Is depression really a disease?
Text/Peng Xiaohua
Published in the 965th issue of China News Weekly on September 21, 2020
Xiaoxia is a juvenile severely depressed patient whom I received in the early fall of last year.
At that time, she was shortly after the third year of junior high school. This was the second time she was admitted to a mental health center within a month. She was still trying to commit suicide while receiving treatment.
She complained of being sexually assaulted as a child, and gradually overwhelmed with shame after entering puberty, she just wanted to die.
When I talked with her, I reinterpreted the experience she had told herself, relieved her shame, and taught her how to protect herself in the future.
She was relieved now and smiled.
After that, she gave up the idea of suicide. After a period of recuperation, she has now resumed her studies, sunshine and health.
According to relevant investigations, there are currently 90 million people suffering from depression in China, and the number is still growing rapidly. There are millions of people with depression who commit suicide every year.
Suicide is the leading cause of death among young adults aged 15 to 34, and 60% to 70% of them suffer from depression.
Suicides suffer from depression, and a certain percentage of depression sufferers will commit suicide. It is easy for people to conclude that depression causes suicide, which is a terrible "disease."
Since it is a disease, the natural response is to see a doctor, take medicine, and even receive transcranial electric shock treatment.
However, studies have shown that physiological-drug therapy has little effect on mild and moderate depression, and only has a certain symptom relief effect on some severe depression.
The treatment results of many depression patients that Xiaoxia and I have contacted are consistent with the research conclusions.
The basic hypothesis of current physio-pharmacological therapy is that depression is due to the lack of two neurotransmitters, serotonin and norepinephrine, in the brain.
However, this hypothesis has not been confirmed for more than 50 years, and brain scans of patients with depression have not found abnormalities.
Using Randolph M, the founder of American Evolutionary Psychiatry.
According to Neser, the physiological-drug therapy of depression has made the mistake of "taking symptoms as a disease."
Depression is not a disease itself, but a symptom, not the root of the problem, but the appearance.
In fact, most depression patients have encountered major challenges in their lives, such as adult’s broken relationship, divorce, career difficulties, investment failure, bereavement, death worries, loss of meaning in life, and the relationship between adolescents and their parents, teachers, and classmates. Interpersonal conflicts, academic difficulties, sexual assault experiences, etc.
Dozens of studies in the West have proved that depression is caused by negative life events. More studies have clearly pointed out that 75% of depression is caused by "humiliation or distress" life events, and 20% is caused by loss/ Caused by loss, 5% is caused by dangerous events.
From this point of view, the treatment of depression is basically how to face the challenges of life. This is not something that physiology and medicine can solve, but the field of humanistic-psychological counseling.
I feel that depression not only has a pathological problem in China, but also has a tendency to be exaggerated, causing tremendous mental and psychological pressure on patients.
The current diagnosis of depression has the problem of too low standards, which is also an important reason for the large number of patients.
Martin Seligman, former chairman of the American Psychological Association and discoverer of helpless depression, pointed out that more than 90% of depressions are incidental, coming and going, lasting 3 to 12 months.
In other words, the current depressive symptoms lasting for two weeks are in line with the low standards for diagnosis and treatment of depression, and many depressive emotions that will disappear naturally in time are pathological and psychological barriers.
On the other hand, as Nathan said, depression and depression are indeed painful, but they are also normal human responses to life challenges, and have evolutionary value-he found that just pointing this point has the effect of liberating the patient’s mind. .
The so-called depression patients are actually people who have encountered major negative life events in their lives.
Changing the cognition of negative events and situations is the idea of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
Studies have confirmed that this is a widely used therapy with definite curative effect on depression.
The cutting-edge and positive psychology in the cognitive genre not only cares about the treatment of depression, but also focuses on the prevention of depression.
Traditional wisdom such as reducing desires, adjusting expectations, accepting reality, and living in the present are all effective ways to fight depression.
(Translator of "The Best Farewell", researcher of dying psychological culture)
China News Weekly, Issue 34, 2020
Statement: The publication of "China News Weekly" manuscript is authorized in writing