Stress and
Depression
Marie
Scott
13
August 2007
All of us
deal each day with varying issues of mental and physical stress; and because of
that it is also likely that we will deal with depression of some degree, in
some form, at some time in our lives.
The Surgeon
General has made it clear that major depression is a growing problem in our
country, second only to ischemic heart disease; and has issued a “call to
action.” He is calling for more awareness, more medical attention, better
funding, less stigma, and more effort made toward self-help in the prevention,
treatment, and recovery from depression (United States Office of the Surgeon General. “Mental Health:
a report of the Surgeon General.” U.S. National Library of Medicine. Metadata
Modified 2005. 3-4 8600 Rockville, Pike, Bethesda, MD. 30 June 2007. http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov?NN/BB?H?V/). Left untreated, depression
can be life threatening. It can debilitate an individual to the point where he
or she cannot work, care for family members, function socially, or fight off
physical illness.
Causes of Depression
It is
interesting to note that there is no dispute about the cause of depression.
Doctors and the research community agree that it is brought on by mental or
physical stress of some kind—and often a combination of the two—which then
causes chemical changes in brain activity. Dr. Keith Kramlinger explains that
severe or persistent stress, on its own, can produce changes in brain activity,
which then trigger depression (Mayo
Clinic on Depression. N.Y.: Kensington Publishing, 2001, p.38). The
body’s normal response to stress is called the “fight or flight response.” The
body pumps hormones into the system, which raises blood pressure and blood
sugar. If the stress is ongoing, doctors don’t know why, but the brain
chemistry may get stuck in the unhappy or depressed mode—falling either
gradually or quickly. It’s as if the depressed person’s brain is hurt and is
making a plea for things to change.
Recently
the scientific community has begun paying more attention to the connection
between body and mind. When a person takes a physical beating, the brain also
takes a simultaneous mental beating; and of course the opposite is true. In
time, the mind may start into a spiral of negative thinking that Francis
Mondimore and the psychiatric community call the “Cognitive Triad.” In this
triad, the person thinks negatively about himself; sees the future (Adolescent Depression: A Guide for
Parents. Baltimore, MD. John Hopkins University Press, 2002. P. 151).negatively;
and interprets his experiences negatively
The person’s thinking becomes distorted, either seeing things as all his
fault, or non of his fault. Neither view feels good and neither view is
realistic. It sets the person up for being snowed in fault, or completely out
of control to change things.
It makes
little difference if a person’s stress is too much of the physical kind or too
much of the mental kind, as they are linked; the one affecting the other sooner
or later. Feeling out of control seems to be the key for determining when the
stress is too much.
Medical Conditions
and Depression
The
relation between mental and physical stress is the reason why general medical
conditions can cause depression such as: heart disease, diabetes, thyroid
problems, and so on. Living with chronic tension, fear, or outside stress of
some kind can bring on depression. Living in a state of denial, living with
heavy guilt or inner conflict; or living in a way that goes against the grain
of a person’s beliefs, values, or wishes also sets people up for eventual
depression. The violent expression of anger not only causes stress in the
system of the enraged person, but also on all those who must watch the violent
display.
Researchers
have found that children, as well as adults, who live in stressful homes or
situations, may have the usual symptoms of depression: impaired concentration,
retardation of thought processes, apathy, mood variations, insomnia, stomach
pain, joint pain, or other physical problems. Stress and depression impede the
immune system, making the body more prone to illness with the passage of time (David D. Burns, MD. Feeling Good: The
New Mood Therapy. 1633 Broadway, New York, NY. Signet Printing, 1981). [This
book is recommended reading by the LDS Family Services Addiction Recovery
Program, (ARP), on page 53 in the July 2008 Ensign.]
Barbara
Ganim says:
The body
responds to these conflicting messages by releasing stress hormones, which
shoot the
blood pressure sky high, disrupt metabolic functioning, increase muscle
tension,
and send the immune system plummeting. People who live in a continual state
of inner
conflict are prime targets for heart disease, ulcers, cancer, and a variety of
other
stress related diseases (Art and
Healing. NY. Three Rivers Press, Random House, 1999.
p. 23).
Children
may have various types of “growing pains” that could well be related to stress
at school, or in the home, or from having too much pressure placed on them to
perform. It is also likely that a
build-up of stress in younger years will provide a footing for more serious
illness later in life. The habitual mistreatment of children or family members
contributes to the weakening of their immune systems. It also contributes to
the weakening of the perpetrator’s immune system. This can create a vicious
cycle because of the need for medical care, which may cause debt, which carries
with it more stress.
Here is an
interesting finding: Stress causes blood glucose to rise, and not only in those
who are diabetic. In fact; chronic
stress, certain medications that raise blood sugar, and anything that
habitually raises blood sugar, can eventually be the cause of diabetes II, says
Alain L. Rubin in Diabetes for Dummies (Diabetes for Dummies. 2nd Ed., 111 River St.,
Hoboken, NJ. p 17).
Ann
Fittannte, author of The Sugar Solution, ( a book for pre-diabetics)
points out reasons for high
blood sugar, and explains how it can be lowered:
Plenty
of research shows that stress of all varieties can raise blood sugar by
boosting
levels
of hormones that trigger the release of extra glucose from your liver. We
looked
harder,
and found that the reverse is true, too; Cutting stress and building joy can
lower
blood
sugar and shield you from the stress-disease-overweight cycle. Lower your
stress,
boost
your happiness quotient, and your blood sugar will benefit (The Sugar Solution. Rodale Inc., printed in the U.S. by Prevention
Magazine. 2007. P. 188).
Help For Stress and
Depression
Knowing
what to do or how to get help for depression can be discouraging because the
medical community is divided on issues of both understanding stress and
depression and in delivering proper care. While research is being done, there
is a kaleidoscope of results and controversy surrounding the subjects of stress
and depression. Francis Mondimore, a medical doctor and author, tells us that
“the treatment of depression can be accurately described as a hornet’s nest of
controversy. It’s not difficult to find a study to support any view” (Mondimore, p. 277).
The two
most common current treatments for depression are medication or psychotherapy,
or both those treatments combined. Stigma, time, and the cost of treatment
prevent many people from seeking that kind of help. Also, treatment may not
work, nor does it mean that a person is cured for good. Depression can return
again and again, or never leave.
Medication
treats the physical symptoms of depression, giving the sufferer time to make
needed life changes. Dr. Keith Kramlinger explains it this way: “Depressed
people have fewer neurotransmitters [communicator cells] in the synapses [the
gap between nerve cells]. It’s a depravation brought on by stress—and the mind
and body’s inability to deal with it” (Kramlinger, p. 70). Medication acts as a reuptake inhibitor of
norepinephrine or dopamine, or both. That is, medication prevents the cells
from taking up as many of the neurostransmitters that do the communicating
between the nerve cells, which helps the brain mimic normal function. In
depression, the brain tries to protect itself from overload, by allowing fewer
neurotransmitters between nerve cells. It’s as if the brain has gone on low
function to allow time to heal. Just as we go to bed when our body is sick, so
the mind wants to take a break to rest. A healthy brain works just like a
healthy muscle. It needs both stress and release to function properly. We are
good about giving our minds plenty of stress, but many of us don’t give it the
release it needs, so it behooves us to find some kind of regular activity that
gives the brain some release.
The
psychotherapy approach to dealing with depression helps people make needed
thought, or cognitive changes. As Dr. Kramlinger says, “healing seems to have
to do with feeling good, less stressed, more in control—whether helped by
counseling, or induced medically, so that the brain nerve cells have more
neurotransmitters in the synapses to do the work of the brain and body” (Kramlinger, p. 70).
Self-Help for Stress
and Depression
Outside of
getting professional help, there are self-help therapies people may try. Doctor
Lara Honos-Webb has some advice for people who are in the deep throws of depression,
and that is to search for the vision of what you are supposed to do with your
life and let it guide you (Listening
to Depression. CA. New Harbinger, 2006. p. 134). Another place to
start, is to work at getting out of the negative thought patterns and allow
your brain to recover its normal chemistry. Talk back to negative thoughts,
exercise, walk, use the time to sort out the truth. Get out of yourself and
find something satisfying that you can do to be productive or creative. One
problem in our current society is that people are constantly on the go, or are
constantly bombarded by stimulation. We pressure ourselves, allow others to
pressure us, are marathon caregivers, non-stop wealth accumulators, or are too
focused on ourselves and isolated from others.
Another
problem in our current society is that we sacrifice too much time in front of
the TV viewing the work of others, where all the creation is done to someone
else’s credit and satisfaction, but we don’t take time to enjoy life by being
creative or productive ourselves.
Dr. Richard
O’Connor says:
We tend to think of creativity as something
only for artists—
“creative
types” who write, paint, dance, or sculpt for a living.
But a sense
of creativity is something we all need in our lives.
Creativity
is the antithesis of depression. It is a way of saying that
what I
think and feel matters. Depression isn’t just an illness, but it
is a
failure of creativity (Undoing Depression: What
Therapy Doesn’t Teach You and
Medication Can’t Give You. NY: The Berkley
Book Publishing Group, a Division of Penguin
Putnam Inc., 1997. P. 323).
Jeannie
Wright and Man Cheung Chung say that one of the best ways to de-stress is to
write about and process live’s experiences in a journal or a series of essays.
Some healthy focuses in a person’s writing include: sorting out the realitites
and truth in our lives, searching for positive solutions, and finding positive
lessons to be learned (British
Jorunal of Guidance & Counselling. Vol. 29, No. 3, 2001. University of
Sheffield, UK. p. 277-291).
Other
authorities, such as Catherine Whipple and Christin Snyder, advise both drawing
and writing together as an even better method of self-help for depression,
stress, and the processing of life experiences. The combination of “expressive”
drawing and the written word complement each other because each method draws
strength from the opposite side of the brain. The right side of our brain is
our first processor. It grasps for images and immediately sends those images
over to the left side of the brain to be assigned meaning. Back and forth
working together in rapid exchange, the two sides of the brain process
information. Pictures help in clarifying issues that are hard to explain in
words. Words, because they themselves have to be sorted out, help us to process
and make sense of our thoughts on a more concrete level.
Expressive
art isn’t necessarily an artist’s art, though it can be. It is any kind of
artistic expression that helps to show how we feel. It can be images formed in
mud or clay or stick drawings or splashes of paint. Anything that can be used
to say, “this is how I feel.”
Here is how
art and writing therapy might work: For instance, one lady might draw a heart
on her paper and put cracks in the heart. This would communicate to herself and
others that her heart was damaged or broken. Then she would write about her
broken heart and share more of her feelings with others as well as process and
clarify her feelings for herself. The next step in the art and writing therapy
process would be to draw a second picture—a healing picture. The lady might
draw a band-aide over the cracks in her heart to show that her broken heart
could heal. This image would be a reinforcement of something she probably
already knows deep inside, that damaged emotions can heal, but which she has
been unable to feel yet. To visually see the band-aide on the heart, changes
the focus from negative to positive, and is a clear and hopeful message; a
tangible piece of evidence that healing can be near. Having made the second
drawing to look at and even cling to each day is the first positive step in the
healing direction. Being able to write words and chart daily feelings and
progress marks the turning point in recovery.
In this
way, good comes of bad; healing and growing comes from pain. Each time a
person’s resolve weakens, she needs only to go back and look at her positive
picture and re-read what she had written, and again feel inspired.
The few
studies that have been done in art and writing therapy for illness and
depression have had wonderful results. A person who is in the habit of keeping
a journal needs only to add some stick-figure drawings, or simple collage or
cut-out illustrations, and he is using one of the strongest methods of
self-help therapy so far discovered for the healing or maintenance of good
mental health (“A Visual
Journaling Guide.” 2006. 25 June 2007. The Self-Help Healing Arts Journal.
http://www.self-help-healing-arts-journal.com/visual-journaling.html).
Conclusion
We live in
an age of stresses. We are tethered to our stresses through technology. The
light bulb has made it possible for us to stay up all night working. In
addition, our cell phones keep us on call twenty-four hours a day, and we can
spend large amounts of time just clearing out and answering email messages on
our lap-tops from people all over the globe who we may not even know.
Moms, who
used to keep the home fires burning, and stayed at home to act as family
anchors and coordinators, are now lined up right along with the rest of the
family in the school and work forces. Ideally, everyone comes home in the
evenings to share the work of maintaining the home, but more than likely one or
another of the parents act as the sacrificial lamb becoming a prime candidate
for depression and illness. Otherwise, the work of the home doesn’t get done.
Things pile up; a visual reminder that needs are unmet and piling up as well.
The piles add to the feeling of being out of control, and soon the whole family
is on anti-depressant medication.
One good
solution to processing stress is to write and illustrate our daily or weekly
feelings in a journal. It may not change our situation, but if we can stay in
the game mentally, we have a much better chance of accepting the inevitable in
our lives, of managing what can be improved in our lives, and of coping with
our daily stresses.
Start now finding ways to put joy
into your life on a regular basis. Find that thing you love to do and do it regularly. It will save you.
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