Zebras don't get ulcers. But our species does. Human beings, for all our intellectual superiority and ecological dominance, are unique in our ability to stress ourselves out in the absence of any real threat.
When this stress spirals out of control, it can result in depression. It’s important to specify that we’re not talking about when the Celtics lose and you feel sad for a day. Nor are we talking about a traumatic auto accident where it takes a month to feel better. We’re referring to the kind of depression where you go down, and you don’t come up for years.
Now...this could NEVER happen to us, right? We are all professional students, and we have everything under control; young, good looking, with our whole life in front of us... Actually, depression is one of the most common and undiagnosed diseases in the US. 17% of the people in this room will suffer from depression at one point, and very likely, they will not get help for it.
One problem: semantics. “Made for TV” diseases like heart disease have well-defined parameters for diagnosis and treatment. In comparison, people are quick to tell someone who is depressed, “Just get over it.” The word “depression” is used too often in our daily life to have the same sobering effect as "diabetes." This contributes to why patients with depression often go without treatment.
Another problem: our machines are outdated. While we were growing up evolutionarily, the only source of stress was the occasional “eat or be eaten” scenario. Those situations caused a huge physiological change (fight or flight response) that saved us from many a mammoth. When we come face to face with a lion in the Serengeti, we don’t care about sex or digestion. We don’t need our immune system patrolling for threats inside our bodies. These processes are all shut down as self-preservation takes priority.
Fast forward to present times: we’re surrounded by chronic, continuous stressors now, we’re still reacting the same way, and our bodies weren’t built to for this constant load.
We are going to make a case that depression is the worst disease possible. It saps your fighting spirit. When one loses willpower, comorbidities such as smoking, obesity, heart disease, suicide, and other risk factors arise. It also indirectly damages health; depressed are more likely to engage in self destructive acts (drug abuse) and neglect to seek treatment.
Because of the hidden prevalence of depression, it is important to proactively reach out to those at risk. One method that has been tested and used to good effect is the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping.
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