What people FAIL TO UNDERSTAND about DEPRESSION: your life could be better
Summary
TLDRDr. Orion Taban argues that depression is commonly misunderstood. He critiques the belief that depression resides solely in the brain or mind of the individual, calling this the 'intraspsychic fallacy.' Instead, he contends that depression often stems from one's low position in social hierarchies, which brings discomfort and adversity. He advocates behavioral activation - actively changing one's circumstances - as the most reliable intervention. Moving up hierarchies can make life less unpleasant, which may alleviate depression more effectively than changing thoughts or brain chemistry alone.
Takeaways
- 😟 The 'intraspychic fallacy' assumes depression resides entirely within the depressed individual's brain or mind
- 😞 Anti-depressants have a poor track record in clinical trials and the serotonin hypothesis was disproven
- 😐 Cognitive therapy can help reduce depressive symptoms more enduringly than medications
- 😢 Many people are depressed due to actual difficult life circumstances
- 😔 Symptoms of depression can perpetuate difficult life circumstances
- 😌 Moving up status hierarchies reliably reduces depression
- 😊 Behavioral activation and increased activity help alleviate depression
- 🤔 Rule out whether depression is caused by loneliness, lack of fulfillment etc. before treating as disease
- 😥 Young men often start at bottom of status hierarchies, making depression common
- 🙂 Considering environmental factors is crucial for understanding and treating depression
Q & A
What is the monoamine hypothesis of depression?
-The monoamine hypothesis is the theory that depression is caused by an imbalance in certain brain chemicals like serotonin. It suggests that antidepressants can help by recalibrating this imbalance.
What evidence is there against the monoamine hypothesis?
-The largest meta-analysis on this topic found no consistent evidence linking serotonin levels to depression. Also, antidepressants have a poor track record compared to placebo in clinical trials.
What is the cognitive hypothesis of depression?
-The cognitive hypothesis maintains that depression is caused by distorted beliefs and thoughts about oneself and the world. It suggests psychotherapy can help by restructuring these beliefs.
What evidence supports the cognitive hypothesis?
-Psychotherapy, especially CBT, does seem to provide lasting reduction in depressive symptoms, more so than medications alone.
How does status relate to depression?
-Being low status in dominance hierarchies makes life difficult and is associated with higher rates of depression. Moving up hierarchies can alleviate depression.
Why are young men prone to status-related depression?
-Young men start at the bottom of most status hierarchies as soon as they enter the adult world at 18, making them vulnerable.
How do the symptoms of depression perpetuate it?
-Depression promotes behavioral inertia and unrealistic pessimism about the possibility for change, making it harder for sufferers to improve their situation.
What is the most effective intervention for depression?
-Behavioral activation - actually getting out and doing something different - is most consistently effective. This can improve status and life circumstances.
What should you rule out before treating depression medically?
-Rule out causes like loneliness, lack of fulfillment, and poor discipline first, since those can resemble depression but don't require medical treatment.
What role can changing thoughts and brain chemicals play?
-These may help treat depression arising even when life circumstances are good, but first rule out life conditions as the cause.
Outlines
😟 Monoamine hypothesis linking serotonin to depression disproven; anti-depressants ineffective
The paragraph summarizes research disproving the monoamine hypothesis that low serotonin causes depression. It states that the largest meta-analysis found no association between serotonin and depression. It also states that anti-depressants manipulating serotonin perform poorly in trials. The originator of the hypothesis recanted it decades ago due to lack of evidence.
😔 Ignoring environmental causes of depression; improving status alleviates symptoms
The paragraph argues that depression is often caused by one's status and environment rather than solely internal factors. It states that depression is associated with low status and hierarchy position, which makes life unpleasant. While therapy helps, the most effective intervention is behavioral activation - doing something to improve one's status and environmental factors. This makes life more comfortable and fulfilling, alleviating depression.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡depression
💡monoamine hypothesis
💡antidepressants
💡psychotherapy
💡status
💡behavioral activation
💡intraspychic fallacy
💡loneliness
💡unfulfilled
💡undisciplined
Highlights
Depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental illnesses and affects millions of people's quality of life.
The main way depression is misunderstood is the belief that it resides entirely within the depressed individual, which I call the intrapsychic fallacy.
Antidepressants that target serotonin have a poor track record compared to placebo and the link between serotonin and depression has been disproven.
Cognitive behavioral therapy has more enduring benefits compared to medications but may not be sufficient to eliminate depression entirely.
The intrapsychic fallacy ignores external factors like relationships and status hierarchies that contribute significantly to depression.
Those at the bottom of social hierarchies are most prone to depression and least equipped to mitigate it.
Symptoms of depression can keep people stuck longer than necessary as it breeds pessimism and behavioral inertia.
Increasing social status is a reliable way to alleviate depression by making life less difficult.
It's important to rule out whether depression is caused by life being unpleasant before assuming it's purely medical.
The most effective intervention for depression is behavioral activation - doing something different.
It's worth ruling out confounds like loneliness and lack of fulfillment before treating depression medically.
Comments welcome on whether this analysis fits with personal experiences of depression.
Consider becoming a channel member for priority comment review and consultation booking.
Check out my top-rated GRE study program at StellarGRE.com if you're considering grad school.
Please share this episode if you found it valuable to help spread this different perspective on depression.
Transcripts
I'm Dr Orion taban and this is psyx
Better Living Through psychology and the
topic of today's short talk is what
people fail to understand about
depression depression is one of the most
commonly diagnosed mental illnesses on
the planet Legions of Americans are
currently taking some form of prescribed
anti-depressant it is a problem that
affects the quality of life of millions
and millions of individuals every day
and it's also an issue that is generally
misunderstood
by the vast majority of people including
those suffering from it let's talk about
this today the principal way in which
depression is
misunderstood is that is considered to
reside entirely between the ears of the
depressed individual I call this the
intas psychic fallacy and this fallacy
gives rise to the two most popular
approaches to intervention neither of
which unfortunately is associated with a
very very high rate of success we can
look at each one in turn the first way
this fallacy manifests itself is in the
belief that depression exists in the
brain of the depressed individual you're
probably familiar with some version of
the monoamine hypothesis which I have
previously discussed on this channel the
monoamine hypothesis is the theory that
depression is caused by an imbalance in
certain brain chemicals like serotonin
and if this were true true it would make
sense to recalibrate the balance of
these brain chemicals using
pharmaceutical
interventions now many people don't know
that this hypothesis was actually
recanted by its originator decades ago
due to a lack of evidence to quote the
largest metaanalysis ever conducted on
the topic quote the main areas of
Serotonin research provide no consistent
evidence of there being an association
between serotonin and depression and no
support for the hypothesis that
depression is caused by lower serotonin
activity or concentrations linked to the
full study in the pinned comment note
that the finding was no
association which means the metanalysis
failed to identify even a correlation
let alone a causation between serotonin
levels and
depression what's more anti presence
that manipulate serotonin have a
terrible track record in randomized
controlled trials when compared against
an active Placebo and why aren't these
findings more widely known you know I'm
not sure but I doubt it could have
anything to do with the fact that there
is an entire rationale for a
multi-billion dollar industry that is
predicated on the validity of that
hypothesis but I digress the point here
is that anti-depressants are one of the
inevitable consequences of considering
depression to exist in the brain of the
depressed individual and the second way
this fallacy manifests itself is in the
belief that depression exists in the
mind of the depressed individual we
could call this the cognitive hypothesis
which maintains that depression is
caused by the presence of certain
distorted beliefs about the self in the
world if these thoughts and beliefs were
sufficiently restructured or brought
into alignment with reality then the
depression should diminish significantly
and if this were true
it would make sense to restructure
certain beliefs like those related to
the self-concept or associated with
self-efficacy using individual
Psychotherapy and this isn't entirely
wrong Psychotherapy especially cognitive
behavioral therapy is associated with a
reduction in depressive symptoms what's
more these reductions are typically more
enduring than any reductions associated
with psychiatric medications that means
that folks tend to derive a protective
benefit from therapy even after it is
discontinued that they don't derive from
Pharmaceuticals after they are
discontinued and certain therapeutic
interventions might be necessary though
perhaps not entirely sufficient to
eliminating depression for instance it
is extremely difficult if not impossible
to recover from depression while the
critical inner voice is still active and
highly engaged and Psychotherapy can
significantly help to silence this
Insidious inject in any case the point
here is that individual Psychotherapy is
one of the inevitable consequences of
considering depression to exist in the
mind of the depressed individual now
before I go any further if you're liking
what you're hearing please consider
sending this episode to someone who
might benefit from its message because
it's Word of Mouth referrals like this
that really help to make the channel
grow you can also hit the thanks button
and tip me in proportion to the value
you feel you've derived from this
episode I rely on your support to make
all this happen I really appreciate it
thank you I will also soon be starting a
weekly newslet letter so if you want to
opt in you can do so on my website and
finally if you're thinking of going to
grad school it's that season check out
my top rated GRE study program at
Stellar JRE Stellar
g.com I wrote all the content it's the
best s the market you're going to love
it okay so let's get back to it so
what's wrong with the in psychic fallacy
well in my opinion it largely ignores
where the L's share of depression comes
from namely people's relationships to
their larger environments of particular
note is the fact that depression is
associated with being low status in a
self-relevant dominance
hierarchy life is hard at the bottom of
the latter low status individuals are
more likely to have limited if any
optionality with respect to professional
opportunities and little to know access
to sexual relationships they may have
few to know friends or close confidants
they may be ignored or even reviled by
those around them and while it is
possible strictly speaking to be
peaceful and contented and resilient at
the bottom of the hierarchy it is
extremely difficult to do so and those
who reside at the lowest rungs of these
hierarchies are typically those least
equipped with the skills to mitigate the
effects of their status and guest who
always starts out at the bottom of Any
Given status hierarchy young men as soon
as you get out there at 18 you are at
the bottom of the barrel that's why
that's why this is a particularly
Insidious disease among young men this
kind of status oriented
depression the fact of the matter is
that many people are depressed because
of the actual state of their lives
unfortunately the symptoms of depression
can keep people mired in this state much
longer than is necessary this is not
only because depression is unjustifiably
pessimistic or even hopeless about the
future and so inappropriately assumes
that the way things are is the way
they're always going to be but because
depression is associated with behavioral
inertia which makes constructive
conservative effort to alter the
unfavorable state of things less likely
as well however I'm here to tell you
that moving up status hierarchies is one
of the most reliable ways of becoming
less depressed for the simple reason
that life doesn't suck quite so much
when you're not at the bottom of the
barrel this is probably why the
intervention that is most consistently
associated with the alleviation of
depression in the literature is
behavioral
activation actually getting out there
and doing something different when
people change what they do over and
above changing the thoughts inside their
minds or the chemicals inside their
brains they stand their best possible
chance of influencing their positioning
within any given status hierarchy and
their relationship to their larger
environment among other things this
these increases in status can make life
significantly more comfortable Pleasant
and rewarding and while it is certainly
still possible to be depressed when life
is comfortable Pleasant and rewarding
it's probably a good idea to first rule
out the possibility that the depression
is caused by life being uncomfortable
unpleasant and
unrewarding like are you depressed or
are you lonely are you depressed or are
you unfulfilled are you depressed or are
you
undisciplined loneliness unfulfillment
and a lack of discipline are not
diseases so why would you go to a
medical doctor to fix
them in any case it's always a good idea
to rule out the confounds first what do
you think does this fit with your own
experience let me know in the comments
below and if you've gotten this far you
might as well like this episode And
subscribe to this channel you may also
consider becoming a channel member with
perks like the priority review of
comments or booking a paid consultation
as always thank you for
listening
تصفح المزيد من مقاطع الفيديو ذات الصلة
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)