Fascinating thread over at Amanda's on depression, men, and biochemistry. Amanda's position seems to be that the majority of depression is situational, rather than chemical, but we've been conditioned to think the opposite because otherwise it's stigmatized and ignored by mental health providers. I'm not so sure. My thoughts on this are relatively uninformed, but here's where they begin:
• Depression is an overly broad word. It's tough to separate out from sadness, or melancholy, or suicidal inability to see anything but darkness. When you're trying to draw distinction between situational unhappiness (my job sucks, my toe hurts) and chemical depression, you have to be very clear about what does and does not count.
• That said, most of what we think of as depression is chemical. But then, so are our moods. So calling it chemical or non-chemical is a bit useless -- in the end, it's all serotonin. What we're really talking about is length. Let's say a meteor strikes your home, destroying your roof and slicing up the dog. Repairs on the place and surgery for the pet place you deep into debt. You're going to be annoyed, stressed, unhappy, etc. Are you depressed? Depends. Do you spiral off into impenetrable gloom? Depression is about your mood's baseline, and if life events reposition it at an absurdly low level, you're in full-blown chemical depression. The question here is your mood over a sustained period of time, not the temporary aftereffects of a traumatic experience.
Let's put this another way. S is susceptible to depression -- she struggled with chemical -- not situational -- melancholy for years before antidepressants lifted her out. She eventually ditched the medication with no adverse emotional effects. Recently, she endured an absurd series of life events: the temporary dissolution of a three year relationship, an unexpected surgery with an excruciatingly long recovery period, and, as a result, an unwanted return home for months on end during recuperation. Her baseline didn't even tremble. Depressing situations don't automatically lead to depression, which means there are other variables in here -- among them, coping skills and chemical makeup.
• One last thing about so-called "situational depression." There's a certain reporting bias inherent in depression issues. A lot of us have rough things happen fairly often. Family members fall ill, jobs change, moves happen, friends leave, health flags, money ebbs, debt looms, etc. If treated for depression, we could generally point to a fairly plausible trigger. That doesn't mean the trigger is true. If S had gotten depressed, a psychologist would have known exactly why. But trying to treat her circumstances without exploring a possible chemical component would have been problematic. Anything can be a trigger, but in the end, knowing who fired the gun isn't a full solution. No matter what fired the weapon, you've still got to repair the damage.
