“The . . . (stress) axis, the hormonal
system that regulates the body’s
response to stress is overactive in many
people with depression. Research
findings suggest that persistent over
activation of this system may lay the
groundwork for depression.”
Depression is a complex condition not
caused by one factor on its own but is the result of a matrix of interacting
factors. Research suggests that
chronic stress can be a factor in triggering and maintaining depression, especially
when it works in conjunction with a genetic predisposition to depression.
There are people under stress who do not
develop depression, but research has indicated that people with depression are
very sensitive to stress. Depression
researcher Brian Quinn, author of The
Depression Sourcebook said of the role of stress in
depression, “Research studies have revealed that depression is a biological
vulnerability to stress.”
Stress is one major factor in the
development, maintenance and exacerbation of depression. Researchers discovered that two thirds of
research subjects who experienced a stressful situation had nearly six times
the risk of developing depression within that month. Higher levels of stress hormones like Corticotrophin
Releasing Factor (CRF) and Cortisol have been found in large amounts in people
with
depression.
Within our brain we have two stress
activation systems –
1. Electrical Short term SAM (Sympathetic
Adreno Medullary) and
2. Longer term Hormonal HPA (Hypothalamic
Pituitary Adrenocortical axis.
Research is indicating that one of the
many factors involved in depression is an over activation of the longer term
HPA axis, which causes rises in the blood stream of the stress hormone
Cortisol. If secreted in excess, Cortical
interferes with Serotonin synthesis in the brain and research has shown that
Serotonin levels influence our
mood.
The HPA axis is meant to be switched off after a stressful event is over
and the levels of cortisol are then supposed to fall back to
normal levels, but when the levels of
Serotonin become out of balance this makes the HPA axis more sensitive, undermining our ability to deal with stress, this can
increase the depression and so we
go round in vicious circles.
Also, these systems were designed to
switch-on when dealing with short-term, physical threats like an attack by a
wild animal, when all the hormonal changes would be dissipated by the physical
act of fighting or running away. However
in modern life we don’t normally face physical stressors, such as animal
attacks, the stressors we
face are more chronic, psychosocial
stressors that can last for days, weeks, months, even years, such as work,
financial, caring for chronically ill relative, retirement, redundancy, noisy
neigh bours, sleep debt, racism, bullying, work stress,
unemployment, retirement, children leaving
home, etc.
Dr Linda Carpenter MD, Chief of the Mood
Disorders Program, author of an article in March 1999 Newsletter of the Mood
Disorders Support Group, entitled ‘Depression as a pathological stress
reaction,’ said: “Four decades of research support the idea that in mood
disorders something has gone wrong with the regulation of the HPA stress system.”
Researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe
carried out research into the type of situations that most people would find
stressful and developed a test called the Holmes and Rahe Social Readjustment
Scale. Each stressful life event is
given a score, the higher the score the more risk there is of a person
developing a stress related problem like depression. Major stressful life events include events
such as
moving house, divorce, etc. You will find a modified Holmes and Rahe
Social Readjustment Scale, written by Psychologist Professor Cary Cooper, PhD,
in the resources section of this session.
In one study it was found that if you experience a stressful life event
then the risk of developing depression is 6 – 9 times higher than for
somebody who has not experienced major stressful
life events.
The main approach used in this Mind Body
Depression Self-Help plan is teaching people how to cope more effectively with
stress by using Mind Body and Stress Management techniques and in so doing this
will help to reduce depression. The National
Institutes of Mental Health, one of the leading organizations in the world for research
on depression, have said that stress management techniques such as
relaxation, can help to reduce stress,
calm ourselves, and in the process, enhance the effects of standard treatments
for clinical depression.
A study, by a research team from the
School of Nursing, Linfield College, Portland in Oregan, looked at the
effectiveness of a stress management programme in helping to reduce anxiety and
depression in student nurses. There were
two groups, one group was the active treatment group who were taught stress
management skills, and the
second group were a control group that
weren’t taught stress management skills.
All the subjects in this study in both groups were given pre and post
tests to assess their levels of anxiety and depression. The results of this study revealed that the
active
treatment group had significantly lower
anxiety and depression levels than the control group. This study was published in the November 1991
issue of The Journal of American College Health.
Below you will find contact details of two
of the leading Stress Management Organizations in the United Kingdom. Contact them for details of your nearest qualified
Stress Management Practitioner.
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