Depression - What Is It?!!!

♫ "People Like Us" - Ezra ♫ - For the depressed.

You're Not Crazy

Upon personal experiences of depression and the use of mild drugs like caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol to medicate emotional feelings in the past, I have gained a personal interest in the whole psychological world we all know as the mind. I believe that my own experience in depression and self testing in different forms of medicating myself, whether that be via mild "drugs", diet, exercise, supplements, etc, gives me a very knowledgeable approach towards what depression is and why it is so prominent among some and not others. I am writing this blog for the purpose of being the one to stand in the gap between the depressed and the content. Those who have not suffered from depression simply do not understand those who are depressed and simply say we are/were crazy. This is not the case. So know this, if you are depressed, you are not crazy. There is a conditional reason for your depression. Please read on.

The Causes For Depression

Some like to stereotype the word "depression" and say that it is a result of one and only cause and that is "clinical depression". While this is an easy way to define depression, it is not the only cause. It is definitely one of them, but rarely is it the prominent reason, especially in today's day and age.

Life Crisis

The first and most prominent cause for instantly deep depression is a life crisis. So yes, I will go as far as to say that everyone has suffered from depression at one point in there life, large or small. Depression resulting from a life crisis takes place in two steps.
The First step of depression from a life crisis is the life crisis itself. The awful feeling we get upon experiencing the life crisis spins our psychological state into complete pessimism and without hope.
The second step of depression from a life crisis results from our bodies' natural reaction to take "flight" from the term "fight or flight". This extremely stressful stage of "flight" is a form of hiding from the world for our own protection due to being hurt emotionally. As this stress also begins to build, it begins to deteriorate what serotonin levels our brain produced, leaving us completely "wrecked". Also, as a result of hiding away from the world, we eliminate one of the sole needs in humanity, "social needs". Without fulfilling these social needs, we then build thoughts and feelings of "worthlessness" and "meaninglessness" without giving our state of mind the chance to introduce meaningful parts of our life, which are encouraged through the development of serotonin.

Diet

Diet also plays a huge role in the potential development of depression. The development of depression via diet creeps very slowly before we even know we are depressed. This, I believe, is the second most common form of severe depression, more specifically in today's society.

How can diet play a role in potential depression? Well, seeing that depression is a result of imbalanced serotonin, this gives medical professionals reason to believe that the foods we are eating are not providing the proper precursors of nutrients to develop the very important transmitter, serotonin. In many cases, clinical depression is not the issue, it is simply the lacking supply of serotonin. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that signals peace and contentment while dopamine is the neurotransmitter that signals pleasure (do not get these two mixed up because they often are). Serotonin is metabolized by the body from its beginning precursor, tryptophan, an amino acid (or protein) commonly found in meats and dairy. This amino acid is then further metabolized with Lithium Orotate to be further broken down into serotonin. If this protein, along with lithium orotate and other important nutrients are not provided in our daily diet, we are only setting ourselves up for a major case of depression.
So, what kinds of foods do we eat? In today's society, most everything, at least fast food, is made up of sugars, carbohydrates, and fats. None of these support the brain function necessary for supporting psychological health involving depression. On the contrary, sugar actually depletes lithium orotate from our bodies, leaving us both without tryptophan or lithium orotate to produce necessary amounts of serotonin. Still think that 32 ounce soda and large fry sounds like a peaceful idea?

Self Medicating Using Mild "Drugs"

On first experiencing depression for long periods of time and without the money to visit the doctor for SSRIs, many might use the following legal drugs...

-Caffeine
-Nicotine
-Alcohol

(The following descriptions of each drug are heavily simplified)

Caffeine has an ability of improving mood via mild serotonin and dopamine stimulation.

Nicotine (more specifically tobacco. Nicotine itself is practically as harmless as caffeine) has the ability of improving ones mood much in the same way as caffeine only with much more relaxing effects due to its stimulating effects on acetylcholine receptors which kill pain.

Alcohol plays a part in its relaxing effect, its raising serotonin abilities, and pain killing characteristics.

Each drug above, and any drug, including SSRIs, used for emotional pain all cause what we know as "crashes". These crashes can last for days, not to mention long term use of the substances can cause horrible hangovers when abstained for short periods. For short term mild "highs", these drugs only upset the natural equilibrium of psychological health pertaining to depression.

Clinical Depression

And finally, I will go on to talk about clinical depression. Yes, this does exist and is very real. Clinical depression is a result of the brain, while even metabolizing healthy amounts of serotonin, sending inadequate amounts of serotonin between the synapse of transmitter receptors within the brain due to weak receptors or overloaded recycling of the serotonin. Those who are clinically depressed do not receive proper amounts of serotonin despite their healthy equilibrium of serotonin.
Clinical depression is genetic and can be severe or mild. Those who are mildly clinically depressed can often times make up for their weak receptors by continually eating healthy and taking supplements of triptophan or 5-HTP, the precursors of serotonin. However, those who are majorly clinically depressed should seek medical help.

Suicidal thoughts are not normal outside of life crisis situations (or even long term life crisis situations). If you have suicidal thoughts seek help immediately from a friend who understands, cares, and can help you diagnose your condition.

Do Something About It!

To all those who are depressed, I want to encourage you not to "just let this go". DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! It is real and you are not crazy! Despite what others say about your current state, it is no mild issue. Seek help from those who have also suffered from depression.

Our Temple is a Condition, Not a "Feeling"

If you or others have doubted your relationship with Christ due to your state of depression, let me say this. Depression, while often times is just a passing faze due to trials in life, does not pertain to your spiritual relationship with Christ. Depression is often simply a condition that can be treated and made normal again the way God intended. While Christ can work miracles, He expects us to do our best to take care of (not pamper) our bodies in the flesh. Prayers are vital, but we are expected by God to also take care of the temple He has given us. Taking care of our temple is a condition, not a spiritual "feeling".

Ezra J. Hall