In literary novels it is common to find stories of people who are so sad for having lost the love of their life that they die of grief. His sadness is so great that his body can’t take it anymore and ends up shutting down with no apparent medical cause to explain it.
Stories are stories, but to what extent are they right? After all, in our everyday language there are endless expressions that are related to this belief. Grief seems to be, in addition to being painful, harmful.
Can you die from depression? Can we be so sad that our heart can’t beat anymore? These questions are what we are going to try to answer below.
There are many stories that tell that some people who, after having experienced the loss of someone very dear, fell into a deep depression that took their lives. It is not that they died because they themselves ended their lives, but that their grief was so great that their body could not take it anymore and they went to the other side, dying of sadness. To what extent are these types of stories right? Can you die from depression?
Grief and sadness are not direct causes of clinical deathHowever, these emotions, along with others associated with depression, have been related to the possibility that an organically healthy person ends up developing physical health problems such as cardiovascular diseases, or that they stop taking care of themselves and ignore the symptoms of diseases. serious medical conditions. In other words, depression can affect us so much that it actually leads us to die, although not directly, of course.
Depression is a very disabling mental disorder, so much so that it causes those who suffer from it to progressively abandon themselves.. People with depression find it difficult to maintain good health habits, such as eating a varied and healthy diet, exercising frequently, or attending medical appointments. Their disorder can awaken in them a nihilistic feeling about life that, although it does not have to lead them to suicide, it does flood their mind with “why” thoughts, feeling that trying to preserve life is not worth it or being less cautious.
In turn, people with chronic or serious physical illnesses are more likely to become depressed, which can cause them to not comply with treatments or abandon healthy lifestyle habits. Ironically, this abandonment to which patients with serious illnesses are subjected results in a worsening of their health and, consequently, in greater mortality.
Higher risk in men
In 2020 research published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, it was observed that Men between the ages of 18 and 64 have a six-fold increased risk of death from depression.. That is, the group most vulnerable to mortality associated with depression are young and middle-aged men, something surprising if one takes into account that women have been the most likely to suffer from this mental disorder.
Saying that men are more likely to die from depression is not entirely accurate. The long explanation would be that men with depression have a greater risk of dying because this mental disorder, together with the conception of what a man should be like in our society, means that they do not receive adequate treatment or take care of their own health, which that can lead to the time when they suffer a medical illness that ends their life.
Men receive worse treatment because they are less likely to seek professional help when they suffer from depression. Although progress has been made in recent decades with respect to the need to take care of mental health, there are many men who still internalize that expressing emotions is a sign of weakness or that going to a psychologist or psychiatrist is “crazy.” ”. There are also still toxic ideas of masculinity, such as that men cannot be emotional or require help in this regard.
It is also worth mentioning that depression in men usually presents with symptoms that do not seem typical of sadness, such as irritability or aggressiveness, which means that, sometimes, depressive symptoms go unnoticed or are more difficult to detect by doctors. mental health professionals. Depressed men may engage in greater violent behavior and addictions than women, which also places them at greater risk of mortality.
In recent years, the relationship between depression and heart disease has been analyzed. The reason why it has been decided to address this relationship specifically is that Heart disease is one of the main causes of mortalityand the case that depression alters cardiovascular health would be proof that, although indirectly, this psychological condition can cause a person’s death.
Current studies have pointed out that suffering from depression, moderate or severe, is a risk factor when it comes to suffering a heart problem, such as heart failure.
As symptoms of depression worsen, there is an increased risk of developing a heart condition and dying from it.. Thus, the idea that one can die from depression, in the sense that it is the sadness characteristic of this condition that causes us to die, is partly true. If the person suffering from depression does not go to a professional, pay attention to the state of his body or monitor his symptoms, it is expected that his life expectancy will progressively decrease.
Over the last decade, several investigations have established a direct connection between hormonal imbalances caused by depression, and different effects that it causes on the heart. Apparently, depression increases the release of hormones associated with stress, which induce inflammatory phenomena or atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Another proof of how depression or, at least, sadness can cause death in some cases is that there is research that relate the experience of recent grief to the death of the person experiencing it. After the death of your partner you are more vulnerable, susceptible to suffering from a heart condition or a stroke. This risk is much higher between 14 and 18 days after the death of the loved one.
About broken heart syndrome
Broken heart syndrome, also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or stress-induced cardiomyopathy, is a muscular condition of the heart that appears after having lived an experience of great emotional discomfort.
This syndrome can appear in healthy people, with no previous history of cardiac alteration. Although it is a temporary ailment of the heart muscles, it can be serious enough to cause major problems, including death.
Although today it remains a relatively understudied medical condition, relevant data has been found in this regard. It has been seen that Approximately 90% of people affected by broken heart syndrome are elderly women (+66 years). Older age is the period of life in which there is the greatest chance of losing a spouse and, if we add this to the fact that women have a longer life expectancy, it is common for them to be the ones who become widows, having to go through the grief of having lost husband.
However, this should not make us fall into the mistake of thinking that men and younger people cannot suffer from this problem. Anyone is susceptible to Takotsubo disease.; Whenever you have had a highly stressful and depressive experience, you may be prone to developing this condition.
The symptoms associated with broken heart syndrome is similar to that of myocardial infarction, and include:
It should be said that these symptoms are not usually fatal, although if they are serious they can end the patient’s life. Actually only 10% of patients suffering from Takotsubo have a real risk of dying, especially if they present symptoms such as severe hypotension, decreased consciousness and pulmonary edema. Be that as it may, as it is caused by an emotionally tense situation, in which there may be depressive symptoms, it is another link between depression and death.
The cause of this condition is not known for sure.. The main theory we have today would be that a large amount of stress-related hormones are released into the bloodstream after experiencing an emotionally disturbing situation, which can affect the integrity of the heart tissue and cause the symptoms of the syndrome. Stress hormones would cause the heart arteries to build, increasing the risk of ischemia of the heart muscle and causing the symptoms of cardiomyopathy.
