I learned earlier this week in my psychopharmacology class that depressive symptoms function like chronic pain syndrome! Amazing! I thought chronic pain syndrome was mainly psychological but there is a definite biological component. Apparently if you have a severe injury and you have a lot of pain, your brain gets used to sending that pain signal. So your injury heals but you still have the same pain. It's because your brain has created those circuits and it will continue to send the signals to the area where you have pain regardless of the fact that the actual orthopedic injury is healed!

Sooo beng depressed is the same way. You get depressed, you have faulty cognitive processes where you think negatively and sometimes unrealistically and then your brain gets used to sending those signals. So even when you shouldn't be depressed, your brain continues to send the same signals anyway so you stay depressed. The brain gets so good at it that your depression can actually become more severe. More and more circuits are formed the longer you go on that way. Without medication and therapy your depression progressively worsens. You will have an up swing but it won't be as high anymore and your down swings dip farther.

This is why cognitive behavioral therapy works! You force yourself to alter the way you think. You keep at it until it becomes a habit and basically that signal to your brain gets stronger. More and more circuits are formed to ensure this becomes the dominant pathway!

It's like learning to ride a bike...you stink at it at first but you keep at it and your brain doesn't forget how to do it! Unfortunately this rule goes for good or bad habits.

AMAZING!!! Therapy DOES work!!! I can't wait to read the journals and experiments to prove it more!!! I might have started therapy and medication a lot earlier had I known this... at least I can explain it to my psych patients...

-Erika