Major depression is a psychological disorder that is often explained through very vague and general concepts. To a certain extent it is not strange, given that this psychopathological alteration is difficult to understand, given its complexity.
In this article we will see in more detail what this psychological disorder consists of, through a tour of several key ideas to understand what depression is.
It happens a lot with the most common psychological disorders that, precisely because they are part of popular culture, it is easy for myths and conceptual deformations to arise about them. This also happens with depression, a psychopathology that practically everyone has heard about but of which few know its details well.
The latter is normal, of course; No one is obliged to know everything, especially when faced with sets of knowledge full of nuances and complexities, as happens with the changing and variant nature (depending on the individual who develops them) of mental disorders.
However, yes It is important to know at least some basic ideas about depressive disorders in general.; Thanks to this, it will be easier to detect its symptoms quickly and seek professional help in time, help people around us who may be suffering from this alteration, and even not blame ourselves for the discomfort generated by psychopathology.
In this sense, here you will find, as a summary, a series of key ideas that will help you understand what major depression is and how it behaves.
All psychological disorders have part of their causes in biological processes that arise from the functioning of the body, and especially those that have to do with the nervous activity of the brain and the production and regulation of hormones.
However, unlike what happens with diseases typically addressed by medicine, it is also true that Much of the causes and triggers of depression are not biomedical, but psychosocial.. Although a viral infection or a muscle injury can be analyzed and addressed clinically taking into account certain molecular structures and cellular tissues that are unique to that individual, in psychological problems the problem cannot be reduced to what happens inside the body. the person, but also extends to his context: to the way in which he interacts with him on a daily basis, and to the way in which this influences him.
Therefore, to overcome depression it is necessary to intervene in the psychological processes that are reflected in the person’s actions. These actions can consist of observable behavioral patterns (such as spending many hours a day without leaving the bed or couch) and others that consist of mental processes (such as holding onto pessimistic beliefs about oneself).
2. No one is to blame for suffering from depression
From what we have seen in the previous section, depression has a behavioral aspect. However, we should not make the mistake of assuming that every person who has developed depression is to blame for it.
We must not forget that The fact that something does not have solely biological causes does not mean that it is self-made.or that simply having made a series of decisions, psychopathology would not have arisen.
While many of the complications with biological causes that affect us are easily treatable (for example, vision problems treatable with glasses or surgery), numerous forms of psychological discomfort that affect us on a daily basis appear in us from learning. that we do automatically and unconsciously, and although they are given to us by our social interactions, we are incapable of “eliminating” them from the roots of our way of behaving and feeling. For example, the effect of having lost a loved one, which would not exist if we had not developed an emotional bond with that person.
In short, something has origins in the learning that we have been doing and in the behavior patterns that we have internalized. It has nothing to do with our ability to control this psychological phenomenon.in the same way that certain medical disorders can be solved in a matter of hours and others last a lifetime.
3. The main emotion of depression is not always sadness
Many people believe that depression is something like sadness taken to the extreme, but this is not true. First of all, The difference between suffering from depression and not suffering from it is qualitative, not quantitative.: It is not about experiencing a large amount of sadness or any other type of normal emotion, but rather suffering from symptoms that, on the whole, do not occur in people without mental health problems.
Secondly, many people with depression do not even use the term “sadness” to express what they feel: it is even more common to talk about disinterest, lack of motivation or hopelessness, referring to an emotional flattening in the face of which sadness would imply a more intense emotion. than what one feels.
4. The problem is the discomfort, not the “label”
What must be overcome is not “the label” of being a person with depression, but rather the discomfort itself.. Psychological disorders are not an essential part of a person’s identity, since if they were, there would be no reason to treat them, and on the other hand, it is known that in most cases they are treatable and can be mitigated through treatment. therapy.
Saying that someone has depression only means that they have developed a series of forms of discomfort that it is useful to call “depression” to understand how they work and offer solutions; This does not imply that the concept “depression” is inseparable from the person’s “I”. In any case, what will be part of the identity of that individual is the set of actions that he will carry out to relate to that disorder while it lasts.
5. Depression overlaps a lot with anxiety
Although everything related to depression makes us think of people who are “off” or with a passive attitude and a feeling of helplessness in the face of life, in practice their way of experiencing life is usually more complex.
For example, Many people who have developed depression also have anxiety problems.; This is what is known as an anxious-depressive condition. In cases like this, symptoms such as demotivation and hopelessness are combined with moments in which the person experiences high nervous activity that leads them to be in a “state of alert”, attentive to the slightest sign that they have to react quickly to a potential danger.
Are you looking for psychological treatment for depression?
If you notice that you suffer from an emotional problem that negatively affects your quality of life, I invite you to contact me to start a psychotherapy process. I am a psychologist federated by the FEAP and I have more than 20 years of professional experience caring for people in the field of psychotherapy. Currently I do face-to-face sessions in my office in Seville and also online sessions by video call.
