143 SelfWork: Is Depression Simply A Chemical Imbalance? Pt. 2 The Role of Stress and Trauma
The SelfWork Podcast
Margaret Robinson Rutherford PhD
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 August 2019
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome. If you've listened to the previous episode, you know that explaining depression as a "chemical imbalance" is far too simple for such a complex process. Today I'm once again using a very well-written article by a team at Harvard as a guide. Today we'll focus on the non-neurological factors that have a tremendous influence on whether or not you could become depressed -- specifically stress, trauma, medical illnesses and medications themselves. And I throw in some of my own observations and thoughts. And as always, there's a focus on treatment -- or what you can do about it.
The listener email format is different today! On my website (and within the show notes) there’s now an icon from SpeakPipe which invites you to leave me a message for use on the podcast. This listener's question is a poignant one. She and her husband have been booted out of her daughter's life, who seems to have a history of significant emotional problems and is in therapy. So the question is how this mother could approach this very painful estrangement from her daughter as she wonders if the therapy itself is encouraging this behavior.
Important links:
Episode 091 on decreasing stress through mindfulness
SelfWork Episode 109 on the use of a timeline
Another more recent episode (121) on healing from trauma
You can hear more about depression and many other topics by listening to my podcast, SelfWork with Dr. Margaret Rutherford. Subscribe to this website and receive her weekly blog posts and podcasts!
If you’d like to join my FaceBook closed group, then click here and answer the membership questions! Welcome!
My new book entitled Perfectly Hidden Depression will be arriving November 1, 2019 and you can pre-order here! Its message is specifically for those with a struggle with strong perfectionism which acts to mask underlying emotional pain. But the many self-help techniques described can be used by everyone who chooses to begin to address emotions long hidden away that are clouding and sabotaging your current life.
And there’s a new way to send me a message! You can record by clicking below and ask your question or make a comment. You’ll have 90 seconds to do so and that time goes quickly. By recording, you’re giving SelfWork (and me) permission to use your voice on the podcast. I’ll look forward to hearing from you!
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| 0:00.0 | This is self-work and I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford. |
| 0:13.0 | At self-work we'll discuss psychological and emotional issues common in today's world |
| 0:19.0 | and what to do about them. |
| 0:20.0 | I'm Dr. Margaret and self-work is a podcast dedicated to you taking just a few minutes today for your own self-work. |
| 0:29.0 | Hello and welcome or welcome back to self-work. I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford, I'm a clinical |
| 0:35.2 | psychologist and I've had a practice in Fayette, Arkansas for well over now 25 years. |
| 0:41.2 | But I began podcasting three years ago almost because I wanted to reach |
| 0:46.2 | out to people to extend the walls of my practice so to speak. Maybe you're someone who's already |
| 0:52.4 | in therapy and you're interested in psychological emotional issues. |
| 0:56.0 | Maybe you've just been diagnosed with anxiety or depression or you're having a relationship problem that you just can't seem to solve, or maybe you're in that third group that might never darken the door of a therapist, but are just curious enough to listen to a podcast where you're kind of safe. The other reason is because |
| 1:16.3 | I think mental health treatment and mental illness itself is not well |
| 1:20.8 | understood and so if I can offer you at least my thoughts about what |
| 1:25.4 | good therapy is and what good treatment modalities are then perhaps I can make a |
| 1:31.1 | contribution to trying to counteract what I really think is ignorance and |
| 1:37.0 | misunderstanding. |
| 1:39.4 | Last week's episode was on depression, it's not just a chemical imbalance and that was part one and we |
| 1:44.8 | covered mostly brain structures and neurotransmitters and genetic predisposition. |
| 1:51.6 | Hopefully that was interesting to you. Today we're |
| 1:55.1 | going to be focused on more of the non-ne neurological things that are connected |
| 2:00.0 | significantly with depression, stress, trauma, medical illnesses and medications themselves. |
| 2:07.4 | Like the last episode, I'm using an article that was written by Harvard Researchers, and again |
| 2:12.0 | that article link will be included in the |
... |
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