Depression
Depression
From a psychiatric point of view, it is a syndrome which has diverse characteristics, such as feelings of sadness and anhedonia, which is the inability to feel pleasure in normally pleasurable activities. (levensmoe vs levensblij)
There are also symptoms such as pessimism, distress, feelings of hopelessness, lack of interest in anything, lack of appetite, and/or recurring thoughts of death and suicide, which some have acted upon.
On a cognitive level, there is usually a reduction in the ability to think or concentrate and difficulty in making decisions, as well as negative thoughts about past, present and future.
When someone thinks they have overcome depression, it is important to focus on residual symptoms which remain after things seem to have improved, and which continue to restrict someone’s normal activity. About 80% retain residual depressive symptoms.
Depression can be part of a psychological reaction to difficult circumstances, and it is caused by someone’s mindset, or a non-genetic group or family predisposition to depression, or it is organic and due to a change in the levels of serotonin, noradrenalin or other neurotransmitters.
Research showed that stress-related depression seems to leave a biomarker on mitochondrial DNA, and certain micro RNA in the blood, which acts on nerve cells that produce seratonin which is low in people with depression.
They often experience an alteration in stress hormones, such as cortisol, which in high concentrations has neurotoxic potential. They often also experience successive episodes of neuronal changes that can encourage dementia later in life.
Research is done into the biological origin of depression and alterations to the stimulation of certain nerve centers, as well as neurotransmission systems involved, plus research into certain epigenetic markers producing these anomalies.
Besides new psychotherapy drugs or more effective combinations of drugs, work is also being done on somatic treatments, such as stimulation through one’s heart magnetic field or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. It was effective with Multiple Sclerosis and some neuropsychiatric illnesses, such as resistant depression.
Our decades long research and personal experiences with depression has led us to realize that the core cause often resides in our multi dimensional DNA, which negatively affects the operation of our neurological and physiological systems.