How Small Events Trigger Depression

[n2doc]

AUG 19 2011, 11:07 AM ET30
A new study confirms that childhood wounds don't always heal—and explains why some challenges reopen them and others don't


The brain does something weird when confronted with stress: It kills off neurons that could help it defend itself, and prevents new brain cells from forming in the hippocampus, a region associated with healthful stress responses. For years, mental health experts have tracked how this biological chain of events plays out in real life. Numerous studies on victims of childhood abuse, loss, or parental separation have documented how such woes make them more vulnerable to stress and, consequently, depression in a process called stress sensitization. They tend to go through more depressive episodes and get depressed following relatively minor problems. They're wounded indefinitely.

But the small stressors that trigger depressive episodes in this at-risk population haven't been studied much: that topic, says Kimberly Dienes, a Roosevelt University psychologist, "is relatively unexplored territory." To learn more about how little obstacles can lead to full-blown depression, George Slavich of the University of California, Los Angeles, worked with University of Notre Dame's Scott Monroe and Stanford University's Ian Gotlib for a study to be published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

The team conducted in-depth interviews with 100 adults who had gone through episodes of major depressive disorder but had been asymptomatic for at least six months. Among the 49 participants who reported a history of parental loss during childhood, 23 had divorced or separated parents, eight had a deceased parent, five were abandoned, six had parents who were absent due to work, and seven had absentee parents for other reasons. The researchers inquired about each person's experiences with depression, and the severity and nature of the stressors involved.

Much like other researchers, Slavich and his collaborators observed that individuals who went through childhood trauma were more likely to get depressed when they encountered less serious ordeals as adults. They noticed a new twist, however: This effect was unique to respondents whose depressive episodes were prompted by interpersonal stress, such as the demise of a budding romance or the transfer of an office confidant. "Everyone in the study developed depression," Slavich adds, "but those who do not have a history of early parental loss were, on average, more resilient."

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http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/08/early-adversity-adult-misery-how-small-events-trigger-depression/243814/

[Voice for Peace]

1. My understanding of how this process happens

is that once there is a trauma response network in the brain, it remains.

From that point on -- unless the brain is re-trained or redirected -- it will automatically revert to the trauma response, triggering the associated effects.

Anything that even faintly reminds the brain of the original trauma can trigger this response.

The brain follows the well-worn paths it knows best. Path of least resistance, most efficient.

There are practices and technologies to help the brain create a myriad of new options, new neural networks. Many are used successfully with major ptsd (like soldiers returning from war) and depression.

I think at some level depression is a survival response to early life trauma, unprocessed related emotion. We tend to look at depression and other 'disorders' as being a sickness.

But when I start looking at these disorders as if they are a sign of life, and have something to teach me -- ie, they spring from an attempt by the human organism to heal itself, to survive -- I get a whole different perspective.

There is a healthy & sane urge; but it has been misdirected and complicated, so the brain is misfiring. Too many wrong downloads into the human cpu.

Caveat: this is all my own speculation, please don't attack me for being scientifically ignorant. I'm just a lay person who has dealt with major depression and trauma most of my life, & keep trying to figure it all out.

[LiberalLoner]

2. Makes a lot of sense. Explains why I get so rattled when I have a pelvic exam that

is painful. I'm okay with regular ones, but painful ones remind me of the original trauma a little too much and I get pretty rattled.