Someone recently asked me to write on what I wish people knew about depression, in light of Robin William’s suicide. Here’s my response.
I wish people knew that depression is complex, that it is a physiological condition with psychological and spiritual components, and therefore can’t be forced into any neat and tidy box, that healing needs to come from lots of kinds of sources and that every person’s recovery is different.
I wish people knew the depression doesn’t happen in a vacuum and is part of a intricate web of biological systems (nervous, digestive, endocrine, respiratory), that depression is about the gut as well as the brain, the thyroid and the nerves, that we would have better health in this country if we approached depression with a holistic view.
I wish people understood that untreated depression can increase the risk of developing other illnesses, that a 2007 Norwegian study found…
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