of what you say is true.
But, I differ with you on the assertion that ‘the’ cause of depression is unresolved anger.
There is a lot more to it, some of it is strictly biological, in various ‘ways’.
Just like any biological illness or disease, the underlying ’causes’ are complex and vary.
There is a clear, statistically demonstrated genetic component to depression. The ‘normal’ variation of brain chemistry within the population would explain this.
There is a clearly, statistically demonstrated component to high-frequency or prolonged ‘early childhood’ (when the ‘defaults’ are being set) exposure to high-stress situation (whether danger or ‘thrill’ related) which demonstrates some ‘de-sensitization’, so that higher dopamine levels need to be induced in order to ‘feel’. This could be a component in the ‘abuse’ cycle, where children raised in families where stress-levels are high due to domestic violence seek abusive relationships as adults: they need the increased stress levels in order not to be numb.
There is also a demonstrated link between people who have a serotonin imbalances – which can manifest in a myriad of symptoms, from insomnia (and various other sleep disorders, including ‘sleep inertia’ where the release of the brain chemicals required for sleep/waking become de-synchronized) and migranes to recurrent depressions – also demonstrate greater cravings for sweets and they become more easily addicted as well as find overcoming their addictions more difficult to overcome than ‘average’….which suggests that the underlying chemistry has a much greater
So, it goes well beyond just the ‘external stimulus’…..though unresolved anger is certainly one such trigger, it is not always necessary for it to be present for depression to happen.
December 6, 2010 at 17:10
Xanthippa:
Yes, true: some people are just born sourpusses or raised to be drama queens. But that’s not what I’m talking about, mainly because there isn’t much to say about it beyond just that. And, of course, it’s pretty much impossible to make any statement that’s 100 percent true of every member of any group, so your remarks about other causes of variation are also quite right.
But I think the vast majority of those who are “clinically depressed” these days do fit squarely into the pattern I described. And the effect of constantly walking on eggshells while living like a rat on a treadmill is enormously exacerbated by lack of exercise and poor diet. We are undernourished despite being overfed, and we hardly ever work up a sweat. These factors, which lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and degenerative disease (metabolic syndrome), also lead to neuropathy, dementia, clinical depression and ADHD. All of these conditions can be effectively treated, managed or prevented with interventions involving little more than proper diet and exercise. But the big medi-pharma-agri-conglomerates don’t want you to know that. For obvious reasons.
So I think the diagnosis of “clinical depression due to neurotransmitter imbalance” is, in most cases, nothing but misdirection of attention which distracts people from looking for deeper causes – much like your excellent example of “can’t put weight on foot” syndrome.
Only in this case, it should be called “we don’t feed them well enough to make the neurotransmitters they need to handle all the crap we put them through” syndrome.
Xanthippa says:
Yes, I agree with you.
With the ‘can’t put weight on foot syndrome’ analogy.
But my main point was meant to be slightly different…
Still, let us stay with the ‘can’t put weight on foot syndrome’ analogy….
When a person ‘can’t put weight on their foot’, we don’t tell them to ‘pull themselves together’ or ‘get over it’ or ‘cheer up’. We try to figure out the cause of the discomfort so that the physical injury can be treated. It might be nothing but a sprain – after a few days, things will work themselves back to normal. Or it can be a piece of glass stuck in the foot – something which requires a physical change. Or it could be gout – a chemical change is required. Or your foot might have been chopped of – in which case, there is no easy ‘permanent solution’.
So, when a person is ‘depressed’, we should not dismiss this lightly. It can be a serious physical impairment, something which is outside the individual’s immediate control (as depression also alters some cognitive functions). Dismissing the actual physical causes of depression (not necessarily present in every case, but certainly in most) is a lot like dismissing the physical causes of the ‘can’t put weight on foot’ syndrome…
That is my point….
Xanthippa says:
And my main point is that most of the ‘depression’ out there cannot be cured by simply altering one’s lifestyle, job, diet, etc.
Sure, all these things may contribute.
But, at its core, depression is a biological illness with physical causes. If your body does not make enough insulin, you are ‘diabetic’. If your body does not produce a specific chemical balance in the brain, you are ‘depressed’.
It is just as irrational to deny the physical, chemical nature of this disorder as it would be to deny that ‘religiosity’ is rooted in brain chemistry – and just as ‘difficult’ to self-regulate!
December 7, 2010 at 17:36
Xanthippa:
Yes, precisely. Mindlessly prescribing an antidepressant to “restore the balance of neurotransmitters,” without determining and correcting the cause of the imbalance, is like mindlessly prescribing a painkiller to “restore the patient’s ability to painlessly put weight on his foot,” without first determining if the cause is a broken ankle or rusty nail. The anaesthetised patient proceeds to walk on the broken ankle and mangles it irreparably, or gets blood poisoning from the rusty nail and dies.
Similarly, the depressed patient, whose symptoms are alleviated by a psychoactive drug, has little or no motivation to make the lifestyle changes required to correct the cause of the depression. Nor does he typically get any guidance in that direction from his doctor. A number of factors conflate to discourage the patient and the doctor from thinking in these terms – and there is a reason for this.
A large and growing number of people are clinically depressed. The majority of them could cure themselves by getting a less oppressive job, finding less abusive friends, eating better food and getting more exercise. But if such a large number of people started looking for these things, it would quickly become obvious to everyone where the real root of this epidemic lies: it is built right into the structure of modern Western society!
Most employers – and certainly all the big ones – treat their employees as “human resources,” which is more dehumanizing, in its smarmy two-faced way, than outright slavery ever was. So where are people going to find non-oppressive jobs?
Most people are conditioned by their schooling to ostracize those who think for themselves and speak politically incorrect truths, and to reinforce in each other feelings of self-doubt, learned helplessness and mindless submission to the collective. So where are people going to find non-abusive friends?
Most people simply cannot afford fresh meat from healthy animals, fresh fruits and vegetables grown in rich soil, and so on; the so-called food that people can afford is synthetic and harmful, or grown under such unnatural conditions that it lacks all nutritional value, and most supplements that could make up the lack have been made illegal. So where are people going to find better food?
Most people spend the majority of their waking lives on job-related activities: working, getting ready for work, commuting to and from work, putting in (often unpaid) overtime, shopping for work clothes, and so on, after which they barely have enough time left over to eat and keep their quarters tidy. So where are people going to find time to exercise?
Granted, some people can solve some of these problems some of the time. But for most people to solve most of these problems most of the time… that would require a fundamental restructuring of the entire Western system. And that, in turn, cannot happen without bringing down the globalist oligarchy.
And that is why doctors are trained never to look beyond “neurotransmitter imbalance syndrome.” It’s much easier for them, and much more profitable for the men who own the world.
December 8, 2010 at 18:20
Xanthippa:
Since you brought up diabetes, I can’t resist adding that diabetes illustrates my point perfectly.
About one diabetic in ten is unable to synthesize insulin. This is type 1 diabetes, and it is usually congenital, but occasionally it is due to some pathology of the pancreas. These people must inject insulin or they will die.
But 90% of diabetics have type 2 diabetes, also called adult-onset diabetes. In most cases, they have no shortage of insulin, but their bodies have become insulin resistant. This means that insulin receptors no longer respond to insulin by clearing glucose from the blood into the tissues that need it.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by a high-carbohydrate, low-protein diet combined with lack of exercise. Unless the condition has gone on so long that irreversible damage has been done, type 2 diabetes can be completely reversed – cured (!) – by burning at least 500 calories a day through exercise and eating a clean, low-carb, high-protein diet. Say, 50% protein, 25% fat, 25% carbs.
The diet should consist of lean meat, whole milk, eggs, fish, lots of vegetables, a little fruit and no pre-packaged or processed “foods” whatsoever. And the exercise might consist of an hour of swimming or two hours of walking – every day, without fail. But, referring back to my previous post, who has the time or the money to live this way? Certainly not the typical wage slave.
So what does the American Diabetes Association recommend? A half hour to 45 minutes of exercise, 3 times a week, and a diet of 15% protein, 25-35% fat, 50-60% carbohydrates – which is precisely the kind of regimen that causes diabetes in the first place! As long as people follow this recommendation, there will be a large and growing market for drugs like Metformin, Lipitor, etc. – with side effects ranging from muscle wasting to… pathology of the pancreas.
The drugs they peddle mitigate the symptoms of the condition while worsening its causes.
Those lying thieves!
December 27, 2010 at 18:19
“But for most people to solve most of these problems most of the time… that would require a fundamental restructuring of the entire Western system. And that, in turn, cannot happen without bringing down the globalist oligarchy.”
Where else can I read about it?
December 29, 2010 at 05:41
Where else can you read about what, exactly? I’m not sure what you’re asking…
January 1, 2011 at 23:51
OK – this is just a partial answer, but…
Have you seen the movie Fathead?
It discusses how the US government manipulated food guide recommendations/regulations not to benefit the people, but to sell commodities the government subsidizes farmers to grow… As a matter of fact, it explains how BOTH diabetes and deptression are direct results of the official dietary guidelines promoted by the US government!
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/about/
And that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg…
January 3, 2011 at 05:46
Xanthippa:
Exactly.
Now, ask yourself why they subsidize those particular commodities, and not the ones that would be healthy for people.
Not error. Not coindicence. Not happenstance.
Evil.
Blatant. Deliberate.
Evil.
January 8, 2011 at 19:46
i am alone i live in my small world but i dont need loads of people around me i dont like loads of people around me to its scary and hard work yer i have friends but i have them by myside for when i need them or they need me deppresion does give you the feeling that you are alone but your not alone theres loads of people that live with deppresion some are better at it then otheres
Xanthippa says:
Yes, you are correct.
Some people are much better at living with depression than others are.
I think this depends on the person: both how their nature is, and also on how deep or of what type their depression is.
I have many family members who have lived with depression – and many who have died of it.
Too many.
So I have seen it, up close. And very, very personal.
And I must say, depression is not limited to adults – I have seen it in kids, too.
It is one of those things that can potentially strike anyone.