Mental Illness and Depression (v)
Monday, 30 October, 2006
(We have a break between Parts I and II. During the break, Emma gets everyone to have a go at filling in the Stress-O-Meter so they can gauge their current stress levels. Results are not shared in the big group.)
Part II: Depression and the Christian
Now that we've spent a bit of time looking at the Bible, let's have a look at depression and what it's like for the Christian.
Causes
Generally-speaking and to over-simplify, there are two types of depression.
Physical
The first, as I said earlier, is caused by some sort of physical problem: a chemical imbalance, a genetic predisposition or some other medical problem. It affects the way the synapses in your brain react and pass on information.
Situational
The second type of depression is more common and it has to do with the situational/ stuff I was talking about earlier.
This sort of depression can be caused by things like difficult relationships, chronic illness, long-term unemployment, protracted grief, financial woes and, of course, stress.
Stress comes from all sorts of things, but one of the major things that creates stress is change. Have a look at the stress test you've just done and pick out all the items that have something to do with change. There's death, divorce, marriage, pregnancy … that's a lot! Taken alone, each one on that list is more or less manageable. But when you're going through several of them at once, things can get a little out of hand.
Imagine your capacity to deal with stress being like a cup or a jug. [Get out jugs and plate] Everything that stresses you out adds to what's in your cup—for example,
- Dealing with your parents' divorce [pour water to ½ full];
- Looking after your husband who has depression [pour water to ¾ full];
- Work deadlines [pour water];
- Worrying about money [pour water];
- Giving a talk at women's fellowship [pour water to full];
- Reversing out of the driveway [pour water to overflowing];
Reversing out of the driveway is such a little thing but can you see how it might totally reduce you to a nervous wreck when it comes on top of everything else? The more room you have in your jug, the more you are able to deal with stress. The less room you have in your jug, the more likely you will feel overwhelmed when stressful things come along.
A Psychology PhD student told me recently that she thought that situational depression was on the rise. Why? I think there are a number of reasons:
- Firstly, the increase in divorce and society's acceptance of sexual permissiveness has led to greater family dysfunction. More and more children are being raised in broken families, blended families, single-parent families and, now, families based on homosexual partnerships. This has an adverse affect on kids—physically, mentally, emotionally, academically and socially. This is not to say that two-parent families are immune from this; a lot of two-parent families are dysfunctional too. But children in two-parent families tend to do better than children who aren't in two-parent families.
- Secondly, developments in technology have led to greater social isolation. Cars close the travelling distance so we no longer have to stay in our local communities. This means we usually don't know our neighbours. The internet makes it possible to still remain connected with the world but never leave the house. You can chat to friends, pay the bills and even order the groceries online.
- Thirdly, our society places a lot of emphasis on the individual: it's iBook, iPod, iTunes, MySpace, YouTube. We're far less community-minded than we used to be.
- Fourthly, the pace of life has changed. This is partly due to technology as well. It's ironic that electronic devices, which were supposed to save us time, cause us to fit more in with the time we save. We're living in the options generation. Should I stay here or go work overseas? This evening, should I watch TV, go see a movie, catch a live show or go out to dinner? If I go out to dinner, should I have Italian or Thai? Do I feel like red duck curry or pad see eow?
- Fifthly and finally, the pace of life may be faster but so is the drive to get ahead. We are a very materialistic society. We strive to work hard so that we can enjoy the "good" life. This year the Australian Bureau of Statistics released a report that found that men working full-time did an average of 43.2 hours a week. Women working full-time did an average of 39.3 hours a week. This was a significant increase from 1985 when men were doing around 41 hours per week and women were doing about 37.5. Long work hours put a further strain on family relationships, and as a result, a lot of families just break down.
Spectrum
So we have depression caused by physical problems and depression caused by situational problems. But as I said earlier, this is a very broad generalization: according to the Black Dog Institute, every individual is different, and some might have a bit of both. I used to think that Ben's depression was completely caused by physical chemical imbalance. But now it's clear that some of it is caused by situational stuff as well.
In addition, the severity of depression differs from individual to individual—from mild to suicidal. No two depressed people are alike.
Current:
Bible: Isaiah (ESV) 28/09/2010
seen: Tropic Thunder 26/09/2010
seen: The Life of Mammals 24/09/2010
seen: What a Girl Wants 19/09/2010
seen: Jerry Maguire 19/09/2010
seen: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 06/09/2010
seen: Tomorrow Never Dies 05/09/2010
seen: Nanny McPhee 28/08/2010
read: Mercury (Hope Larson) 27/08/2010
read: Spellcheckers Vol 1 (Jamie S Rich, Nicolas Hitori de, Joelle Jones) 16/08/2010
read: Solipsistic Pop Vol 2 (Solipsistic Pop) 16/08/2010
read: Chiggers (Hope Larson) 15/08/2010
seen: Josie and the Pussycats 14/08/2010
seen: Mr & Mrs Smith 14/08/2010
seen: Step Up 2 13/08/2010
Blinks:
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
Online magazine that publishes fairy tales that are not reworkings of old tales.
Journal that publishes fairy tale writing.
|
|
Disqus comments
Other comments
I think any perceived rise in the incidence of situational depression might also be due to the breakdown of societal taboos in admitting (to others or to yourself) you actually have depression. People have always felt stressed, socially isolated and lacking control over their lives (it’s not a given that previous generations automatically enjoyed greater community cohesiveness, etc.), and have been in abusive relationships (and, without the social sanction of divorce, having no choice but to stay and endure). A lot of it was also masked by drink. I have heard older people speak nostalgically that no one was ever depressed (as if it was a sign of weakness) in their day, even people who had been through the war—and yet there was a disturbingly high rate of suicide and alcoholism among returned servicemen.
Given the low levels of reporting, however, it’s difficult to argue this case empirically.
Good point, Deb.