A comment was posted in response to
this post, I felt I needed a little more space other than the comments to properly answer the question. Plus, it's good information for everyone to know.
as someone who could have been punched in the face(o_O)
i think i can give myself the right to ask;
"soul-crushing sadness!!,Why!!?"
PS.
1)don't temme that u dont wanna talk about it because u did talked about it. (we r on ur blog)(fact!!)
2)don't ask who i am, just to maintain the illusion.(quoted from ur snappy answers!!)
:P
Dear Anonymous,
I thought the reason people who have depression suffer from "soul-crushing sadness" was reasonably clear in the post, but I shall attempt to explain further.
People who have depression are not simple feeling blue, sad, down in the dumps, that is a symptom of the disease. Depression is when your body is unable to correctly balance your chemistry.
Most scientists believe people who have depression have an inability to create the proper amount of serotonin, which is the chemical your body makes that gives you the feeling of happiness. Prescriptions for depression can either be thought of as serotonin supplements or as chemicals that cause your body to start producing it at correct levels. It is rather like insulin for diabetics, their bodies do not create the right chemicals to break down sugar while people who have depression do not create the right chemicals to register the feeling of happiness.
People who suffer from depression literally do not have the ability to be happy, and so they are sad all the time. As the imbalance gets worse, they get sadder and sadder. Sometimes they pull out of it, and sometimes they cannot deal with it anymore and suicide or begin committing self-harm.
There is little telling what might set of an attack. Sometimes it is outside influences, like a close one dying, or in my case, often if I get over stressed (I often have depression attacks around exams or after moving). Sometimes there can be little to no reason for an attack of depression.
Not all depression attacks have to be treated with medication either. I have found my depression to be much more manageable by eating a healthy diet with lots of vegetables and limiting my simple carbohydrate intake as well as regular exercise, a very similar recommendation for those suffering diabetes you'll notice. When your body is healthy, it has an easier time producing the right chemical balance. Plus, as anyone who's watched Legally Blonde knows: "Exercise creates endorphins, endorphins make you happy, and happy people just don't kill their husbands." (Okay, so maybe I should have cut that quote off earlier)
Sometimes though, the attacks are bad enough that you cannot regulate them yourself and you need medication to get your body chemistry back in balance so that you can feel happy again.
So why does depression exist? Studies have shown that those who suffer from depression also have the unique ability to see things exactly how they are. Almost everyone is a little optimistic in their outlook of how everything is, which can regulate decision making habits like getting a mortgage or loan or in a more hunter-gatherer case, think winter isn't going to be very long. People who have depression have the ability to look at things in a very realistic manner with an emotional detachment "I may be able to afford the mortgage payments now, but the job market is looking like it's going to get worse and I am not that secure in my job right now" or "The snow this winter has been late in coming, which means it will probably stick around longer so we should be more careful with our supplies". If you look at many of the great minds in history who did a lot to changed the world, they often suffered from some type of depression. You could see how this would be evolutionary beneficial to us as a species. The downside, of course, is that these same people can go spiraling down into equally unrealistic pessimism.
The point I am trying to get across here is that people who have depression as a disease and suffer from depression attacks feel "soul-crushing sadness" because of chemicals in their body. Not because someone is mean to them or they just broke up with their boyfriend or because someone they love just died, these things can set off an attack, but the reason people who have depression feel sadder longer than someone who does not is because they do not have the ability to produce the chemicals and hormones that would allow them to get out of it on their own. Which is why saying "just snap out of it" is so hard for someone going through a depression attack to hear, they literally DO NOT POSSESS the capability to do that. You wouldn't tell someone with peanut allergies to just get over it, it is the same thing with depression.
Hope that answers your question,
Andee
