Over time, the way people have understood and treated depression has changed a lot. In the past, people thought depression was caused by an imbalance of "humors," an ancient word for bodily fluids. Now we think that it's related to an imbalance of chemicals in the brain.
There was a time when changing your way of thinking was the cure for depression. This was when the philosophy of Stoicism was trendy. As the stoics would say: nothing is good or bad, focus on what you can control - your thoughts and actions. These days therapy is more focused on talking about sad things and reframing stories to change specific behaviours or thought patterns.
There was also a time when some people believed that depression was cool and associated it with being smart. Apparently being sad led to more introspection and a deeper understanding about what it means to be human through suffering. Now depression is used more as a crutch and is associated with victimhood.
Overall, our understanding and approach to dealing with depression is always changing and evolving, and it's hugely influenced by the culture and the time period in which we live. These days depression is under the spot light more than ever and is now being marketed as a mental disease that can ruin people's lives if they "catch it.”
Doing research for this guide made me wonder whether all this new awareness about depression and therapy was actually helping more people get the help they wouldn't have gotten 100 years ago? Or if it was part of the problem?
Is modern life just depressing?
Is part of it simply that our culture's emphasis on being manically happy 24/7 and documenting it on Instagram to stunt on all the brokies?
The bottom line is that it appears something is going on at a cultural level that's causing rates of reported depression to go up. And that's partly because we're still wrestling with the same questions people have grappled with for thousands of years when it comes to what causes depression and how to treat it.
Is it something in our biology or genetics?
Is it something in our environment or our thinking?
What's the connection between mind, body, and spirit?
Is depression actually a bad thing or can it have its benefits?
Is depression an ingrained part of human nature, a tool to finding our true self, or an obstacle to being our true self?
Right now, we tend to focus on the biological causes of depression, and take the view that depression must be stopped and exterminated immediately as if it were a cockroach in your house. But just like in the past, our ideas about depression will most likely change again in the future. The experts in the past thought they had all the answers, but their ideas turned out to be wrong. Same as the person who originally thought the earth was flat. What society believes is always changing as new information comes out.
In a thousand years, the idea of taking a pill or talking to some therapist to get rid of depression may seem as strange as the idea of balancing our black bile sounds to us now. Yes, people used to balance their black bile.
Let me take you back to a time in ancient Greece, a famous physician named Hippocrates discovered that people could get depressed if they had too much of a certain bodily fluid called black bile.
You see, Hippocrates believed that the human body was made up of four fluids: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. And if one of those fluids got out of balance, it could make you sick or even depressed. So if someone was feeling sad, Hippocrates would try to reduce their black bile by giving them treatments like bloodletting or purging.
Sounds like a great time, right? But before you start discrediting Hippocrates, he wasn't totally crazy. Balancing the bodily fluids to help people feel better is a bit mad. And while we might not be using bloodletting to cure depression these days, we're currently trying to find ways to balance the chemicals in our brains to help us feel happier. Is balancing bodily fluids any weirder than balancing brain chemicals?
Hopefully this sheds a light on the competing schools of thought about its causes and cures that have existed since Ancient Greece and continue to exist today.
Rather than a steady march of progress, our understanding of depression has moved more like a pendulum, with different approaches and philosophies coming and going over the centuries.
The fact that no one seems to have come up with a definitive answer may seem, well, depressing. But it can also be quite liberating. Being told there’s one right way to view and handle your depression, and trying that approach without success — now that’s really depressing.
Rather than being shackled to one path, and one perspective, keeping an open mind and embracing the freedom to experiment with what works for you can't hurt. You've got options.
Rational thinking, physical exercise, long walks, good conversation, nature, even bloodletting (probably not bloodletting), might be just what is needed. And the wisdom of the ancients coupled with modern insight might be the best way forward.
Always remember, you were born to be the hero of your story.
Free your outlaw.