Depression is that heavy blanket over a person's mind that makes him feel

hopeless, sad, and uninterested in the little joys in life. It messes with emotions and

thoughts, which would lead you to believe that depression is only about what's going on in

your head. But is it?

Hi and welcome back to on in your head. But is it?

Hi and welcome back to savvy psychologist. I'm Dr. J. Wu and every week I'll help you meet life's

challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and, as always, zero judgment.

One of the first patients I saw ever was this pleasant middle-aged man that came to therapy because his wife made him.

When he came in, the first thing he declared was, I'm not depressed, I'm not sad, I've got no reason to be sad, and I don't know why my wife thinks I'm not sad I've got no reason to be sad and I don't know why my wife thinks I'm depressed at all

At first I took his word for it. He genuinely seemed to have no complaints about the state of his life, which was pretty different from other

depressed people that I had known.

But as the meeting progressed, I felt heavier and heavier.

My body sunk into my chair,

and my gut felt like it was filled with lead.

Later, my supervisor even observed that

the pace of our conversation has slow to a crawl.

There was something very real, very physical, and very depressing in the room.

And I felt it with my body. Our society has made

major progress bringing depression this common and debilitating disease to

public awareness. We've all heard about how depression affects our

thoughts and emotions. It makes people less optimistic, more focused on negative

experiences, and less interested in things that they used to enjoy.

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