An evolutionary adaptation

I want to talk about depression, one of the epidemics that has taken the world by storm in recent years. Something that I myself, like many others, have had to deal with many times, and is probably why I’m so passionate about the subject.

Before you read on, I want to preface with the fact that no one, at this time, has the definitive answer for what depression is, where it comes from, and how to “cure” it (those brackets should make sense later on). Everything that I write on here isn’t necessarily the truth, I will try to remind that from time to time, it derives from speculation (not only mine but from all the people I’ve learned from), experience and a lot of experimentation. Take anything you read, with a grain of salt, as we all should with anything in life.

What are the causes of depression (different explanations and my suspicions)? Many people have a different take on this, and I think most people are onto one answer. They might just be explaining it from different angles and categories, which is something humans do instinctively. I will list a few reasons I’ve heard of.

-One of the most popular explanations we hear is it being a chemical imbalance. Which is easily proven to be true, simply by observing the differences in brains between people with depression and without it. There can be different types of chemical imbalances, depending on the person and/or other factors. That is why there exists different types of medication, like SSRIs, MAOIs and SNRIs.

-Genetics also play a big role in the development of depression. It is speculated that in most cases of depression, around 50% percent is related to genes (don’t worry too much about that one, what I write further might explain why that is and why it’s a good thing). People with blood related parents who have had depression have been found to have much higher potentiality of having it themselves.

-Another explanation comes from behavioral psychologists, saying that depression is caused by a combination of stressors and the lack of skills to deal with life’s hardships. For example, some say negative thinking is what induces depression. They will concentrate then on developing healthy coping skills, which is the whole premise of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

-One reason for depression can be diet and vitamin deficiency. An unhealthy diet or the lack of exposure to sunlight may be significant contributors to mood decay. For instance, it is not unheard of that certain allergies and food intolerance result in a bout of depression. Or simply eating processed, unhealthy foods. Every person has different tolerances for different foods, so as a result, everyone will react differently. Perhaps depression gets triggered in some and not others, due to certain individual predispositions.

-A thing many of us are lacking, now more than ever, is healthy

socializing. I have a few speculations on why people have been having more

trouble with this, but that will be a subject for another time. As humans we

are built to socialize and to live in groups. We depend on other people and our

relationships with them. It would be impossible to survive by ourselves and

stay sane for so long. It then makes perfect sense to get depressed if we are

not meeting that need of healthy socialization.

-Hormones can be another reason. A big number of people get depressed in their teens, when hormones in the body are the most unstable. Many women get depressed during pregnancy and most get depressed around menses, when there is a pique of hormonal activity. These are just a few examples of how big of a role hormones play in depression.

-Lack of exercise can cause depression. The body needs exercise and movement to survive, if you weren’t able to run or were overweight in the old days, there wasn’t a big chance of survival (little fun side note, sometimes there exists role diversification in animals, where one animal would do something that isn’t socially acceptable, but would be forgiven because that would simultaneously create a new useful role for them that would optimize survival. So for example, okay I can’t remember for the life of me which animal it was..some kind of rodent, but in these animals, certain individuals would eat more than others, and would be forgiven, because they would block holes in the ground to prevent water from going in and destroying their homes during rainfall..that is not to say it is healthy to over eat).

-Major loss and shift in a persons life. The death of a loved one, a breakup, or the loss of a job, are devastating things that happen in peoples lives. They create gigantic shifts in a person. These traumatic events are usually followed by a natural and healthy process called grief. Through this process a person is able to reintegrate into life with this new reality and release trauma. Many people also fall into depression, which is different from grief.

For some reason the rest of this post won’t appear on this page so it will be in another one titled depression (part 2)