One thing in advance: according to experts, winter depression actually exists. It’s officially called ‘seasonal affective disorder’. and occurs repeatedly at the same time. However, firstly, it is quite rare and secondly, its severity is usually minor.
In short, depression in the medical sense has causes other than cloudy weather. According to the German Depression Aid Foundation, it is “a serious illness that profoundly affects thinking, feeling and acting, is associated with disturbances of the brain and other body functions and causes significant suffering.”
There are reasons why I react so sensitively when someone says something like “my goodness, this bad weather is making you depressed.” I know several people who have been affected – like probably all of you: according to statistics, one in five people will suffer from depression at some point in their lives. Most importantly, I know several people who did not survive the depression. In other words, they committed suicide. They have one thing in common: they have not sought treatment or have stopped treatment.
What we often don’t understand: Depression is not exclusively a psychological condition, but also has a neurobiological – and ultimately a physical – side. Both components complement each other. On the psychological side, on the one hand, there is the susceptibility to becoming ill. This could be heredity, but also traumatic experiences in childhood. On the other hand, there are actual triggers, which don’t even have to be incredibly dramatic. When conditions are ‘favourable’, sometimes it is enough to simply feel overwhelmed.
On the neurobiological side there are changes in the brain, i.e. imbalances of messenger substances and hormones – the beasts actually make life difficult all the time! But this explains why people are more susceptible to depression during puberty and menopause – i.e. times when our hormones are on a rollercoaster. And it is also the explanation why the disease can actually be treated with medication, combined with psychotherapy.
So much for the theory. In practice, it’s probably impossible to understand depression if you’ve never had one. The endless black holes into which my friend Claudia’s husband regularly fell were difficult for her to understand and increasingly difficult to tolerate. ‘You can’t imagine what it’s like to live with someone who just can’t be happy’ she once told me. And who couldn’t make anything or anyone happy. Nor his wife, his two children, his great job, his many friends, his seemingly perfect life.
“I know I should be happy”, he confided in me after the birth of his second son. ‘But there’s nothing there. No feeling.” Manu told Claudia about his illness from the beginning and received psychological and psychiatric treatment. No one knows what prompted him to stop taking antidepressants on his own initiative. He took his own life when his children were three and one years old. “I see how you try everything to make me happy and I let you down again and again,” he wrote in his suicide note. “I make you unhappy too, and you deserve to be happy.”
Although my anger towards Manu was endless and will probably never completely go away, he has given me a little more insight into what depression is. Although I am aware that the reach is enormous, and – fortunately – not all depression ends in suicide or is accompanied by suicidal thoughts. I know the feeling of emptiness very well – but the idea of not even reacting emotionally to my children is completely foreign to me.
I don’t know if it would have changed anything in Manu’s case If only the stigma surrounding depression (and mental illness in general) weren’t so great. However, Claudia certainly would not have had to notice statements like: «Killing yourself because of your depression. With two small children. It doesn’t work at all.” It all happened a while ago, Claudia’s sons are teenagers now. But she still cringes when someone says things like “the fog makes you depressed.” And I.
By the way: Claudia and Manu don’t really have that name, I have also adjusted their living conditions a bit. And yes, Claudia knows I’m writing about her here. As is always the case when I write about people in a way that you could theoretically recognize. Just so no one has to get angry about it in the comments.
Do you also have experience with the subject? Share them with us in the comment columns.
source: watson
I’m Maxine Reitz, a journalist and news writer at 24 Instant News. I specialize in health-related topics and have written hundreds of articles on the subject. My work has been featured in leading publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Healthline. As an experienced professional in the industry, I have consistently demonstrated an ability to develop compelling stories that engage readers.
