Imagine this scenario…
After yoga class with friends, you notice Annabelle is acting unlike herself. You can’t put your finger on what it is that you notice, so you keep it to yourself. The next day at work, you notice that Annabelle is not walking the way she usually does, she seems frustrated and sighs when the phone rings. You ask her if she is okay and she tells you she is fine, just tired. This continues until a week later you ask her again and this time she tells you she has a pulled muscle in her back and a sprained wrist. You had no idea. Annabelle tells you she is embarrassed and didn’t want the boss to know because she hasn’t been finishing her work. You don’t want your friend to suffer, so you take it upon yourself to make an appointment and offer to drive her to see the doctor.
Now, what if were to replace “pulled muscle” and “sprained wrist” with “depression”? Are you as likely to take the same action for your friend?
Did you know that depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide? Only about half of those diagnosed receive treatment – in many countries this is fewer than 10%. Although getting help from health care professionals is always a recommended approach, many people lack the resources, time and access to such care. Depression makes it even harder to follow through with plans. Some even turn to detrimental forms of self-medication, such as drinking alcohol.
How do you know when someone has depression? The National Institute of Mental Health defines depression as a “mood disorder that causes severe symptoms affecting how you feel, think, and handle daily activities”. The combination of environmental factors, personality, genetics and biochemistry can lead to its onset. It’s been compared to catching a cold. It can affect anyone at any time.
Although not all of these factors can be easily changed, there are things we can do to reduce our susceptibility. The habit of washing your hands comes naturally and we do it for the sake of our health. Is there anything you can do similarly to help reduce the symptoms of depression? It turns out there is.
The amygdale is a part of the brain closely associated with depression. The amygdale modulates the fear response. In depressed people, the amygdale tends to be larger and overly active in response to negative stimuli, such as seeing something upsetting, or feeling sad. These feelings become more intense than usual. The brain has a “cold” and is now sneezing, metaphorically. Additionally, things that are usually fun and make you happy just don’t rise to the level of “happy” anymore.
When researchers studied the overactive amygdale they found that meditation may counteract depression by reducing amygdale activity and by increasing activity in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and other brain regions associated with attention and emotional self-regulation.