Must depression always be caused by something?

[missbunnyrabbit]

I have suffered with varying levels of depression for over ten years since I was a teenager.
I was speaking to my counsellor today and she was quite insistent that something must have caused my depression. I said that ive never been happy since puberty hit...there have been times when lots of great things have happened to me, but there's still a crushing feeling of blackness and pointlessness. I said how I felt I could have everything I wanted and I think I'd still have these feelings. So whilst there are things in life that make me feel worse, even if I removed these, I'd never reach happiness.

I thought depression could be an imbalance of chemicals in the brain?

You are correct. Your counsellor obviously wants more sessions out of you. Show her this www.healthline.com/health/serotonin-deficiency#what-is-serotonin-deficiency

No I don't think it is always caused by something. I'm surprised by her insistance that it is. I've have depression on and off.

I would be finding a new counsellor.

If there’s a cause it’s probably not a mental illness in the same way. Just victim to circumstance surely.

GP told me I could be anxious for no reason at all recently. We were discussing menopause, when it's quite common.

Hormone issues, side effect of meds, the depression that occurs as part of bipolar, because of long term illness, ADHD, schizophrenia, autism can all cause depression or it can co occur.

Some people suffer pure depressive episodes.

Psychiatry/ psychology is a very complicated and imperfect area.

@Aquamarine1029

I would be finding a new counsellor.

This. A family member of mine is a counsellor and I would bet my right arm that she would say something like this. She also doesn't believe in any neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and thinks most people just need a kick up the bum. I am flabbergasted that she is allowed to operate in this profession.

Or did your psychologist mean a specific life event?

@JaninesEyePatch😔

I'm the same. I remember at 13 or14 suddenly feeling alone and very down all the time.
I tried talking therapy and hated it as the counselor always wanted to know the reason why I felt depressed. I didn't bloody know that was the whole point.
I watched a film on Netflix the other day it's called fantastic fungi. There are trials going on where they are trialing the active chemical in magic mushrooms as a cure for depression, apparently the results are very promising. So fingers crossed they can come up with a new treatment in the next decade rather than traditional anti depressants and all their awful side effects.

I think some depression has a trigger. My dying and newly disabled mum was horrendously depressed, because he's hated being disabled and knowing she was going to die early.

But she would say it's different to the other bouts of depression she had. She said she could understand this depression, but not the others.

I had a breakdown last year absolutely caused by something ( bullying at work) my husband had a very serious breakdown 16 years ago and was hospitalised in a mental health unit for 3 weeks and his had no cause whatsoever . His was the chemical imbalance of the brain. He is still on antidepressants now, a lowish maintenance dose whereas I was able to come off mine after 9 months as I left the situation that was making me ill.

No not always not for everyone and not even every time someone has a spell

And sometimes it is caused by a lot of low level stuff accumulating so it's hard to know

How did you find this counsellor?

Not all are good. Unfortunately in Uk it's not a protected title anyone can be one basically

I am flabbergasted that she is allowed to operate in this profession.

See above I'm appalled but not surprised

Don't underestimate the power of hormones, onset at puberty suggests that may be a possibility.

I have ocd and when I'm not on the pill my anxiety when I'm premenstrual goes through the roof!

The theory regarding chemical imbalance is apparently under question not sure how I feel about that.

There can be complex causes -

physical (hormones, not just sex ones but thyroid hormones, growth ones etc)

neurophysiology (it's believed to be a factor in ocd we lack correct functioning of our basal ganglia)

Chemical imbalances as has long been believed

Response to allergens or pollutants or even medication

Brain trauma - from an accident or certain infections, they don't even need to be especially serious funnily enough

Emotional trauma - aside from the obvious understanding of this, when we are stressed/scared etc we release chemicals then too and that can temporarily and permanently affect our brains

Substance abuse/addiction - more common than I think a lot of people are aware of

Or all or none of the above

Or a buildup of "lesser" stresses the general grind of life.

Because of my own health issues I've done a lot of research in relation to my ocd (I have accompanying depression, anxiety, agoraphobia and general anxiety)

With ocd there's believed to be a genetic factor but this is related to the formation and function of the basal ganglia mainly

But I would be highly dubious and suspicious of any counsellor that doubted there may not be an easily identifiable trigger

The precursors to my own 1st breakdown were obvious and identifiable issues (childhood abuse, possible genetic factors, having recently gone through a messy divorce) but the trigger that day was a relatively "minor" one (something I owned became in my messed up mind "contaminated" and no matter what I did I couldn't reach a point where I felt it was "clean" and spiralled down frighteningly fast!)

Look for a psychotherapist (this is a protected title and those holding it must have certain qualifications and training)

Personally I think counsellor needs to also become a protected and regulated title. Shocking the charlatans setting up as one and causing god knows what harm

It's really tricky as none of us were in the room with you. I have had a lot of counselling and I can see that my depression was a learnt response in childhood to the environment that I grew up in. It has taken me a long time to see it like this, but I don't believe it's a chemical imbalance (I know that it is a conventional response to believe it is an imbalance so I understand that I am in a minority on this), I believe that I 'learnt' depression as a coping mechanism. I absolutely respect anyone else's right not to see it like this, and I'm not in any way saying that antidepressants don't help, they helped me temporarily through some incredibly dark moments in my life, but they did not relieve my depression. Long term therapy has. But if that approach isn't for you then you need to tell your counsellor and stop therapy and try a different approach. It's your choice.

A friend with severe depression that came on originally post natal felt strongly that it was simply due to chemical imbalance.
She was fed up with being asked about her childhood/ marriage etc by various health professionals.

I've had both 'situational' depression as a result of divorce and depression that came left field out of nowhere! I was trying to find reasons for it and making up scenarios just to make it feel real, like, I must hate my job, I should resign...if that makes sense? But nothing at all was the cause. A short time on anti D's helped me enormously and allowed me to focus again. I came off them as soon as I could and haven't suffered since, fingers crossed!

I recently learned that the "chemical imbalance theory" was heavily promoted by the pharmaceutical industry from the 1960's onwards (well, that's a bit of a surprise - not) and there is no evidence that it's actually true.

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12115-007-9047-3

@Sarahlou63 yes I understand the cynicism absolutely but I have to say having been on a number of mh meds over the years and on them now, with some I absolutely noticed a vast and extremely helpful improvement in my mh and with a few they definitely made me much worse too! So they clearly DO something.

I think it's perhaps possible that some of us genetically are low in certain hormones etc that affect mh just as with other endocrine disorders etc

Absolutely not. It can can be hereditary (nature and/or nurture) or as a result of some trauma/long term stress.

Either way - it sucks.

[quote Graphista]@Sarahlou63 yes I understand the cynicism absolutely but I have to say having been on a number of mh meds over the years and on them now, with some I absolutely noticed a vast and extremely helpful improvement in my mh and with a few they definitely made me much worse too! So they clearly DO something.

I think it's perhaps possible that some of us genetically are low in certain hormones etc that affect mh just as with other endocrine disorders etc

[/quote]
Yes, I agree, meds do have a use and they can be effective. But the myth of chemical imbalance needs to be recognized as false so that the actual underlying causes (stress/environment/lifestyle) can be dealt with without resorting to a chemical cosh.

@coffeeisthebest
"It's really tricky as none of us were in the room with you. I have had a lot of counselling and I can see that my depression was a learnt response in childhood to the environment that I grew up in. It has taken me a long time to see it like this, but I don't believe it's a chemical imbalance (I know that it is a conventional response to believe it is an imbalance so I understand that I am in a minority on this), I believe that I 'learnt' depression as a coping mechanism. I absolutely respect anyone else's right not to see it like this, and I'm not in any way saying that antidepressants don't help, they helped me temporarily through some incredibly dark moments in my life, but they did not relieve my depression. Long term therapy has. But if that approach isn't for you then you need to tell your counsellor and stop therapy and try a different approach. It's your choice."

I agree with this.
I've suffered from social bouts of depression throughout my life and it's taken literally decades of therapy and self-reflection to identify the trauma and patterns of abuse that occurred during my childhood.

@SilverTonguedDevil thank you for writing that. I have felt incredibly alone in this viewpoint, so it's always helpful to hear someone else who has had a similar experience.