Recently in Depression Category

Sometimes, people confuse being depressed with being philosophical. If I had a dollar (well, maybe $2) for every time I hear "I am not depressed, I am just realistic", "Anyone who isn't depressed isn't paying attention", or "Life has no meaning and I am going to die, how can I be happy?" I could likely support a hardcore latte habit. Depression can have such an effect on your worldview. 

There are a few basic existential realities we all confront: mortality, aloneness and meaninglessness. Most people are aware of these things. A friend dies suddenly, a coworker commits suicide or some planes fly into tall buildings-these events shake most of us up and remind of us of the basic realities. We deal, we grieve, we hold our kids tighter, remind ourselves that life is short and therefore to be enjoyed, and then we move on. Persistently not being able to put the existential realities aside to live and enjoy life, engage those around us or take care of ourselves just might be a sign of depression.

 

We all get sad sometimes, struggle to fall asleep, lose our appetite or have a hard time focusing. Does this mean we are depressed? Not necessarily. So how do you know the difference? The answer, as with most psychological diagnoses comes down to one word: functioning. How are you sleeping and eating? Are you isolating yourself from others? Have you stopped enjoying the things you used to enjoy? Difficulty focusing and concentrating? Irritable? Tired? Lack of motivation? Do you feel hopeless? Feel excessively guilty or worthless? Experiencing some of these things may be a sign of depression.

Peter Kramer's article, "There's Nothing Deep About Depression," which was published in the New York Times magazine in 2005, is truly a classic, if you haven't already read it in entirety. You can get to the article by clicking here. Here are my favorite excerpts:

Shortly after the publication of my book ''Listening to Prozac,'' 12 years ago, I became immersed in depression. Not my own. I was contented enough in the slog through midlife. But mood disorder surrounded me, in my contacts with patients and readers.

I found myself speaking -- sometimes about ethics, more often about mood disorders -- with many audiences, in bookstores, at gatherings of the mentally ill and their families and at professional meetings. Invariably, as soon as I had finished my remarks, a hand would shoot up. A hearty, jovial man would rise and ask -- always the same question -- ''What if Prozac had been available in van Gogh's time?''

I understood what was intended, a joke about a pill that makes people blandly chipper. The New Yorker had run cartoons along these lines -- Edgar Allan Poe, on Prozac, making nice to a raven. Below the surface humor were issues I had raised in my own writing. Might a widened use of medication deprive us of insight about our condition? But with repetition, the van Gogh question came to sound strange. Facing a man in great pain, headed for self-mutilation and death, who would withhold a potentially helpful treatment?

Question: Why are so many lawyers depressed?

Daniel:

1. Lawyers are Pessimistic Thinkers.

According to Professor Martin Seligman, lawyers have a "pessimistic explanatory style." This is not the same thing as seeing the glass as "half empty." Rather, pessimistic lawyers tend to attribute the causes of negative events as stable and global factors (It's going to last forever, and it's going to undermine everything.) The pessimist views bad events as pervasive, permanent, and uncontrollable while the optimist sees them as local, temporary and changeable ("Oh well, I didn't win this one, but tomorrow's a new day and I will get a fresh start."). Pessimism is seen as a plus among lawyers, because seeing troubles as pervasive and permanent is a component of what the law profession deems prudence. They have to foresee every possible snare and catastrophe. While this might help them be better lawyers, this trait does not always make them happy human beings. In fact, pessimistic thinking is seen by cognitive behavioral therapy as a hallmark of depression.

2. Negative Behavior Patterns.

According to Professor Andrew Benjamin, lawyers take on too much work and have trouble maintaining healthy relationships. This, in turn, precipitates career dissatisfaction, loss of intrinsic motivation, and abandonment of personal values. These behavior patterns leave many lawyers suffering from high levels of depression and from chronically elevated levels of hostility, cynicism, and aggression.

3. High Levels of Stress.

The adversarial nature of the profession repeatedly triggers the physiological
fight-or-flight response in our bodies. When confronted with a threat -whether real or perceived - this response kicks in and floods our bodies with the powerful hormones cortisol and adrenaline, which propel us into action. Over time, this chronic anxiety causes the release of too many fight-or-flight hormones. Research has shown that prolonged release of cortisol damages areas of the brain that have been implicated in depression: the hippocampus (involved in learning and memory) and the amygdale (involved in how we perceive fear). Indeed, Richard O'Connor - an expert on depression - has concluded that depression "is stress that has gone on too long."