- The term "Depression" comes from the Latin verb Deprimere, which means "to press down". The word "depress" has been used in English since the 14th century and symbolises "to bring down in spirits".
- The exact cause of depression is unknown and extremely variable.
- Antidepressants do not significantly outperform placebos. This explains why expecting an antidepressant drug to work seems to be the main factor that determines whether it will work.
- Depression is not simply ‘genetic’. People are not biologically predestined for depression. There is little evidence that depression is caused by neurobiology (although it has neurobiological effects). Our lives can sometimes lack meaning, but it is not because we inherit chemical deficiencies.
- Depressive attitudes (such as negative thinking, pessimism, perfectionism, black-and-white thinking, learned helplessness, lack of problem solving) are so often, indeed, learned rather than ‘passed on through genes'.
- Social and environmental factors, living conditions and depressive attitudes should never be ignored in favour of the 'bad-brain chemicals idea'
- The depressed person has become stuck and needs help to think, feel and act differently. They need to get out of that rut and get the rest they need to be able to meet their fundamental needs.
- A study found that approximately 75% of individuals who have experienced severe depression harbour recurring fears about its resurgence.
- Depression promotes inactivity. We dwell on problems but don’t act in the world to solve them. This becomes a self-paralysing habit that causes dependence but not independence.
- An important hormone called serotonin can become depleted through depression. Among other things, serotonin moderates the ‘pain response’. So, what would feel like a minor ache in normal circumstances can feel much, much worse during depression.
- The connection between depression and a sense of meaning may be a two-way street. Depression may be in part caused by lack of a sense of meaning, and, in turn, rumination on that meaninglessness. It may also make what once felt meaningful no longer feel so.
- Depression can be triggered by chronic stress or the suppression of strong emotions such as anger.
- Depression can be caused by changes in life stages.
- Counselling and Psychotherapy are the most beneficial ways to understand, process and identify what is maintaining your depression.
- Depression isn’t solely an event-driven phenomenon. People can and do have all kinds of terrible things happen to them without depressing, while other people seem to become depressed even when outwardly their lives seem to be perfectly fine. So it’s not just about what happens to a person so much as what they inwardly do with what happens to them. How they respond and whether they are prone to negative rumination.
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