It’s Not You… It’s Your Brain!

If I told you that there is a medical condition which effects more than 280 million people in the world and this medical condition continues to grow at an alarming rate, specifically in children and teens, and is expected to be the leading cause of disease burden within the next seven years you would probably think that people are aware and sympathetic to those who suffer from this disease. What’s more, since this disease is invisible for the most part and we don’t have a clear way of seeing it on an X-ray or a blood test, it’s not obvious to those around the people who are suffering with it. Well, that’s exactly the case for people with depression.

Breaking the Stigma around Mental Health

For years mental health issues like depression have been seen in a negative light and those suffering through it were weak or somehow just unwilling to deal with their life. Because of this, there was a bias which still exists that people with depression choose to not live a “normal” life, hold down a job, or keep a relationship. Although we now know that depression is a medical condition, just like heart disease or diabetes, many people still attach a stigma to this which then makes it very difficult for depressed patients to seek treatment because of the fear of embarrassment and being judged.

Having worked in the field of depression for over 3 decades it’s clear to me that we are closer than ever to breaking this stigma and showing the biology of depression. In other words, it’s not you it’s your brain it’s the mantra we need to understand.

What are the Culprits?

In the early days of research, there was a consensus that depression was simply a lack of enough brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) that help us manage our moods and allow us to feel a sense of reward and joy.  Considering the complexity of the brain and of human emotions, this “biochemical theory” was too limiting.

Thankfully, recent researchis moving away from simple explanations for depression in terms of a “lack of key brain chemicals”, such as dopamine or serotonin, and moving towards a theory focusing on connectivity between specific brain networks as the culprit.  This theory captures a more comprehensive approach to understanding and managing depression and here’s where it gets interesting.

The Default Mode Network (DMN): A New Focus

A key player in the biology of depression seems to be an area called the Default Mode Network (DMN).  Now this area of the brain got its name because it was discovered that it is most active when a person is at rest and not focused on their external world. We tend to think of it as the daydreaming or mind wandering area of our brain which drives uniquely human processes like self-reflection and organizing our thoughts.

Turns out that this DMN has connections to the amygdala which is a key area in our older brain that focuses on emotions and threats. What we’re finding is that these two regions interact when we are trying to manage our emotions, interpreting our memories and dealing with others around us. You can think of these two areas as the Yin and Yang of the brain, where they balance each other. The DMN is responsible for self-reflection and thinking about the world and the amygdala reacting to threats and emotions. When the connections between the amygdala and DMN are altered, it throws off the balance in our brain so that now we are unable to manage these internal thoughts leading to rumination or uncontrolled thought patterns, which can then enhance our fear and stress responses via the amygdala.

This then can become a downward spiral as the amygdala becomes more reactive and the networks controlling the amygdala can’t keep up. We then tend to experience a more negative view of our world, referred to as negativity bias and we find ourselves under a constant stress response which can then overwhelm our brain and body’s natural ability to manage even simple stressors.

The Cycle of Worsening Depression

This then creates a further downward spiral where we focus more on our internal thoughts and self-rumination, leading to a more reactive amygdala, higher stress response and resulting in a cycle of worsening depression.

Not coincidentally, we are finding that therapies which work for depression may target the DMN and amygdala brain networks. Ideally though, we would find a way to be proactive in managing all of this, and that’s exactly what the field of neuroscience is exploring…. how to build a more resilient brain and stop this downward spiral before it happens.

One strategy is to decrease the focus on ourselves and activity in the DMN.  So, what does the research suggest as an answer to building more resilient brain that can better manage stress and depression?

Two ways to look at this would be to focus on minimizing the time we spend thinking about ourselves, as well as building our control over the amygdala threat response:

Getting Out of Our Own Head

Mindfulness Exercises: Regular mindfulness practice can help reduce DMN activity and improve focus on the present moment. Numerous work has demonstrated a beneficial effect of mindfulness training on a host of attentional, emotional and physical disorders.

Reduce Social Media Use: There is a growing consensus in the psychiatric community that the increase in access to and use of social media can contribute to excessive rumination and mental health disorders. This may be linked to the natural tendencies we have on social media to promote comparison to others or self-judgment. Making an effort to decrease this time focused on how wonderful everyone else’s life is compared to ours can help us give that DMN a break.

Engage in Service: Volunteering or mentoring shifts focus away from oneself to others.  Interesting research from UCLA highlights the fact that engaging in prosocial behavior (ie., sharing, comforting, helping others) may help us recover quicker from stress by dampening the impact it has on our body, and thus lead to increased happiness.

Prioritize Social Fun: Recent research demonstrates the correlation between loneliness and mental health issues, particularly in young adults. The Blue Zones studyfound that close social connections provide intellectual stimulation and emotional support during times of stress.  In other words, these connections may promote better brain health, particularly as we age.

Strengthening PFC & Stress Management

Exercise: Long term research shows a protective effect of exercise on depression and also that it may increase motivation to fight depression.  One reason may be that exercise can increase Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which is a key chemical that serves as sort of a “garbage man “in our brain by cleaning out all the debris that accumulates on a daily basis.  It seems that people who exercise regularly release more of these housekeeping chemicals in the brain to help clear out all that waste, particularly after periods of stress. What you’re actually doing when you exercise is cleaning out your brain more regularly, so it has the ability to manage the issues you face every day.

Sleep Hygiene: Restful sleep is a key component to maintaining a resilient brain which can manage stress without succumbing to depression.  See our recent post on this topic.

Label Emotions: Acknowledging and putting a name to negative emotions as they arise, has been shown to be a simple, yet powerful method to activate higher brain functions and reduce emotional impact. The key here is to simply recognize and put a word to the emotion being experienced and then move on.  Too much focus on the emotion can lead to rumination and actually make things worse

Reframe Negative Experiences: By practicing reappraisal, or changing your interpretation of a stressor in your world, you can effectively regulate a negative emotion and even decrease the stress response on your body.   Although reappraisal may seem difficult at first, your brain can learn to do it easier over time, so regularly practicing reappraisal can help build brain resilience to stress and depression

It’s Not Me It’s My Brain: While this may fall under another category of emotional regulation known as acceptance, understanding that our brain is wired to react to threat very strongly, and if we don’t have the right safeguards (or resilience) in place, over time that threat response can lead to a spiral of depression.  Negative emotions are a normal part of human evolution and not a reflection of personal weakness.

Interested in Learning More?

Read our best selling book ‘Psychological Safety: The Key to Happy, High-Performing People & Teams’ by Dan Radecki and Leonie Hull.

Learn more about ABL’s neuroscience-based Psychological S.A.F.E.T.Y.™ Model & Assessment

Explore our organizational solutions for building psychological safety and watch our on-demand webinar ‘Building a Culture of Psychological Safety’

For People & Culture Professionals, Coaches & Trainers: learn how to help others make sense of their psychological safety needs and triggers by becoming an Accredited Psychological S.A.F.E.T.Y.™ Practitioner.