Posted: Jan 21, 08 7:35am

Is what we see, hear, touch, smell and taste real or perception? It is both. Objects have a reality outside of each individual's perception. If you run headfirst into an aluminum light pole, you will bend, not it. Even pain is a perception. If you are running on a few milligrams of OxyContin, you may not feel pain, but the broken bones and bruised face you receive will be there bearing witness to youre decision to violate the laws of concrete reality which states, if you are not looking, even if there wasn't a pole there, you will hit it face-first.

So, when someone says, "Its a lousy day today!" is it a lousy day or is that just their perception. Say it is freezing cold, snowing to beat the band, the wind chill factor fourteen below zero, does that make it a lousy day? Not necessarily. If you are a polar bear, you might say, "It's a lovely day ... for ice fishing.

What is real? Objects are real but so are perceptions because we act upon them. If you perceive that the person approaching you is dangerous, you may run, look away from him or her or blow your police whistle, if you are really paranoid. The person amy be a tough looking policeman risking his life to protect yours or a hugger mugger out to steal your diamond rings and all your things. Who really knows?

Now that I've completely worn out your patience (my perception), let me get to my point. I'll put it in caps:

DEPRESSION ALTERS PERCEPTIONS.

When you are depressed, you believe the world is an impossibly difficult place to navigate. You lose the ability to concentrate so you will say, "It isn't easy to read and understand what I see, hear, smell, taste or touch."

When you are depressed, every activity from work tasks to hygiene to sex will become so difficult to perform that you may avoid it. Relationships with family become impossible to sustain and children become terrorists who are put on earth to make your life a nightmare.

There are two basic varieties of depression:

1. Situational depression. When someone close dies, when we lose a job, when the dog poo-poos on the Aubusson carpet, we become depressed because something that disrupted our equilibrium happened. A person with a normal chemical balance and a healthy upbringing which gives him or her coping tools will recover in a reasonable amount of time from any depressing event. Even a person who has no coping skills will eventually recover because the body will not allow continued depression.

2. Clinical depression. Clinical depression is both genetically linked and sociologically linked and both are needed to trigger it. Clinical depression is a flaw in the system that excretes the hormones adrenaline and serotonin. Both are the body's own antidepressants. They escalate excitability and elevate the receptivity of the neurons in the brain to receive the messages of: "Get off your ass and do something!" "See the world, at worst, as normally neutral." "You are okay and ready to perform."

When the serotonin and adrenalin do not flow as needed, the brain is not excited by life. It is in neutral and depression sets in because there is nothing that is experienced as uplifting. We need two things working: External stimulations and internal normalcy which is the hormones flowing when they are needed to where they are needed.

Depression in wither case is NOT sadness. Depression is the lack of perception of positives.

Here is an example of how a normally functioning body and a depressed one will react to the same situation.

Event: The dog dies.

Normal: This is so terrible. He was my friend and companion. I will miss him. I have to make arrangements for a proper funeral for him. I'm so sad. The kids will be home soon. I have to fix dinner. I really don't feel like it, but life, after all, goes on.

Depressed: My poor dog died. I want to die too. I have nothing more to live for. (The phone rings). How can I answer the phone? My dog died. Don't they understand? They are so inconsiderate. The world just stinks. "Mommy, I'm hungry." "Fix your own dinner. Can't you see how unhappy I am. Fido is dead. Don't you have any feelings for me?"

The twisted perceptions are why, when a person has a clinical depression, that medication to enhance the flow of hormones to the brain and therapy to help the person understand how his or her perceptions are interfering with his or her life and the lives of everyone around him or her.

How do you know the difference?

Situational depression comes on suddenly from a bump in reality and leaves slowly as the person works through the issue both in reality and in perceptions. You might say, "Yeah, I know I am down but let me enjoy my misery for a few more minutes. When else do I get the opportunity to sluff off all my duties?"

Clinical depression may arise out of reality but doesn't leave, doesn't get better and in fact continues getting worse. It may affect every aspect of a person's life. It will affect eating patterns (much more or much less than before). It will affect relationships (crankiness, negativity, irritability, rigidity). It affects all perceptions (food doesn't taste as good, nothing is funny or interesting, work is unmanageable, people don't understand, I am worthless.)

There are different types of clinical depression.

1. Late adolescent onset. Hits a person just as they reach mid to late teens and quickly cycles down to stop regular activities (school, relationships, hygiene, health). Often seen by parents as "It's just normal adolescence. He'll get over it." That can lead to suicide or worse.

2. Post-partum depression. Comes a few hours to a few months after delivering a baby. It can strike with suddenness and intensity. it is often accompanied by psychotic symptoms such as a belief that you have to murder your own infant. This kind of depression is often so severe that it requires brief hospitalization to stabilize for the sake of the mother and the baby. It is almost always treatable with prompt and proper intervention.

3. Adult onset. Can occur at any age. Usually follows an event that would upset anyone - death of a parent or child - but this person doesn't come out of it. Treatable with therapy and medication and 99% of people who follow treatment and have a qualified psychiatrist prescribing and a qualified therapist interacting with the person and when necessary, the family.

4. Late onset. Often older people whose lives have dwindled by illness or deaths of significant others can fall into a deep depression that isn't even noticed. Pop's just being "ornery." No, Pop is clinically depressed and needs treatment with a gerontology-oriented psychiatrist who knows that the dose of meds that works with a strapping 45 year old active male will kill Pop! and a therapist skilled in understanding the issues of aging.

The only kind of people who can not get depressed are dead people. If that didn't get a small smile out of you, you may be depressed. It wouldn't hurt to get a 35,000 mile tune up. If your car got sluggish, you'd take 'er to a mechanic, wouldn't you? Aren't you worth almost as much as your '74 Chevy?

Lollipops and unicorns.