Your hypothesis of depression?

[daniellerecovered]

My story

I developed depression what I had a very negative expereince in my second job out of uni. I was young so i just put up with the negative working environment and the stress.

After 3 years i am almost completely recovered. I had a week in the maldives that i think i was the happiest i have ever been and no depression symptoms. It does come up now and then for me but is temporary and very mild, i more just feel really tired some days.

Looking back i think it was related to stress chemicals, i was getting horrible anxiety symptoms such as finger tingling and racing thoughts. The negative experience i interpreted as me being 'incapable' of being in a career job.

What helped me was I got myself another job after 6 months of no job (i dont recommend staying unemployed for long it makes it worse). I was soooooo anxious and scared about another career job but i did it anyway.

The self confidence i experienced by doing this allowed me to not 'worry' as much which i think triggered the depression a lot. It almost reversed the negative belief i had formed about my abilities because if i had held a career job for a few months and felt i could keep on with it how was i useless? It also made me busier and more distracted which cut the cycle of rumination.

My hypothesis

I do think depression is chemical related but it is also a phenomenan in its own right. Like a panic attack or heart break. It i causes a cycle of thoughts, experiences and feelings. I do think to a degree chemicals are highly related to the depression, thoughts cause negative feelings. However I think perhaps negative beliefs cause thoughts which cause stress chemicals related to depression. I think exercise and eating healthy can help fuel your energy to fight the negative thoughts and add to reversing the cycle. I think going out and about and socialising can cut through the rumination and break the cycle too.

My hypothesis is that depression isnt solely a chemical reaction or a single thought that causes a negative feeling. It is a cycle of thoughts that can circle down if you dont do something to stop the cycle. And the negative thoughts associated with the cycle cause a negative experience. The thoughts get so strong that it can be hard to differentiate because every thought has that negative spin on it.

This is my hypothesis anyway!

Would love to hear your hypothesis

[Blue_Jane]

Hi Danielle

Glad to hear you are going well. Managing a mental health issue is ongoing and involves work - what have you been doing to manage it?

For me I think depression and other mental health issues are a chemical imbalance. Some people can rebalance by producing their own chemicals through exercise, food, mindfulness, meditation etc, others also use medication. Negative thoughts might be a component of it...but I don't think it is the whole thing.

Blue Jane

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi daniellerecovered,

Thanks for your post.

Ohh this is really interesting! I've seen a lot of posts about depression here but nothing quite like this one! I think that it's great you're looking to gain that insight into your mood.

We know for a fact that depression is quite simply, a chemical imbalance. Research has shown that there is so much stuff that happens in the brain that we can't even see but we know that at a basic level there's a lack of dopamine (the reward system) and lack of serotonin (regulating happiness and mood).

From the thought side of it though, that's where it gets really complex and is way over my head. What I do know though is that every thought releases brain chemicals, and without even realising we supposedly have billions of neurons connected from either a positive, neutral or negative thought. Positive thoughts though are shown to boost serotonin in the brain.

This is where your hypothesis comes in; when we keep having those negative thoughts we are releasing more and more connections (or tiny little chemical signals) in our brain that aren't producing serotonin. This is where CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) comes in handy as one of it's strengths is looking at our thoughts in an analytical kind of way. It's also the most common therapy for depression.

Other things that can help our mood naturally include things like exercise, diet and sleep.

So instead of being an either-or, I believe it's kind of both. Depression is hugely complex.

Hopefully this helps! It was a bit long winded but I guess there's probably a lot involved so just trying to give you my thoughts on it as best as I can - let me know if I can try and help more!