Brain Overload May Trigger Depression

A human organism has been biologically programmed to uphold the supreme laws of self-preservation. To that end, a human being is equipped with natural shock absorbers to help deflect negative thoughts of stressful events and also to gain distance away from pessimism. However a combination of an overkill distress, chemical predisposition, melancholy thoughts and poor diet may prove to be the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

An Overkill Distress

Usually a specific incident will set off a depression response in a person. An overkill distress is a situation that drops a firewall between the individual and all forms of dignified exit from a personally embarrassing or catastrophic situation. It creates a feeling of being blocked similar to a perceived sense of being death trapped inside a stuck elevator. A depressed person sees no options. As a result of this extreme case, the brain goes into overdrive to force the individual to disengage. Thus depression is like a tow truck that hauls a person away from a survival damaging situation.

Chemical Disposition

Brain studies show that reduced levels of certain brain chemicals can make an individual susceptible to depression. The mail chemical linked to mood stabilization is serotonin. Brains of both depressed individuals as well as serial killers have been found to be very deficient with respect to the serotonin system. This partly explains the fact that depressed people may lose interest in living to a point of considering suicide as an option. This is a worse case scenario where a depressed person poses a threat to himself or herself as well as others.

Melancholy Thoughts

Facing a situation that create funks in the mind can lead to the processing of melancholy thoughts. Scholars have established that depressed individuals usually entertain negative thoughts which reinforce their depressed state vis-vis the never depressed individuals. The difference between the two is that the never depressed persons have the mental skills or some kind of mental rehearsal that helps them to protect them against succumbing to depression.

Poor Diet

The brain chemicals that stabilize mood like serotonin are indirectly found in natural foods like carbohydrates as well as fowl meats like duck, turkey, and chicken to name a few. Other food sources include wall nuts, almonds, tuna and others. Now I need to explain something here. I qualified the food sources of serotonin with the adverb "indirectly". This is because if you were to take serotonin by way of pills or somehow ingest it, it would not boost your brain levels of serotonin. Why? This is because serotonin cannot cross a blood brain barrier.

A precursor of serotonin, known as tryptophan, is capable of crossing the above mentioned barrier. Thus you need foods with high levels of tryptophan. However there is a caveat. Even if you had enough tryptophan it would still not boost your brain's happy hormones if you are low in vitamin B6. Tryptophan, like other brain chemicals, needs vitamin B6 in order to manufacture serotonin. If your diet was lacking in terms of tryptophan and Vitamin B6 you would be more likely to suffer depression.

Experts in mental health have experimentally shown that when an individual is deprived of food for longer periods it can induce a depressed or aggressive state. This is due to the brain chemical levels being at their low point

Conclusion

We have shown that the causes of depression include a variety of factors like an overkill distress, a chemical disposition, melancholy thoughts, and diet lacking in tryptophan among others. Failure to trust your instincts and heed some of these salient points may make it easy for depression to catch you off guard. Finally your current or next stressful experience does not have to be the last straw that broke the camel's back.