Post by Admin on Jul 23, 2022 21:05:50 GMT
What is Depression – and how to deal with it
www.hgi.org.uk/useful-info/depression-and-how-to-deal-with-it
Why people get depressed
Depression is a very human vulnerability. People can sink into a depressed mood when their innate physical or emotional needs are not being adequately met, perhaps because of some setback or traumatic event, and they begin to worry about what has happened, or what might happen, and how they will cope.
All depressed people worry. 'Why did I lose that job?' … ‘Why do people treat me like this?’ … ‘What will I do if my partner leaves me?’ … ‘What is going to happen to me?’ … 'How am I going to pay my bills?’ … ‘Why don’t things work out for me?’ Feelings of frustration, anxiety, anger or guilt can become overwhelming but, instead of taking action to deal with the situation, which would bring the uncomfortable emotional arousal down, once we are in this situation we feel exhausted and powerless and worry even more – creating a mountain of negative expectations. The more we expect things to be bad, the more stressed we feel.
All strong emotions focus and lock our attention and, with depression, our attention stays focused on all the bad things that seem to be happening to us, whether real or illusory.
Every little thing we worry about and do not resolve in the day is translated into a bad dream the next night. So worrying increases the amount of dreaming that we do – depressed and anxious people dream far more intensely than non-depressed people. All the worries have to be worked through in extended and intense periods of dream activity, as the brain attempts to rebalance arousal levels. This upsets the balance between refreshing slow-wave, recuperative sleep and energy-burning dream sleep (known as REM sleep). When that happens, we soon start to wake up feeling tired and unmotivated. This makes us worry even more that ‘something is wrong with me’, and the cycle continues.
www.hgi.org.uk/useful-info/depression-and-how-to-deal-with-it
Why people get depressed
Depression is a very human vulnerability. People can sink into a depressed mood when their innate physical or emotional needs are not being adequately met, perhaps because of some setback or traumatic event, and they begin to worry about what has happened, or what might happen, and how they will cope.
All depressed people worry. 'Why did I lose that job?' … ‘Why do people treat me like this?’ … ‘What will I do if my partner leaves me?’ … ‘What is going to happen to me?’ … 'How am I going to pay my bills?’ … ‘Why don’t things work out for me?’ Feelings of frustration, anxiety, anger or guilt can become overwhelming but, instead of taking action to deal with the situation, which would bring the uncomfortable emotional arousal down, once we are in this situation we feel exhausted and powerless and worry even more – creating a mountain of negative expectations. The more we expect things to be bad, the more stressed we feel.
All strong emotions focus and lock our attention and, with depression, our attention stays focused on all the bad things that seem to be happening to us, whether real or illusory.
Every little thing we worry about and do not resolve in the day is translated into a bad dream the next night. So worrying increases the amount of dreaming that we do – depressed and anxious people dream far more intensely than non-depressed people. All the worries have to be worked through in extended and intense periods of dream activity, as the brain attempts to rebalance arousal levels. This upsets the balance between refreshing slow-wave, recuperative sleep and energy-burning dream sleep (known as REM sleep). When that happens, we soon start to wake up feeling tired and unmotivated. This makes us worry even more that ‘something is wrong with me’, and the cycle continues.