Topic: Depression
+Dr. Autphag !wCUWeDmeus — 12.8 years ago #28,512
In the modern world, we find that there are a number of people who feel fatigued, irritable, and overwhelmed. They feel unable to cope with the world around them, or to function in regular society. There is a medical term for this, and it is called depression. Technically, for it to qualify as a medical condition, you must be suffering from it for two weeks or longer. Yet, casual observation will inform us that there are a number of people who suffer from this who are left undiagnosed; from the grumpy next door neighbour to the co worker who snaps at the slightest stress, our living space is inhabited by people who are, for the most part, depressed in one way or another.
Technically, depression is caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. Small wonder then, that the brain is so directly affected by it. Unlike what most people imagine, it is not like seeing the world through a hallucinogenic pharmaceutical, it is just an overwhelming, soul penetrating feeling of unease, and distress. Unfortunately, with all of us being human, we are all subject to this feeling once in a while -- no one can see the rainbow every day. The problem is, in society, we are actively encouraging people to become depressed.
Two of the major causes of depression are diet and stress. With little elaboration, it has been well documented that in our present day society, diets are at an all time low as far as nutrition goes. Sure, there are a few individuals or families who take the time to ensure every meal is as wholesome and natural as it can be. However, for the vast majority of us, a quick stop at a burger joint and a coffee is as close to a regular meal as we get. This means that our brain doesn’t have the materials it needs to synthesize the hormones and chemicals to maintain healthy functioning.
Exacerbating this poor diet is the overall state of processed food and unnatural ingredients that have been introduced. If you look at most recipe books, you won’t see any ingredient list requiring MSG or high fructose corn syrup. However, these are increasingly being packaged in the food that we eat, and studies on them are somewhat controversial, both for and against. Perhaps the most damning factor in these processed ingredients is the fact that as they have become more commonplace, mental distress has also increased its presence. They are approved for use in the food industry, but, lets be honest, the food industry has made mistakes before, as has every science. This is not condemning the food giants for using these ingredients, it is merely meant to point out that they do, and long term exposure to them apparently does have some sort of negative effect on our psychology.
Essentially what we are seeing is a significant population of undernourished brains. This in part explains why we are unable to replicate some of the engineering achievements of the previous century. Instead of engineers who are well nourished, and versatile, we have stress ridden machinists who are trying to make things work. No one went to the moon for 40 years, and we lost the engineering core that had all the basic knowledge. This is why even though that generation worked with slide rules and times tables while we employ supercomputers, we are not necessarily more inventive or productive. The simple fact is that the computers are merely taking over the job of the number crunching accountants that once laboured to produce hundreds of tables for the senior scientist to use. While the senior scientists still have these tables, now they are struggling to interpret them with their brains working at less than peak efficiency. This is how the old cigarette smoking liquor swilling entrepreneurs were able to maintain their lifestyles: because their bodies had adequate nutrition to keep regenerating their cells. In our new “santitized” environment, there is simply not enough real value in our food to keep our bodies going, and this is directly responsible for the relative stagnation in technology (computers and the internet notwithstanding)
Coffee and soft drinks are other culprits. Again, in our fast paced environment, the temptation to reach for that soothing jolt of caffeine to help us power through another day where our brains are at less than full power is far too tempting. But, while coffee alone might have health benefits, the sugar and syrups in soft drinks are not. Our brains are tired and undernourished, so these caffeine laced super drinks are employed with reckless abandon by most people, never considering the consequences. It may just be a cup of coffee to you, but, to your body, it is a chemical dependence employed to make up for the deficiencies in your brain chemistry. Consequently most people self medicate through mochachinos and energy drinks to temporarily supercharge the brain, instead of addressing the root problem: Diet. Without amino acids to build from, our bodies are nothing, and like a car without oil, they will eventually grind down and die. While studies are still ongoing to determine which diet is the most beneficial, the fact is that we must take responsibility for providing our bodies with enough nutrients to power through our problems, instead of reaching for a burger and a coffee whenever we feel tired because of stress.
The prime motivator of depression in our modern world is still stress. No one would be tempted to overdose on caffeine in their days if they didn’t feel pressure to perform. However, the past 30 years of downsizing and offshoring has forced people to push their endurance to the limit. Companies are always looking at employees, and trying to “increase productivity” (read: make them do more work) and in fact, studies show that the average worker today is far more productive than their counterparts were 30 years ago. However, this increase in productivity was achieved with a cost, more and more responsibilities and stress for the employee. This, however, is just the start of the problem.
Companies have increased stress on their workers, but, this is also because of the demands of the marketplace. 20 years ago, you would write away to a TV or radio station, and include your $20 for a transcript of the show, or a copy of it on tape. Those days are gone, and consumers expect instant gratification when they demand something. Instant gratification holds true in all fields now, from customer service, to medical exams. This culture of instant response has generated a two way street. The employees feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with the demand of customers, while when they are customers, feel it is their right to have that same instant demand gratified. On whole, society has sped up, and even though we have been provided with wonderful tools like the internet, the fact is, at some point, someone has to enter that data so that we can check our credit cards and know how much to pay.
The stress carries over into life outside of work. People are still rushing as soon as they get home, to get dinner on the table, if they have children, they might need to get them ready for whatever events the children have planned, and overall, the stress level keeps increasing. No wonder social clubs and even knowing your neighbours is on the decline. After a long day of rushing around after whatever crisis brewed at work, and then coming home to find out that your 6 year old needs a working model of a volcano for a science fair project tomorrow, and neglected to tell you this before 8pm, plus there are still all your emails to check, and you haven’t taken the trash out, its no wonder our undernourished brains are increasingly unable to cope with the overall pressure.
Now the fact is, in nature, stress is a good thing. An animal would not know when to eat and not to if their body didn’t expose them to the stress of hunger. The average prey animal like a deer is under stress every time it hears the wind blow -- could that be a wolf waiting in ambush, or could it be one of their herd disappearing? This is the natural state of stress, natures alarm call, waking us up to the fact that something is not right, and something must be done about it. Attention must be paid, resources spent, and the cause of the alarm must be investigated in order to ensure of the survival of the species.
In modern life, quite removed from the predators of the jungle, and the beasts that might hunt us (except in a few cases) our society has hijacked the stress motivator, so that instead of simply looking out for our physical survival, now, as a symbolic species, we are looking out for the survival of our house, our mortgage, our retirement, or our childs school fundraiser. Stress is no longer the natural instinct it once was, it has changed and mutated into an unrecognizable monster that threatens to consume each and everyone in its path. Again, the only response that an undernourished brain can develop to the stress is to reach for more caffeine, and trash food, and try to power through until it is time to rest.
Except studies show we don’t get enough rest. 100 years ago, most people in the world got a solid 8 hours sleep nightly. Now 5 to 6 hours is more the norm for peoples resting time. So, the brain doesn’t get a chance to recharge, to rebuild, and it is forced into another pool of stress the next day. This is why we get irritable, cranky, and don’t want to deal with society -- because we are on a never ending treadmill of stress, snacks, and increased expectations.
No wonder that neighbour is always complaining about the state of the fence between your properties, or your coworker sighs whenever you come into the office. Maybe its nothing personal, maybe it has nothing to do with the fence, or you presence, but, the symbol of what they represent. For your neighbour, the fence reminds them of all the other obstacles in their lives. For your coworker, they like you, but, know that when you walk in, the pace of their workplace is going to pick up, and they are not prepared for it. Again, when your brain is chronically starved and stressed, its only recourse is to be able to make predictions based on past experience, and the mind lacks the focus to separate the phenomenon (the stress inducing item) from the person in front of them (who has their own feelings, stress, and depression too)
The only way to resolve this is to figure out a way to prevent people from becoming stressed, without turning the world into some sort of idealized 1960s socialist commune. That, unfortunately is beyond the purpose of this column. Here, the three warning factors for stress in the modern world can only be documented, and hopefully a clever mind will read this and come up with the winning formula for defeating all three. Depression unfortunately requires a holistic solution, you can’t just pop a magic pill and be better forever. Any good therapist will tell you that the pill can only relieve your symptoms, but, to stop the disease, other steps must be taken. There are a variety of programs, and a variety of treatments, and different ones work for different people. There is no magic bullet, only a toolbox of possible strategies to choose from. Your own experience is the only way to find out which is best for you.
The brain is a remarkably complex organism, but, as a group, humans tend to push theirs to far. It seems easier for people to make decisions from behind a desk than it is to lay bricks, but, as a wise man once said, “its better to be a happy bricklayer than a miserable CEO” and this is very true. While we can’t have a world of artists, the fact is, as a world, we need to embrace art within ourselves, and find our own inner muse who will help us discover a world beyond stress, where we can truly be ourselves. So the next time you are caught in the crossfires of someone who is agitated, angry, and confused, remember, they are probably trying to work through problems, with a tired, overworked brain. There is no direct way to help them, but, perhaps if you were just to give them some space, they might be able to figure it out for themselves. Because, at that moment, the last thing they want to do is deal with whatever problem you are posing to them, and confronting them will only make it worse. They must come to these conclusions for themselves, and there is no way outside of professional help to make it work.
Technically, depression is caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. Small wonder then, that the brain is so directly affected by it. Unlike what most people imagine, it is not like seeing the world through a hallucinogenic pharmaceutical, it is just an overwhelming, soul penetrating feeling of unease, and distress. Unfortunately, with all of us being human, we are all subject to this feeling once in a while -- no one can see the rainbow every day. The problem is, in society, we are actively encouraging people to become depressed.
Two of the major causes of depression are diet and stress. With little elaboration, it has been well documented that in our present day society, diets are at an all time low as far as nutrition goes. Sure, there are a few individuals or families who take the time to ensure every meal is as wholesome and natural as it can be. However, for the vast majority of us, a quick stop at a burger joint and a coffee is as close to a regular meal as we get. This means that our brain doesn’t have the materials it needs to synthesize the hormones and chemicals to maintain healthy functioning.
Exacerbating this poor diet is the overall state of processed food and unnatural ingredients that have been introduced. If you look at most recipe books, you won’t see any ingredient list requiring MSG or high fructose corn syrup. However, these are increasingly being packaged in the food that we eat, and studies on them are somewhat controversial, both for and against. Perhaps the most damning factor in these processed ingredients is the fact that as they have become more commonplace, mental distress has also increased its presence. They are approved for use in the food industry, but, lets be honest, the food industry has made mistakes before, as has every science. This is not condemning the food giants for using these ingredients, it is merely meant to point out that they do, and long term exposure to them apparently does have some sort of negative effect on our psychology.
Essentially what we are seeing is a significant population of undernourished brains. This in part explains why we are unable to replicate some of the engineering achievements of the previous century. Instead of engineers who are well nourished, and versatile, we have stress ridden machinists who are trying to make things work. No one went to the moon for 40 years, and we lost the engineering core that had all the basic knowledge. This is why even though that generation worked with slide rules and times tables while we employ supercomputers, we are not necessarily more inventive or productive. The simple fact is that the computers are merely taking over the job of the number crunching accountants that once laboured to produce hundreds of tables for the senior scientist to use. While the senior scientists still have these tables, now they are struggling to interpret them with their brains working at less than peak efficiency. This is how the old cigarette smoking liquor swilling entrepreneurs were able to maintain their lifestyles: because their bodies had adequate nutrition to keep regenerating their cells. In our new “santitized” environment, there is simply not enough real value in our food to keep our bodies going, and this is directly responsible for the relative stagnation in technology (computers and the internet notwithstanding)
Coffee and soft drinks are other culprits. Again, in our fast paced environment, the temptation to reach for that soothing jolt of caffeine to help us power through another day where our brains are at less than full power is far too tempting. But, while coffee alone might have health benefits, the sugar and syrups in soft drinks are not. Our brains are tired and undernourished, so these caffeine laced super drinks are employed with reckless abandon by most people, never considering the consequences. It may just be a cup of coffee to you, but, to your body, it is a chemical dependence employed to make up for the deficiencies in your brain chemistry. Consequently most people self medicate through mochachinos and energy drinks to temporarily supercharge the brain, instead of addressing the root problem: Diet. Without amino acids to build from, our bodies are nothing, and like a car without oil, they will eventually grind down and die. While studies are still ongoing to determine which diet is the most beneficial, the fact is that we must take responsibility for providing our bodies with enough nutrients to power through our problems, instead of reaching for a burger and a coffee whenever we feel tired because of stress.
The prime motivator of depression in our modern world is still stress. No one would be tempted to overdose on caffeine in their days if they didn’t feel pressure to perform. However, the past 30 years of downsizing and offshoring has forced people to push their endurance to the limit. Companies are always looking at employees, and trying to “increase productivity” (read: make them do more work) and in fact, studies show that the average worker today is far more productive than their counterparts were 30 years ago. However, this increase in productivity was achieved with a cost, more and more responsibilities and stress for the employee. This, however, is just the start of the problem.
Companies have increased stress on their workers, but, this is also because of the demands of the marketplace. 20 years ago, you would write away to a TV or radio station, and include your $20 for a transcript of the show, or a copy of it on tape. Those days are gone, and consumers expect instant gratification when they demand something. Instant gratification holds true in all fields now, from customer service, to medical exams. This culture of instant response has generated a two way street. The employees feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with the demand of customers, while when they are customers, feel it is their right to have that same instant demand gratified. On whole, society has sped up, and even though we have been provided with wonderful tools like the internet, the fact is, at some point, someone has to enter that data so that we can check our credit cards and know how much to pay.
The stress carries over into life outside of work. People are still rushing as soon as they get home, to get dinner on the table, if they have children, they might need to get them ready for whatever events the children have planned, and overall, the stress level keeps increasing. No wonder social clubs and even knowing your neighbours is on the decline. After a long day of rushing around after whatever crisis brewed at work, and then coming home to find out that your 6 year old needs a working model of a volcano for a science fair project tomorrow, and neglected to tell you this before 8pm, plus there are still all your emails to check, and you haven’t taken the trash out, its no wonder our undernourished brains are increasingly unable to cope with the overall pressure.
Now the fact is, in nature, stress is a good thing. An animal would not know when to eat and not to if their body didn’t expose them to the stress of hunger. The average prey animal like a deer is under stress every time it hears the wind blow -- could that be a wolf waiting in ambush, or could it be one of their herd disappearing? This is the natural state of stress, natures alarm call, waking us up to the fact that something is not right, and something must be done about it. Attention must be paid, resources spent, and the cause of the alarm must be investigated in order to ensure of the survival of the species.
In modern life, quite removed from the predators of the jungle, and the beasts that might hunt us (except in a few cases) our society has hijacked the stress motivator, so that instead of simply looking out for our physical survival, now, as a symbolic species, we are looking out for the survival of our house, our mortgage, our retirement, or our childs school fundraiser. Stress is no longer the natural instinct it once was, it has changed and mutated into an unrecognizable monster that threatens to consume each and everyone in its path. Again, the only response that an undernourished brain can develop to the stress is to reach for more caffeine, and trash food, and try to power through until it is time to rest.
Except studies show we don’t get enough rest. 100 years ago, most people in the world got a solid 8 hours sleep nightly. Now 5 to 6 hours is more the norm for peoples resting time. So, the brain doesn’t get a chance to recharge, to rebuild, and it is forced into another pool of stress the next day. This is why we get irritable, cranky, and don’t want to deal with society -- because we are on a never ending treadmill of stress, snacks, and increased expectations.
No wonder that neighbour is always complaining about the state of the fence between your properties, or your coworker sighs whenever you come into the office. Maybe its nothing personal, maybe it has nothing to do with the fence, or you presence, but, the symbol of what they represent. For your neighbour, the fence reminds them of all the other obstacles in their lives. For your coworker, they like you, but, know that when you walk in, the pace of their workplace is going to pick up, and they are not prepared for it. Again, when your brain is chronically starved and stressed, its only recourse is to be able to make predictions based on past experience, and the mind lacks the focus to separate the phenomenon (the stress inducing item) from the person in front of them (who has their own feelings, stress, and depression too)
The only way to resolve this is to figure out a way to prevent people from becoming stressed, without turning the world into some sort of idealized 1960s socialist commune. That, unfortunately is beyond the purpose of this column. Here, the three warning factors for stress in the modern world can only be documented, and hopefully a clever mind will read this and come up with the winning formula for defeating all three. Depression unfortunately requires a holistic solution, you can’t just pop a magic pill and be better forever. Any good therapist will tell you that the pill can only relieve your symptoms, but, to stop the disease, other steps must be taken. There are a variety of programs, and a variety of treatments, and different ones work for different people. There is no magic bullet, only a toolbox of possible strategies to choose from. Your own experience is the only way to find out which is best for you.
The brain is a remarkably complex organism, but, as a group, humans tend to push theirs to far. It seems easier for people to make decisions from behind a desk than it is to lay bricks, but, as a wise man once said, “its better to be a happy bricklayer than a miserable CEO” and this is very true. While we can’t have a world of artists, the fact is, as a world, we need to embrace art within ourselves, and find our own inner muse who will help us discover a world beyond stress, where we can truly be ourselves. So the next time you are caught in the crossfires of someone who is agitated, angry, and confused, remember, they are probably trying to work through problems, with a tired, overworked brain. There is no direct way to help them, but, perhaps if you were just to give them some space, they might be able to figure it out for themselves. Because, at that moment, the last thing they want to do is deal with whatever problem you are posing to them, and confronting them will only make it worse. They must come to these conclusions for themselves, and there is no way outside of professional help to make it work.
+Anonymous B — 12.8 years ago, 5 minutes later[T] [B] #333,085
Please be copy pasta
+FuckAlms !vX8K53rFBI — 12.8 years ago, 23 minutes later, 28 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #333,093
+Super Jeh — 12.8 years ago, 5 minutes later, 33 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #333,096
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