The Depression Perception Effect


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Depression Treatment > Depression Perception Effect

Depression is a term given to the condition that results from an overload of stress on the mind. It occurs when the mind is exposed to stressful events or circumstances that exceed its natural stress tolerance ability. Once the mind is over-stressed it becomes confused and irrational, unable to function effectively. All its usually rational information-analysis processes fail and it loses the ability to process new information logically.

This stressed state causes the mind to falsely perceive irrational negative thoughts and scenarios to be an accurate reflection of its current circumstances. When in actual fact they are only a perceptional distortion resulting from the depression - an often unrecognized effect that can fuel depression at an exponential rate. In addition excess stress also increases the body's re-uptake of Serotonin, thereby depleting the normal levels in the brain and lowering mood.

To better understand the effect of stress on the mind, consider for a moment what happens when you concentrate on reading for long periods of time. It places excessive stress on your eyes and all the little muscles controlling the eyes become strained, causing you to loose focus – your body is telling you its time to rest. The human mind operates on the same principle. If you consistently over stress it, then you will find it functions less and less effectively until ceasing altogether, a state commonly known as a nervous (or mental) breakdown. This is a debilitating condition where the mind has been excessively stressed, without rest, for such a period that it cannot any longer cope and forces rest by shutting down its mental processes. Why doesn't the mind rest? Because, by design of nature, the human mind is problem focused and will, by default, focus its thoughts and abilities on what it determines is going wrong in our lives, while ignoring all the things that are going right. This natural problem focus principle is very effective for the non-depressed as it ensures the mind's capacity is always working on solutions to the problems we face. However, for an already over-stressed mind it serves only to increase problem awareness and promote uncontrollable or obsessive negative thought patterns. When the mind is over-stressed, all its (usually rational) processing abilities become skewed and ineffective, resulting in its perception of false and irrational negative thoughts as truth. This false perception causes two primary follow on effects: a) It creates more stress because your beliefs dictate your perceptions, and your perception = your reality. Therefore when your beliefs are negative, your reality is also negative - irrespective of the factualness of the situation. b) It creates negative reference points in the mind, because your belief in a negative thought defines it as a "known truth" in your mind. Once instilled as fact, this negative information is updated in your mental database of knowledge, then constantly utilized as a reference point for determining the validity of new information received. When you have negative reference points, you are ensuring negative perceptions. A typical depressive episode can be broken down into four major elements. The trigger event(s) - A negative experience, series of experiences, events or circumstances; The causal thoughts - Recurring stressful negative thoughts and emotions surrounding the trigger event(s); The negative perception mindset - An overstressed mind causes negative thoughts to be irrationally perceived as fact creating negative reference points in the mind - manifesting further negative thoughts. The physical/emotional symptoms - The human bodies reaction to its ‘perceived’ negative environment.
Our perception of a particular situation or set of circumstances is dictated by what we believe to be true about that situation. For example, if you believe that spiders are poisonous then you will perceive them as dangerous and react accordingly whenever you encounter them. Similarly, if you believe a situation or event to be insurmountable or difficult to resolve then you will perceive it as stressful, and it will certainly cause you great deal of mental anguish. Often situations we experience cause us to perceive a negative outcome or impact on our lives long before the event even takes place - creating unnecessary stress, worry and anxiety. Your beliefs determine your perceptions and your perception is your reality.

Excluding major catastrophes most events in themselves are not stressful. It's our perception or belief of how that event will impact our lives that causes stress, worry and anxiety to accumulate within us about the future. When we perceive a situation as excessively stressful or irresolvable it creates a host of irrational negative thoughts and scenarios surrounding that event to arise in the mind. One negative thought manifests another, further stressing the mind which will, if left untreated, intensify into a depressive episode. Your perception of a particular situation, circumstance or event is determined by your mind cross-referencing the information received, in relation to that situation, against all your current ‘known facts’ - thereby creating a conclusive perception (or belief) of the event. New Stimuli + Existing Experience = Perception Your Perception = Your Reality Much of the information we hold as fact has been instilled in us during childhood from our parents, teachers or role models. However as we progress through life our mental database of knowledge is constantly being updated with new information. So every persons perception of a particular situation depends largely on the facts and beliefs that have been instilled on their minds throughout their individual life circumstances - that's why some people deal with stress better than others.
Depression not only induces false perceptions but it also causes the mind to cyclically reinforce any negative thoughts that arise. It does this via the conscious minds (irrational) self-recognition of the bodies emotional and physical environment. When your conscious mind believes a situation to be negative, your subconscious will ensure you feel the reality of that belief both physically and emotionally. View thought processes diagram.

To understand how depression influences your thoughts you must first be aware of some basic mental processes. Our brains possess two very distinctive characteristics: the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The two are essentially dissimilar and are separated by distinct attributes and abilities. The conscious is the rational thinking mind that functions like a truth filter on our external environment. It takes in new information from the senses and determines the validity of it by cross-referencing that information against all relevant known facts to derive a true or false perception of that new information. If the information is found to be true, it's updated as a new known fact in the subconscious. If it's found to be false, the information is discarded with only a memory sense impression of the event recorded. Every time the conscious considers an opinion, action of decision, it refers to all the relevant beliefs, perceptions and emotions stored in the subconscious from past experiences. The subconscious on the other hand has no reasoning ability whatsoever. Its function is to manage our mental database of known facts and beliefs and control all our body's involuntary physical and emotional functions as determined by its facts database. For example, if the subconscious receives a 'fact' that your job may be made redundant, it will immediately generate feelings of uncertainty, concern, instability and fear of the future to resonates through you. These emotions then lead to negative thoughts that cause stress, worry and anxiety. Depression causes the conscious to become extremely distressed throwing the cycle out of balance and the sufferer begins to perceive their negative and detrimental thoughts as facts. The subconscious then takes this information and brings it into reality, creating negative feelings and emotions - that the subconscious believes - accurately reflects the body’s external environment. So how do you break the cycle of depression and reclaim your life, when your conscious mind believes it is functioning correctly? You must bypass the conscious and directly reprogram your subconscious perceptions, thereby creating a positive reference point for the conscious.
Unfortunately for most people, no. Depression medications cannot cure depression, nor are they designed to. The most commonly prescribed antidepressant today, Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are designed to block the body’s natural re-uptake of serotonin so that more serotonin is available to act on receptors in the brain thereby producing mood lift. Unfortunately the low Serotonin levels associated with depression is not the cause of the condition but rather the body's natural reaction to excessive stress being placed on the mind. Although medications can provide some welcome short term relief for sufferers, they are by design, only beneficial for temporarily controlling extreme symptoms, not curing depression.

Pros - Antidepressants can be effective in reducing severe physical symptoms of depression. - SSRI's work quickly to increase serotonin levels in the brain and temporarily induce mood lift. - In mild cases depression medications can be useful to push through a short term stressful life experience. - In extreme cases antidepressant medications can play a beneficial supportive role by suppressing excessive symptoms and increasing the effectiveness of causal treatments. Cons - When treated solely with depression medications, sufferers face up to an 80% chance of relapse. - Many people report the side effects are worse than the depression itself. - Due to their mood lifting effects, depression medications often cause dependency. - Withdrawal from antidepressants can cause new symptoms and/or the exacerbation of old ones. - Antidepressants don't treat the cause they only temporarily mask the symptoms. - Most depression medications are effective in only one third of cases, partially effective in another third with the remainder experiencing little or no improvement at all. Our research indicated that correctly diagnosed and prescribed medication such as SSRIs can be beneficial in significantly reducing the intensity of severe depression symptoms, however in most cases medication alone acted only to mask the underlying causes. When the medication was denied, up to 80 percent of individuals reported once again experiencing symptoms of depression. In addition, a marked percentage experienced adverse reactions, and with long term use, the prevalence of side effects, including dependency, was considerably increased. Because depression is a condition that pulls you into a downward spiral of such intense negative thoughts and emotions, the body displays (often severe) physical symptoms. Antidepressants are designed to treat these symptoms and can be very effective in this regard, however depression medication alone cannot treat the causes. Unfortunately when the medication is denied most people find themselves back at square one again.

Depression Medication	The Side Effects
SSRIs	Gastric disturbances, restlessness, sleeping problems, lack of orgasm, suicidal thoughts, pancreatitis, hair loss, blood disorder and stroke, dry mouth and more.
NaSSA	Most commonly increased appetite, weight gain, sedation, less commonly raised liver enzymes, jaundice and rarely low blood pressure, skin rash, tremors, reversible blood disorders, muscle spasms.
MAOIs	Weakness, dizziness, headaches, trembling, dangerous rise in blood pressure. Even MAOIs can cause digestion of certain foods to become poisonous.
SNRIs	Gastric disturbances, restlessness, sleeping problems, lack of orgasm, suicidal thoughts, pancreatitis, hair loss, blood disorder and stroke, dry mouth and more.
TCA	Dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, difficulty urinating, worsening of glaucoma, impaired thinking and tiredness, affects blood pressure and heart rate, hormone related effects, drowsiness and nausea, abnormal liver functions.
NARI	Insomnia, sweating, dizziness, low blood pressure, vertigo, tingling in the skin, dry mouth, constipation, rapid heartbeat, reduced blood potassium especially in elderly, impotence.