Causes of Depression - Research and Discussion

[LoveandLight]

Aha this may be on interest to others also. I've been googling symptoms of allergies, autoimmune condition, depression, anxiety. All of those, in traditional Chinese medicine point to a congested liver.

[Petunia]

Stanford Professor Robert Sapolsky, posits that depression is the most damaging disease that you can experience. Right now it is the number four cause of disability in the US and it is becoming more common.

 

This presentation explores past and more recent biological and psychological theories of depression.  It links genetic vulnerability with environmental factors as determining if someone is likely to experience major depression in their life. A particular genetic variation, combined with early childhood stress and 'learned helplessness' increases the risk of developing what he states is as much a biological disease as diabetes.  Thankfully he doesn't compare prozac with insulin as being a suitable treatment.

 

In this fascinating lecture, Professor Sapolsky concludes that depression as an illness is the result of a complex combination of biological, environmental and psychological factors.

 

[westcoast]

I was lucky enough to be a psychology major

[UnfoldingSky]

I was lucky enough to be a psychology major

 

I'm so sorry that happened to you westcoast, that's so awful.  Makes me really angry reading about it.

[Petunia]

In addition to looking at things like nutrition and physical conditions as the possible root cause of your depression, you might consider looking at something like emotional trauma. Increasingly this is being found at the root of mood disorders, and I too found this after long self-examination.  

 

Stanford Professor Robert Sapolsky  explores past and more recent biological and psychological theories of depression.  He links genetic vulnerability with environmental factors including early childhood trauma as determining if someone is likely to experience major depression in their life.

 

THIS POST contains a video of this lecture.

[Wildflower0214]

You may want to have your hormones tested. I think gut issues, trauma, and endocrine problems, and nutrition are good places to start.

 

Even if your hormones are off, this can be corrected by diet from what I have seen. Unless, you are menopausal. But, even then, nutrition helps. I would be cautious though about taking hormones, even bio-identical. There is no such thing. They come from yams. Last I checked, I'm not a yam.

 

 

The thing I think we have to remember, is that even if you do have trauma, that doesn't mean you don't now have physical causes as well. We were not created to endure traumatic circumstances. And, when we do, it causes all kinds of systems to be thrown out of whack, and chemicals are released, and if this goes on for years, we end up with a problem. Not only an emotional one, but now a physical one as well.

 

Anyways, I hope you get some answers.

[Meimeiquest]

So many things I've read on gut health and on chronic fatigue have been enormously complicated. I am in the process of reading Wheat Brain by Perlmutter. It is much simpler and ties a lot of things together for me. For example, childhood slowness and clumsiness point to genetic issues with mitochondria, but the main detoxing enzyme responsible can be upgraded epigenetically. A healthy gut microbiome can detox chemicals from plastic, etc, etc. Stress in the present or as retained trauma leads to increased cortisol production that loosens the "mortar" between gut cells and leads to leaky gut syndrome. Everything is connected. If you have an autoimmune disease, you have a gut problem almost by definition. Wheat Brain has been out long enough it is available in libraries in the US. I don't know about the UK.

[AliG]

It always seems to come back to some trauma, in childhood or adult life. Many varying degrees of - but always something lurking there. Just seems so hard to get over.

[SoSaysSunny]

Published research articles are provided and discussed.

 

Posting Articles:

• Provide article by link and/or attachment.
• Stick to articles published in scientific journals (such as on PubMed Central).
• Share why you like the article:  key finding, your big take-aways, etc.
• Feel free to include a summary (or not).

Discussing Articles:

• Refer to the article title.
• Share your experiences, opinions, etc.
• Don't attack the experiences and opinions of others.

[SoSaysSunny]

Major depressive disorder: A loss of circadian synchrony?
by Nicole Edgar and Colleen A. McClung in BioEssays 35.11 (2013): 940–944. [from PubMedCentral]
 

---

 

HIGHLIGHTED COPY:

 

Edgar 2013 10p -- MDD -- A Loss of Circadian Synchrony.pdf

HIGHLIGHTING COLOR CODE:

 

Sentences -- Just signposts of where a topic is discussed, not a complete summary (read the paragraph!).

Acronymn Expansions -- Usually where the term is defined, to help decode all the mumbo-jumbo.

Article Titles -- Highlighting helps me skim the references and pick more articles I'd like to find.

 

INFORMAL MICROSUMMARY:

 

Depression has long been associated with disrupted sleep -- too much, too little, wrong time, unsatisfying.

 

Sleep is part the body's daily cycle, called the Circadian Rhythm. The Circadian System also governs mood, blood pressure, blood sugar, body temperature, and many other metabolic systems.

 

The suprachiasmic nucleus (SCN) is the part of the brain that acts as the circadian rhythm's Master Clock. Other regions of the brain are also part of the circadian system under the guidance of the SCN.

 

Recent research on the brains of human corpses studied these regions to see how synchronized they were with the SCN and the known time of death. This has greatly increased our understanding of healthy circadian rhythms.

 

The researchers also studied the brains of depressed people and found very different results. Their brains weren't in sync with the time of death, most regions weren't in sync with the SCN or each other, and some regions weren't even in sych with themselves. The brains of depressed people send signals at the wrong time and conflicting signals at the same time. Even the proper signals were weak.

 

In addition to the familiar psychological "mood and behavior" definition of depression, this research points to strong genetic and neurobiological indicators of depression. Depression may fundamentally be a circadian rhythm problem.

 

Although this research doesn't provide any specific therapies for depression, it may lead to new approaches: treatments of symptoms, therapies to fix the underlying problem, tests to verify the presence and type of depression, even better understanding of the genetic inheritance of depression.

 

MY BIG TAKE-AWAYS:

• Depression is a REAL, certifiable, quantifiable disease.
• Depression is directly related to Circadian Rhythm Disruption.
• Screwed up sleep schedules are part of this disease.
• Metabolic issues are also part of this disease.
• Therefore, I don't need to feel guilty:
  • My depression isn't a lack of willpower or not trying hard enough.
  • It's not my fault that my brain isn't running on the world's time zone.
  • My metabolic issues don't reflect some weakness of my character.

 

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Feel free to read and discuss this article or post others you've found.

 

[Petunia]

Hi SoSaySunny,

 

This section of the site is for discussion about symptoms of antidepressant withdrawal and possible ways of managing them.  While symptoms which sometimes get diagnosed as depression are also often part of antidepressant withdrawal syndrome, we don't see this as being depression or a relapse of a previous depression.

 

The article you posted is interesting, because it discusses the disruption of circadian rhythms, which also often happens when the nervous system becomes destabilized by improper withdrawal from drugs, but its focus is on it being caused by depression.  We are a support site for people wanting to safely come of psychiatric drugs, not a depression support group.

 

We have a section for posting and discussion of research papers related to withdrawal, withdrawal syndrome, adverse effects, epidemiology, etc. regarding psychiatric drugs, here : 

From journals and scientific sources

Your post may be better suited to that section, but it needs to be in a slightly different format, please see this thread before posting there:

Before you start a topic in Journals....

 

If you are interested in other theories of depression we have a couple of topics here in the current events/media section:

 

Depression as an Infectious Disease

 

New Research Reveals the Real Causes of Depression - new article

 

If you would like some help and support with safely coming off your medications, reducing them, or just sharing your story, please start a topic for yourself in our introductions section here:

Introductions and updates

 

I'm glad you found us and look forward to getting to know you better.

 

Petunia.

[strongereachday]

Simply I think life is the root cause of depression. I believe everyone gets depressed. People who have experienced trauma like many of us on here is probably one of the big depression reasons. I think good exercise and diet if we are healthy enough, happy home life, ability to handle money stress, and your social life or lack thereof r the things that need to be addressed in order for someone to overcome depression. Of course this does not account for tardive dysphoria. Just my two cents

[gemini]

The thing that frightens me is the idea that I have transgenerational damage that has a genetic root. Does that mean I am powerless to change my behavior and reactions to life's stressors?

[UnfoldingSky]

 

I was lucky enough to be a psychology major

 

I'm so sorry that happened to you westcoast, that's so awful.  Makes me really angry reading about it.

 

 

Oops, I just re-read this after it got bumped and my post sounded all wrong, not sure exactly what I meant since it's been a while since I wrote it but probably it referred to your drug experiences, I definitely wasn't referring to the psych major..doesn't really read that way though! 

[Petunia]

Topics merged and title changed.

[Nomoreheadmeds]

I never got depressed before I had a viral meningitis aged 23