mynumenorean-blog

[mynumenorean-blog]

Installment #1

Physics and Philosophy: Depression is Like Gravity

When a star runs out of fuel and collapses under its own weight, it super-compresses into an infinitely small and dense point called a singularity. We never see this because this itty-bitty singularity has an enormous gravitational field around it that’s so powerful, not even light can escape it. In fact, the only things that have escaped are select radioactive waves that will, in theory, eventually cause the black hole itself to dissipate into nothingness.

In a way, this is also what happens to people with clinical depression. We collapse under the weight of our mental and emotional burdens. Our personalities, passions, and interests super-compress to the point to where even we can’t see them, surrounded by a near-impenetrable field of unwarranted, all-encompassing sadness and pain. The light given by family, friends, and other loved ones becomes all but invisible to us, and anything we send out from this abyss is just as harmful to ourselves as to others.

Unfortunately, we’re no closer to permanently fixing depression than we are to turning black holes back into stars. While there are some of us who respond well to conventional treatment, many of us find that regular therapy and medication just don’t cut it. To make matters worse, those who are lucky enough to not have this condition find it difficult to understand; some even deny that it’s anything that exercise, vitamins, and a deliberately chipper attitude can’t fix. Anyone with a shred of decency who’s kept up with modern science knows that labor pains are real, being gay isn’t a choice, and white people aren’t fundamentally better than any other kinds of people. Why, then, are we still taking backwards, outdated approaches to mental illnesses?

Modern physics tells us that so long as you steer clear of a black hole’s event horizon (the outer boundary, and the only part of it we can really observe), there’s still hope of not being pulled in by all that nasty gravity. However, the closer you are to it, the greater the speed at which you’d need to be travelling to elude the black hole’s gravitational pull. Similarly, most who suffer from Major Depressive Disorder can remember the event (or series of events) that lead to the onset of their condition. The pain, anger, and misery they inspired bind themselves to the center of a person’s consciousness, and anyone who approaches them afterwards is at risk of this malicious miasma interacting with their own day-to-day routine. Like gravity, it can reach out and touch anyone or anything in the sufferer’s life, twisting and distorting their perception of even the most cherished pieces of their lives until they no longer associate any feelings with them at all. While in its throes, some find that they must distance themselves from the sufferer to avoid being slowly consumed by their negativity.

To put things into perspective, a normal person has “gravity” that’s no stronger than that of Earth; just the right amount of pressure to ensure healthy growth. Clinical depression sufferers typically have an excess of the stress hormone cortisol, which causes certain areas of the brain to shrink and others to enlarge. An excess of gravity, on the other hand, would cause many parts of our bodies to be squashed down towards earth while causing blood pressure and production to increase. If it continues to grow, then eventually, it’s, “’Pop’ goes the human.” Much like gravity, too much cortisol can make a person “pop” both physically and mentally, as it’s been linked to weight gain, emotional outbursts, and suicidal behavior.

Even one’s sense of time is affected by both depression and gravity. The latter of the two literally curves the fabric of space time, causing it to flow more slowly than it would otherwise have done. The stronger the gravitational field, the more sluggishly time progresses. There is also a sense of timelessness in the minds of the depressed; one’s perception of time becomes altered and they often have difficulty keeping up with the pace of life. They’re stuck at the fixed points wherein their “gravity” increased, and forward progression can often move at as glacial a pace as George R. R. Martin’s writing (I love you, George, but two thirds of the Star Wars franchise were finished faster than it took you to not finish ASoIaF). They often feel that they’re standing still in a world that never stops moving, which exacerbates an already profound sense of alienation. The greater the depression, the more pronounced the sense of timelessness.

So, what’s one to do with all this information? How will knowing this change anything? Well, if we continue to draw parallels between MDD and the universe’s most abundant fundamental force, then we’ll realize that neither of these things are linear forces. Gravity can be understood as a curvature in space-time, whereas Major Depressive Disorder could be considered a “curvature” in the neural network. Both represent deviations from what is typically observed. There are very real physical differences between the typical human brain and one afflicted with MDD. Stop telling people with the disorder to “just get more exercise,” “go outside more,” “get over it,” or other such tripe. While time outdoors and physical activity are seldom bad ideas, they’re not a cure for the condition, so stop pretending they’ll fix depressed people. A better course of action would be simply to offer love and support; show them that you accept them as they are and will always be there to help them in whatever way you can.

Let’s also remember that gravity works in direct relation to the mass of celestial objects; the greater the mass, the stronger the gravitational pull. Some clinically depressed persons find that they can reduce their “mass” through regular therapy, while others must take prescription medications to chemically reduce it. Many require both. What most therapists will agree on, however, is that one of the most crucial factors in learning to cope with MDD is having a strong support system. Finding the right therapist can be nearly as challenging as finding the right medication; what works for one person may fail in spectacular fashion for another. Personally, I’m one for whom my circle of support was the only thing that truly helped me manage my MDD. Happiness became a conscious decision I had to make every day, and experience has taught me which of my coping mechanisms are the most beneficial for me. The love and understanding of those around me aid in keeping my “mass” as low as possible, and when it reaches a critical point, I can always reach out to them for help.

No matter what method a person uses to manage their depression, if it’s not harming the sufferer or others around them, no one else has a say in whether it’s the “right” approach or not. Yes, I understand that some medications have rather nasty reputations for the side effects they can produce. However, if a person feels that their meds are a bigger help than a hazard, then don’t try to cram essential oils up their noses, vitamins down their throats, or sunshine up their asses. You’re only adding to their mass.

Unfortunately, some psychiatrists do more harm than good by trying to find the quickest way to manage the symptoms. They treat their patients like lab rats, prescribing the most “promising” (aka expensive) new medications that haven’t been tested nearly long enough to observe any long-term damage they could eventually cause. When they observe an improvement, they pat themselves on the back and consider the job done. If the patient reports a different problem than the one with which they presented, they push another miracle pill onto the patient without considering the idea that the first pill might be causing the new problem. So-called medical “professionals” like this who play the doctor equivalent of “hit it and quit it” with patients are a large part of why the American medical system has become such a joke in the rest of the developed world. If all doctors were as interested in resolving their patients’ problems as they seem to be in throwing a pill at them, employing the “wait-and-see” method, and getting to charge them for follow-up visits, the WHO might not have given the US health care system the rank of 37th-best in the world in 2018.

Okay, that last bit was a rant, and it’s over now.

In conclusion, I hope this has been an insightful look into the minds of those who suffer from depression. If not, then I hope that those who have the disorder found it relatable. In any case, the more people understand the difference between “feeling blue” and actual depression, the faster the misconceptions about this condition can be replaced with compassion. One day, we may understand enough about MDD that we’ll be able to find a permanent solution. Until then, the 300 million people around the world who have this illness ask those who don’t to be patient with us… we’re doing the best we can against an enemy that modern medicine still doesn’t fully comprehend.

[mynumenorean-blog]

Physics and Philosophy: Depression is Like Gravity

When a star runs out of fuel and collapses under its own weight, it super-compresses into an infinitely small and dense point called a singularity. We never see this because this itty-bitty singularity has an enormous gravitational field around it that’s so powerful, not even light can escape it. In fact, the only things that have escaped are select radioactive waves that will, in theory, eventually cause the black hole itself to dissipate into nothingness.

In a way, this is also what happens to people with clinical depression. We collapse under the weight of our mental and emotional burdens. Our personalities, passions, and interests super-compress to the point to where even we can’t see them, surrounded by a near-impenetrable field of unwarranted, all-encompassing sadness and pain. The light given by family, friends, and other loved ones becomes all but invisible to us, and anything we send out from this abyss is just as harmful to ourselves as to others.

Unfortunately, we’re no closer to permanently fixing depression than we are to turning black holes back into stars. While there are some of us who respond well to conventional treatment, many of us find that regular therapy and medication just don’t cut it. To make matters worse, those who are lucky enough to not have this condition find it difficult to understand; some even deny that it’s anything that exercise, vitamins, and a deliberately chipper attitude can’t fix. Anyone with a shred of decency who’s kept up with modern science knows that labor pains are real, being gay isn’t a choice, and white people aren’t fundamentally better than any other kinds of people. Why, then, are we still taking backwards, outdated approaches to mental illnesses?

Modern physics tells us that so long as you steer clear of a black hole’s event horizon (the outer boundary, and the only part of it we can really observe), there’s still hope of not being pulled in by all that nasty gravity. However, the closer you are to it, the greater the speed at which you’d need to be travelling to elude the black hole’s gravitational pull. Similarly, most who suffer from Major Depressive Disorder can remember the event (or series of events) that lead to the onset of their condition. The pain, anger, and misery they inspired bind themselves to the center of a person’s consciousness, and anyone who approaches them afterwards is at risk of this malicious miasma interacting with their own day-to-day routine. Like gravity, it can reach out and touch anyone or anything in the sufferer’s life, twisting and distorting their perception of even the most cherished pieces of their lives until they no longer associate any feelings with them at all. While in its throes, some find that they must distance themselves from the sufferer to avoid being slowly consumed by their negativity.

To put things into perspective, a normal person has “gravity” that’s no stronger than that of Earth; just the right amount of pressure to ensure healthy growth. Clinical depression sufferers typically have an excess of the stress hormone cortisol, which causes certain areas of the brain to shrink and others to enlarge. An excess of gravity, on the other hand, would cause many parts of our bodies to be squashed down towards earth while causing blood pressure and production to increase. If it continues to grow, then eventually, it’s, “’Pop’ goes the human.” Much like gravity, too much cortisol can make a person “pop” both physically and mentally, as it’s been linked to weight gain, emotional outbursts, and suicidal behavior.

Even one’s sense of time is affected by both depression and gravity. The latter of the two literally curves the fabric of space time, causing it to flow more slowly than it would otherwise have done. The stronger the gravitational field, the more sluggishly time progresses. There is also a sense of timelessness in the minds of the depressed; one’s perception of time becomes altered and they often have difficulty keeping up with the pace of life. They’re stuck at the fixed points wherein their “gravity” increased, and forward progression can often move at as glacial a pace as George R. R. Martin’s writing (I love you, George, but two thirds of the Star Wars franchise were finished faster than it took you to not finish ASoIaF). They often feel that they’re standing still in a world that never stops moving, which exacerbates an already profound sense of alienation. The greater the depression, the more pronounced the sense of timelessness.

So, what’s one to do with all this information? How will knowing this change anything? Well, if we continue to draw parallels between MDD and the universe’s most abundant fundamental force, then we’ll realize that neither of these things are linear forces. Gravity can be understood as a curvature in space-time, whereas Major Depressive Disorder could be considered a “curvature” in the neural network. Both represent deviations from what is typically observed. There are very real physical differences between the typical human brain and one afflicted with MDD. Stop telling people with the disorder to “just get more exercise,” “go outside more,” “get over it,” or other such tripe. While time outdoors and physical activity are seldom bad ideas, they’re not a cure for the condition, so stop pretending they’ll fix depressed people. A better course of action would be simply to offer love and support; show them that you accept them as they are and will always be there to help them in whatever way you can.

Let’s also remember that gravity works in direct relation to the mass of celestial objects; the greater the mass, the stronger the gravitational pull. Some clinically depressed persons find that they can reduce their “mass” through regular therapy, while others must take prescription medications to chemically reduce it. Many require both. What most therapists will agree on, however, is that one of the most crucial factors in learning to cope with MDD is having a strong support system. Finding the right therapist can be nearly as challenging as finding the right medication; what works for one person may fail in spectacular fashion for another. Personally, I’m one for whom my circle of support was the only thing that truly helped me manage my MDD. Happiness became a conscious decision I had to make every day, and experience has taught me which of my coping mechanisms are the most beneficial for me. The love and understanding of those around me aid in keeping my “mass” as low as possible, and when it reaches a critical point, I can always reach out to them for help.

No matter what method a person uses to manage their depression, if it’s not harming the sufferer or others around them, no one else has a say in whether it’s the “right” approach or not. Yes, I understand that some medications have rather nasty reputations for the side effects they can produce. However, if a person feels that their meds are a bigger help than a hazard, then don’t try to cram essential oils up their noses, vitamins down their throats, or sunshine up their asses. You’re only adding to their mass.

Unfortunately, some psychiatrists do more harm than good by trying to find the quickest way to manage the symptoms. They treat their patients like lab rats, prescribing the most “promising” (aka expensive) new medications that haven’t been tested nearly long enough to observe any long-term damage they could eventually cause. When they observe an improvement, they pat themselves on the back and consider the job done. If the patient reports a different problem than the one with which they presented, they push another miracle pill onto the patient without considering the idea that the first pill might be causing the new problem. So-called medical “professionals” like this who play the doctor equivalent of “hit it and quit it” with patients are a large part of why the American medical system has become such a joke in the rest of the developed world. If all doctors were as interested in resolving their patients’ problems as they seem to be in throwing a pill at them, employing the “wait-and-see” method, and getting to charge them for follow-up visits, the WHO might not have given the US health care system the rank of 37th-best in the world in 2018.

Okay, that last bit was a rant, and it’s over now.

In conclusion, I hope this has been an insightful look into the minds of those who suffer from depression. If not, then I hope that those who have the disorder found it relatable. In any case, the more people understand the difference between “feeling blue” and actual depression, the faster the misconceptions about this condition can be replaced with compassion. One day, we may understand enough about MDD that we’ll be able to find a permanent solution. Until then, the 300 million people around the world who have this illness ask those who don’t to be patient with us… we’re doing the best we can against an enemy that modern medicine still doesn’t fully comprehend.