Depression 07: It’s Hard to Understand

Depression can be hard to wrap your mind around; it has been for me. Even before I identified my own struggle to be depression, I thought I ought to understand it already since discussion about mental health has increased significantly over the last few years. I had questions about depression, but I hesitated to ask them because Canada is quite politically correct, so I worried that being a few years into this discussion, my questions would seem unsympathetic, intolerant, and judgemental. However, in order to learn more about depression, I think it’s important to allow ourselves to work through our questions rather than hide them.

A lot of the questions I thought might be insensitive were related to a lack of straightforward, visible evidence of depression. A broken bone in an x-ray, the use of a mobility device, or a bleeding wound, for example, are easy to see and understand. Ah yes, there is a crack in your bone, so you clearly can’t use your arm right now.

The workings of the brain and other factors in depression are not as obvious, not as simple to understand. Depression seems to be characterized largely by a low mood. How can a low mood keep people from physically getting out of bed or going to work for a few days, or especially for weeks or months? Can people really not keep on with some more will power and effort even if it’s hard? Can a positive outlook not turn things around?

I’m hesitating to write those questions now since I still fear they are insensitive. However, I think it might actually be natural to ask those questions since we are taught that we have a lot of control over our emotions. I grew up hearing about the power of a positive attitude in school and this seemed like something that could be applied to a low mood.

I also think it’s important not to shut down questions. I think if we consider certain questions to be inappropriate, we might stop people with those questions from learning more about depression from the beginning. I want to show understanding for myself and others trying to comprehend depression and working through confusion, unknowns, learned behaviours and beliefs, our own pressure on ourselves, desire for agency and control over our lives, lack of information, an overwhelming amount of information, etc., etc.

So how much control do we have over depression? Or first, what causes depression? Many factors can contribute to depression, including the brain, genetics, life stressors, abuse, hormones, certain illnesses and medications, drug or alcohol use, and more. There are treatments and support for depression, such as counselling, medication, support groups, learning skills through strategies such as cognitive behavioural therapy, and more. However, some people experience depression that is very resistant to treatment. Some people struggle with or need to pay attention to managing their depression their whole lives. Others experience a period of depression at one point and don’t struggle with it again.

That was a very brief introduction to depression, but even from that, you can see that there are many factors involved in depression. It’s complex. Questions or answers might lead to more questions. I’m here to say that I understand. I had questions about depression before I named my struggle as depression and I still have questions now. On one hand, I have gained a lot of insight into many aspects of my life through counselling, which helps to make sense of how I found myself in such a deep period of depression. On the other hand, even though it hasn’t been long since I’ve started getting out of the depression, I wonder how I ended up so very low.

So, I encourage you not to be ashamed of any questions you might have, but to find safe ways to explore them on your own or with others. I encourage you to start wherever you’re at in your understanding of depression and to continue learning more.

Kristen