Depressed people often feel helpless, hopeless, worthless, and believe that their lives are out of control. It is certainly a complex condition, which means much more than just “being sad” or feeling that life has no meaning. In fact, it has been shown that certain areas of the brain of these people are deeply affected by depression and function differently. Therefore, to help a depressed person, the first step is to really understand what is happening to them, to understand how their mind works.
What happens in the mind of a depressed person?
1. Inability to set specific goals
Depressed people have a tendency to overgeneralise and think abstractly. Examples of this are statements such as “ everything is the same ” or “ nothing matters to me anymore ”. In fact, a study carried out at the University of Liverpool has shown that depressed people tend to set goals that are more general and abstract in nature. This also means that they find it harder to put them into practice as their goals are not very precise or easily quantifiable. As a result, they are more likely to get caught in a cycle of broken illusions and unrealistic expectations.
2. Memory problems
One of the lesser-known symptoms of depression, but also one of the most negative, is memory problems. It has been found that people who suffer from depression for years end up developing difficulties in declarative memory, which is responsible for remembering specific facts, such as names or places. In fact, a particularly interesting study carried out at Brigham Young University discovered that depressed people lose the ability to differentiate between similar experiences. Depression blurs memory.
3. Difficulty remembering the good times
Most people have no difficulty in remembering the good times. In fact, it is a resource that we can use when we are feeling unmotivated, sad or melancholic. However, this task can be complicated for depressed people as they tend to focus on difficulties and negative events, rather than on the good times. This is due to the fact that depressive thoughts, when left unchecked, simply attract other depressive ideas, forming a vicious circle of negativity from which it is difficult to escape.
4. Depressive realism
A particularly interesting study conducted at Kent State University revealed a surprising fact: depressed people have a more realistic view of the world. In fact, other people suffer from a kind of “adaptive optimism,” which allows them to see life from a more positive perspective. However, depressed people do not have this perspective, so they can evaluate their own performance more accurately and are even able to predict future situations more reliably. However, what at first glance may seem like a gift actually leads them further into depression.
5. More physical pain
To make matters worse, when a person is depressed, they experience a higher level of physical pain. This was confirmed by an experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford. The study showed that when a negative mood was induced, marked by sadness, the brains of people reacted more intensely to the pain and they themselves acknowledged that they found these stimuli more unpleasant and harder to bear.
References:
Dickson, J. M. & Moberly, N. J. (2013) Reduced Specificity of Personal Goals and Explanations for Goal Attainment in Major Depression. PlosOne; 8(5).
Shelton, D. J. & Brock, C. (2013) A possible negative influence of depression on the ability to overcome memory interference. Behavioural Brain Research; 256(1): 20–26.
Moore, M. T. & Fresco, D. M. (2012) Depressive realism: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review; 32(6): 496–509.
Berna, C. et. Al. (2010) Induction of Depressed Mood Disrupts Emotion Regulation Neurocircuitry and Enhances Pain Unpleasantness. Biol Psychiatry; 67(11):1083-1090.
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