People wonder when they become depressed why that happens. The answer can be singular or a combination of causes and is never down to one particular cause. The mind and the body are one and they are also influenced by your social, relationship and family circumstances. Not only do those influences affect you in the present time but you can be affected by what has happened to you in the past. We carry around in our heads all the things that have happened to us in our lives.
We are in fact many personalities in one as the great psychiatrist Carl Jung emphasised. The many different aspects of our personalities make up the whole. When we are living and enjoying a balanced life, the different aspects of our personalities are balanced, we are healthy, happy and productive. This of course depends on environmental influences such as where we are living, including a stress-free environment and taking care of ourselves.
Some depression (Innate) is first set off by biological factors like hormone imbalances and brain dysfunction. This may include bi-polar disorder where the brain structures are not working correctly or post natal depression where a woman’s hormones become very unbalanced after birth.
Other depression (Reactive) is set off by things that may happen to you. You may get divorced, have a major life disappointment or lose your job. Reactive depression can also change your body so that you are not creating the levels of serotonin and melatonin (happiness hormones) that your body needs on day to daily basis. So innate depression can also become reactive depression and reactive depression can also become innate depression.
Having said this, I am also going to tell you that depression is a natural occurrence. It is your body and your mind telling you that something is wrong and you need to pay attention to what is wrong and make changes. Indeed up until around 100 years ago depression was simply seen as a state of melancholia which was sad thinking.
Unfortunately modern medicine tries to treat all depression with chemicals which does not work just as the same tire will not fit all cars. Many anti-depressant medications have no clinical evidence for their use but drug companies make billions of dollars from their sales so they invest millions of dollars trying to convince you that they are suitable for all types of depression. Such drugs are routinely prescribed by GPs who often have very poor training in mental health and are frequently unable to differentiate between depression and anxiety which are two different physical, mental, emotional and spiritual experiences.
Wherever possible, people who experience depression need to access professionals who are able to help them with their physical, thinking, emotional and behaviour experiences. As a behaviourist, naturopath and clinical hypnotherapist I take a very broad spectrum approach to helping people overcome depression. Clinicians who are able to help clients across that wide spectrum are best placed to address all the issues that arise for people experiencing depression to help with depression relief.
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