This is the first article in a series I will do here on depression. I hope that as I explore what depression is, what causes it, and what helps, it will help those who read this newsletter.
Depression is something I have struggled with for as long as I can remember. I come from a family with mental illness, including depression, on both sides. I am also someone who experienced child sexual abuse at a young age. I remember being abused as young as three but I sense I was younger when it began. Both my genetic makeup and the trauma I experienced affected my brain. Depression is, after all, a brain disease.
Perhaps you might want to pause for a second and let that last sentence sink in. For anyone who blames themself for suffering from depression, I have a message for you. No, you did not! You can’t help your genetic makeup or that you are a childhood trauma survivor. I say this to myself as well as to anyone reading.
The basics of depression
A depressed person’s brain is stuck. Depression is caused by the “turning of various brain circuits and their interactions with the world and each other,” according to neuroscientist, Alex Korb. In his book, The Upward Spiral, Korb explains that depression “generally involves a problem with how the thinking and feeling circuits in the brain get out of whack.”
The circuits of the brain that cause depression rely on a few brain regions: the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) and the limbic system. The PFC is the thinking part of the brain, while the limbic system is the feeling part of the brain. With depression, the way the two regions act and communicate with each other is off. The PFC is supposed to help the limbic system.
Maybe as you read the last paragraph, you began thinking you can’t get out of depression. Korb says otherwise. Not only is he an expert on the brain as a neuroscientist but he suffered from depression and came out of it. There are things we can do to change our brains, including the way the PFC and limbic systems interact. “It’s possible to change the way they act and communicate,” he assures us in his book.
The power of small actions
Neurotransmitters are chemicals in the brain. Each neurotransmitter contributes to a different symptom of depression, Korb states in his book. Just boosting the right neurotransmitters won’t take away depression. However, boosting them is part of the solution. Small life changes can change the activity of the neurotransmitter system.
Full disclosure here. I didn’t put out an article last week for this newsletter because depression combined with exhaustion due to post-covid issues overwhelmed me. I chose to do tapping meditations for five days last week on depression through The Tapping Solution app. I ended up with the hope that I can overcome depression. Taking even one small action can start what Korb calls an upward spiral.
“Any tiny change can be just the push your brain needs to start spiraling upward.” Alex Korb
Good for you, precious girl. Learning to listen and take care of yourself is key to our healing! So very thankful for the tools God brings into our lives to bring deliverance and healing. Love you and so proud of you <3