Depression

What is Depression?

Depression is a common and highly complex mental illness. According to the World Health Organization, roughly 280 million people worldwide have the disorder. While symptoms of depression have a unique impact on each individual, there are many shared experiences among those who suffer from it.

When a person is depressed, they may describe feelings of sadness or an inability to experience pleasure and joy. Often, this low mood gives rise to other challenging feelings such as guilt, self-pity, hopelessness and anger. In this state, people not only have difficulty accessing contentment or gratification in the moment, but also can’t access memories of these positive states in the past nor can they imagine being able to feel these again in the future.

For many, depression negatively impacts self-esteem. People with this disorder begin to believe they are incapable of change, or that they are unloveable and unable to create or maintain meaningful relationships. These self-perceptions further feelings of helplessness, worthlessness and failure.

Clinically speaking, depression is frequently referred to as occurring in episodes. A depressive episode is marked by the experience of significant, ongoing depressive symptoms for at least two weeks. Depressive episodes often impact people’s ability to concentrate, complete daily tasks, attend school or work, and engage with their communities.

What Makes People Vulnerable to Depression?

As with many mental illnesses, there are several factors that can contribute to whether or not a person experiences depression.

A person may be more vulnerable to depression if they experience early loss or insecure attachment. This can include the death of a parent or proximity to a primary caregiver who is unavailable, critical or overly punitive. Through these experiences, a person may develop a core belief that others will always be rejecting, hurtful, or absent. They can also come to understand themselves as unlovable or unworthy. Emotionally, this can lead a person to experience grief—either for a parent they lost or care they never had.

Neurobiology research confirms that neuropathways associated with attachment and separation play a central role in the experience of depression. For humans (as with all mammals), attachment is critical for survival. When we are separated from one another, the brain produces chemicals that create panic and distress and this causes the impacted individual to protest and seek reunion with others. When reunion isn’t possible—and because the energy cost of panic to the body is too high—the mammalian brain shuts down separation distress. The result is lowered motivation, despair and helplessness.

While research has not been able to pinpoint a single cause of depression, we know that both brain chemistry and environmental factors contribute to it. This means that, for most people experiencing depression, it is helpful to address both during treatment.

Healing from Depression

At Self and Other, we know that the experience of depression is shaped by both individual and interpersonal factors. To effectively help clients understand and address their depressive symptoms, we create space for them to process past suffering and loss, repair or build new meaningful relationships and transform negative beliefs about themselves and others.

We believe that the most essential elements of effective psychotherapy for depression involve a caring and empathic exploration of loss. These experiences often leave people feeling fundamentally helpless, ineffective, and/or overwhelmed by experiences of rejection and abandonment. As mammals, humans are predisposed to shut down in the face of despair, so it can be immensely difficult for clients to see what is possible without the help of an outside mind.

This is where the importance of a supportive therapeutic relationship comes in. Here, clients can safely explore and grieve their past experiences while addressing difficult symptoms, building their self-esteem, and re-envisioning their relationships.