Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article presents a theory about the meaning of depression. I’ll personally limit it to the kind of depression people typically experience for a few weeks or months. This type of depression only receives a diagnosis sometimes. It’d be major depressive disorder, typically. It’s common for normal people to have a few bouts of it in their lifetime. It’s a normal emotional pain reaction to major life changes or significant conflicts. For the theory, this type of depression fits the bill. But once you move out of that realm and into chronic issues and modern toxic lifestyles, the theory falls apart.
The main focus of this article is on the ills of anti-depressants. That’s a pretty typical topic for Mad In America. This theory outlines a fairly minor aspect of the ways anti-depressants can screw you over. Other articles have described the complex biochemical malfunctions they can cause, the withdrawal problems, the increased risk of being suicidal, or their frequent ineffectiveness for treating depressive disorders. This article suggests something different for the meaning of depression: that it serves an evolutionary purpose, and removing the pain also removes the incentive to deal with what’s causing the pain.
The Theory
I’ve previously heard depression described as mental/emotional pain, so this theory wasn’t as surprising to me as it might be to a general audience. And again, I have to stress: we’re talking about the kind of depression that happens due to life circumstances: situations like losing a job you were really invested in, a major conflict with your life partner, or losing a family member you were close to. These events cause significant emotional distress and pain, and depression is a reasonable and normal response.
This kind of depression has a triggering event. Think of it like breaking a bone. As the body processes the injury and begins healing, you’ll experience a lot of pain. You might go to a doctor to have the bone set. Perhaps you get a cast, to keep everything still so it heals properly. The healing might take weeks or months. For this kind of depression, seeing a therapist and taking the time to process the event is roughly the same. And again, healing might take weeks or months. In both cases, this is quite normal.
But what if, when you broke the bone, you went to the doctor and they handed you an opioid prescription? They don’t give you a cast or set the bone. You simply complain of pain and they give you something to dull the pain so you don’t have to feel it. That’s more or less what this theory suggests: that professionals are anesthetizing mental/emotional broken bones instead of treating them.
We could extend the metaphor and suggest that some forms of chronic depression are caused by a person hobbling around with crookedly-healed metaphorical mental/emotional bones. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Limitations
But I’m not willing to say “this is the only explanation for depression.” We live in a world that peddles nutrition-less food to us at every opportunity. Plastics, which are used everywhere, harbor bacteria and toxins that get into our bloodstreams and accumulate over time. The air is choked with pollution. Our lifestyles have become sedentary rather than active. Lazy and corrupt industries dump their waste chemicals into our drinking water. The fact is, our environment is toxic.
Living in a toxic environment also causes distress and malfunction. But, it’s not an emotional problem. It’s a biochemical problem. Your body isn’t designed to live in the mess we find ourselves in. But sometimes we experience bodily suffering as depression and anxiety disorders.
Saying “well if you’d just deal with your emotional problems you’d be fine!” is far, far too simplistic to be correct. Not in the world we live in. But it’s an interesting theory for the meaning of depression, and it might be correct in some circumstances. I do strongly recommend finding a therapist you can trust and be honest with, if you’re depressed. From personal experience, it’s exceptionally helpful.
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