MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from Depression Anonymous DEPRESSION AS A DRUG  All of us feel blue from time to time. After all, sadness, sorrow, and grief are natural reactions to the loss of persons and things that are important to us. Feeling sad, we withdraw into a cocoon to soothe ourselves and adjust to the change in our life. We withdraw to nurse the wound of the loss. Feeling the pain, we inwardly search for its meaning, looking for a way of making sense of it. In this grieving process, we slowly let go of all the energy we used to put into what was lost and come to accept the void in our lives. If we do not succumb to the temptation of bitterness, the accepted pain of sorrow opens our hearts to new life and to empathy for others.  But sometimes the loss can seem unbearable and the sorrow overwhelming. The sadness reaches to the core of our being and a black cloud envelops us. We cannot escape the darkness. Our bodies, minds, and spirits become possessed. We cannot sleep or e...

  Tere is a strong and well-documented relationship between depression and suicide — but it’s not a simple cause-and-effect. Depression increases the risk of suicide, especially when it’s moderate to severe, but not everyone with depression becomes suicidal. 🧠 How Depression and Suicide Are Connected Depression distorts thinking : It can make people feel hopeless, helpless, and worthless — as if their pain will never end. Suicide may seem like a solution : In deep depression, people may believe that ending their life is the only way to escape emotional suffering. Isolation intensifies risk : Depression often leads to withdrawal from others, which removes protective factors like social support. Co-occurring issues matter : Substance abuse, trauma, and chronic illness can compound depression and increase suicide risk. About 60% of people who die by suicide have a mood disorder like depression or bipolar disorder. 🚨 Warning Signs to Watch For Talking about wanting to die or...

  1. Has Depression Increased, Decreased, or Remained the Same? The short answer: it has increased slightly . National surveys from the CDC and NIH show that rates of reported depression and anxiety remain higher than before the pandemic , especially among young adults and women. While the steep rise seen in 2020–2022 has leveled off, the baseline is still elevated. In 2025–2026, roughly one in five adults reports symptoms consistent with depression — a figure that used to hover closer to one in ten before 2020. The persistence of this higher level suggests that the social, economic, and psychological aftershocks of the pandemic have not fully resolved. 2. Causes of Depression (a brief litany) Depression rarely has a single cause. It is a confluence of biological, psychological, and social factors. Here’s a concise litany of contributors: Genetic predisposition and family history Chronic stress and burnout Trauma (past or recent) Isolation and loneliness Sleep disruption and ...

  Depression can run in families, but not in the way eye color or height do. What’s inherited is not a single “depression gene,” but a constellation of biological sensitivities — how the brain regulates mood, how stress hormones surge and settle, how sleep and appetite respond to change. These tendencies can make some people more vulnerable when life’s pressures mount. What It Is Genetic predisposition means that certain patterns in DNA influence how neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine function, how the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis manages stress, and how inflammation interacts with mood. Family history adds another layer: shared environments, learned coping styles, and emotional modeling. A parent’s way of handling despair or anxiety can become part of a child’s internal script. How It Contributes to Depression When biology and family experience intertwine, the threshold for depression can lower. A person may inherit a nervous system that reacts strongly to ...