Feeling depressed can be a message to ourselves that something in our lives is out of balance and needs to be corrected, for example in our relationships, rest and recovery, or work organization. In this article, as a psychotherapist, I will help you understand what depression is fundamentally about.
What is depression?
Let’s first take a moment to look at what depression actually means. We often experience brief periods of feeling down or depressed. Such feelings can be a natural response to life’s challenges and disappointments. Despite their occasional intensity and discomfort, these emotions also serve an important purpose. They help us pause and do the mental work that ultimately allows us to cope and move forward in life.
A prolonged depressed mood can be associated with a depressive disorder or other mental health conditions. Diagnosed depression is quite common, affecting about one in five people during their lifetime in Finland and other Western countries. Diagnosed depression, also called a depressive disorder, is an illness that, in addition to a depressed mood, involves a loss of pleasure or unusual fatigue.
Alongside these core symptoms, you may also experience other signs, such as excessive self-blame, suicidal thoughts, difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbances, psychomotor slowing or agitation, and changes in appetite. Depression can be mild, moderate, or severe. Typically, the more of these symptoms you experience, the more severe the condition is.
Where does depression come from?
If the symptoms of depression are specific to each individual, the causes of depression are even more so. The widely accepted vulnerability-stress model describes how people are born with different genetic predispositions to depression. Interpersonal relationships and life events are also very important, both in a protective and a predisposing sense.
“Protective early interaction is the kind in which a child feels loved and accepted.”
Protective early interaction is one in which a child feels loved and accepted. Protective factors also include an adult’s support in understanding oneself, recognizing emotions, and calming oneself. In this way, the child learns to view themselves and others with trust and to regulate their moods. A child who repeatedly experiences feelings of inferiority and guilt and is left alone with their emotions is more vulnerable to experiencing the same later in life. Similarly, peer relationships can be very harmful in the form of bullying or exclusion.
“Challenging and traumatic life experiences, such as bullying or sudden losses, have repeatedly been linked to a susceptibility to depression in studies.”
Challenging and traumatic life experiences, such as bullying or sudden losses, have repeatedly been linked to a susceptibility to depression in studies. Often, the onset of a depressive episode also involves a triggering factor, a “stressor.” This could be, for example, a breakup, losing a job, moving to a new place, or a loved one becoming seriously ill—situations that put psychological resources under strain.
How can therapy help you with depression?
1. Finding out what exactly is causing your depression
In psychotherapy or short-term therapy the focus is on treating the person as a whole, not just the diagnosis. The first shared task is to explore how depression and other psychological difficulties manifest specifically for you, and what experiences of yourself and others are connected to them. It is also important to understand how you have tried to cope with your challenging states. Sometimes these coping strategies have become part of the problem and may even maintain it.
Although the psychological experience of depression is individual, it is possible to identify a few common situations in which depression may be triggered:
- Lack of acceptance and understanding:
You may have long experienced a lack of the acceptance and understanding you needed, leaving you to cope too much on your own. Often, a current unpleasant experience reinforces this feeling and contributes to the onset of depression. - Loss:
You may have experienced a loss whose processing and grieving, for some reason, was blocked or left unfinished.
- Feelings of inferiority and inadequacy:
You may have tried to compensate for persistent feelings of inferiority and inadequacy by overextending yourself and striving to achieve beyond your resources. People often do this unconsciously. In this context, it is sometimes referred to as high-functioning depression, where your ability to function may not yet be impaired, but your mood and emotional life are already affected.
For example, when such situations persist, they can easily lead to a decline in functioning and burnout.. Often, several different underlying causes may combine in your situation, each in its own unique form.
It is also essential to identify why depression has entered your life right now and what triggered it, both externally and within your mind.
2. Starting the process of change together with a therapist
When you have examined your experiences and behavior together with a therapist, it is common to begin recognizing patterns in the way you experience things and to find connections between them. Developing an observing stance toward your own actions and experiences is an essential part of the process of change.
“Being heard and sharing painful emotions in the empathetic atmosphere of the therapeutic relationship allows unfinished and stuck emotional processes to move forward.”
A new kind of relationship with yourself and your experiences opens up constructive ways of acting and relating—both in personal relationships, at work, and toward yourself. In addition to helping you build this new perspective on yourself and others, therapy can help you find ways to handle challenges that arise in life in the future. This approach in therapy also aims to prevent the recurrence of depression.
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What is depression? And why does depression occur?
- Don’t blame yourself for depression—you didn’t choose it. The causes of depression are very individual, but there are three typical situations that may contribute to its development:
1. Lack of acceptance and understanding, which may have led to having to cope alone
2. Loss, whose processing and grieving was somehow blocked or interrupted
3. Feelings of inferiority and inadequacy, and attempts to compensate for them
- Once the root causes of your depression have been identified, therapy begins the actual work of change, which can look very different depending on your individual situation.
- Miten masennuksen uusiutumista voidaan ehkäistä?
How can the recurrence of depression be prevented? In addition to helping you build a new perspective on yourself and others, therapy can help you find ways to handle challenges that arise in life in the future. This approach in therapy also aims to prevent the recurrence of depression.
Remember that depression can affect each of us differently, and what works for one person may not work for another. Try different self-help strategies and find the ones that suit you best. The most important thing to remember is that you are not alone, and help is available.
About the author of this article
I am Leena Särkelä, specialist psychologist in psychotherapy, trainer and supervisor.