'Lord Brown's bidding'
Well-Known Member
Ah, a subject close to my heart....Everyone in my family suffers with depression, and three of the four have been diagnosed with Bi-polar disorder (although we question two of those diagnoses).
First off, depression is a natural thing that almost everyone experiences; it's a defense mechanism of the body, to help it from becoming overwhelmed from emotional stress and becoming a complete wreck (hence, those who said stress can lead to depression are right). I said almost because we all may know someone who is an emotional wreck, and much like the mechanism that leads to someone becoming "clinically depressed" is malfunctioning in them, the person who is always an emotional wreck is also suffering from a malfunctioning mechanism, just it is the opposite: their depression won't turn on, whereas a chronically depressed person's mechanism won't turn off.
What is depression? Simply put, the body has a mechanism-a chemical whose name escapes me right now-that shuts off one's emotions so that, as I have said before, their emotions don't overwhelm the body. A basic example of this is when you hear a news report of some huge disaster that kills many people and drastically alters the lives of many more, maybe by forcing them to move, or they lose everything they have. By design people have the ability-most, anyway-to be empathetic, to place themselves in someone else's shoes and feel what they feel. However, what would happen if you identified to an intimate level with those who suffered such a disaster, constantly thinking about how you'd react if your home was destroyed, or if you lost even one family member, much less half or all? The body prevents that by shutting down your emotions, if only for a brief moment; that process makes you "depressed". However, then sports comes on and the Phillies have won the world series (or Giants, or dem stinkin' Mets, or whoever) and you move on. The body goes through another chemical change using serotonin-I remember that one-and you are restored to normal.
Because of what depression is-a lack of emotion to prevent being emotionally overwhelmed-it is not "sadness", which is an emotion. Generally-speaking, when someone has "the blues" they are probably not depressed, they are sad. Symptoms are similar-low energy ebb, no desire to do things they enjoy-but sadness is an emotion; if you remain sad for too long, to "protect itself" the body will cause you to become depressed, so that emotion does not cause serious harm, but like a fever fighting a virus, the mechanism can have some devastating consequences if it is malfunctioning. However, it is a great pet-peeve of mine to hear people make sadness synonymous with depression, because what then follows are things that can help sad people but not necessarily depressed ones, especially clinically-depressed ones (you don't "cheer-up" because your body won't let you, not because you just aren't trying, and all the fun things in the world may not help depending on the severity of the depression). I will admit, though, it can be difficult distinguishing between the two if you are suffering from depression.
First off, depression is a natural thing that almost everyone experiences; it's a defense mechanism of the body, to help it from becoming overwhelmed from emotional stress and becoming a complete wreck (hence, those who said stress can lead to depression are right). I said almost because we all may know someone who is an emotional wreck, and much like the mechanism that leads to someone becoming "clinically depressed" is malfunctioning in them, the person who is always an emotional wreck is also suffering from a malfunctioning mechanism, just it is the opposite: their depression won't turn on, whereas a chronically depressed person's mechanism won't turn off.
What is depression? Simply put, the body has a mechanism-a chemical whose name escapes me right now-that shuts off one's emotions so that, as I have said before, their emotions don't overwhelm the body. A basic example of this is when you hear a news report of some huge disaster that kills many people and drastically alters the lives of many more, maybe by forcing them to move, or they lose everything they have. By design people have the ability-most, anyway-to be empathetic, to place themselves in someone else's shoes and feel what they feel. However, what would happen if you identified to an intimate level with those who suffered such a disaster, constantly thinking about how you'd react if your home was destroyed, or if you lost even one family member, much less half or all? The body prevents that by shutting down your emotions, if only for a brief moment; that process makes you "depressed". However, then sports comes on and the Phillies have won the world series (or Giants, or dem stinkin' Mets, or whoever) and you move on. The body goes through another chemical change using serotonin-I remember that one-and you are restored to normal.
Because of what depression is-a lack of emotion to prevent being emotionally overwhelmed-it is not "sadness", which is an emotion. Generally-speaking, when someone has "the blues" they are probably not depressed, they are sad. Symptoms are similar-low energy ebb, no desire to do things they enjoy-but sadness is an emotion; if you remain sad for too long, to "protect itself" the body will cause you to become depressed, so that emotion does not cause serious harm, but like a fever fighting a virus, the mechanism can have some devastating consequences if it is malfunctioning. However, it is a great pet-peeve of mine to hear people make sadness synonymous with depression, because what then follows are things that can help sad people but not necessarily depressed ones, especially clinically-depressed ones (you don't "cheer-up" because your body won't let you, not because you just aren't trying, and all the fun things in the world may not help depending on the severity of the depression). I will admit, though, it can be difficult distinguishing between the two if you are suffering from depression.
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