Magnesium and Other Nutritional Deficiencies
As the fourth most abundant mineral in the body, magnesium has been recognized as a co-factor for more than 300 enzymatic reactions in the body, and low levels of magnesium have been associated with a number of chronic diseases. Magnesium has shown great promise in the treatment of major depression and this article passage sums it up well:
“Case histories are presented showing rapid recovery (less than 7 days) from major depression using 125-300 mg of magnesium (as glycinate and taurinate) with each meal and at bedtime. Magnesium was found usually effective for treatment of depression in general use. Related and accompanying mental illnesses in these case histories including traumatic brain injury, headache, suicidal ideation, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, postpartum depression, cocaine, alcohol and tobacco abuse, hypersensitivity to calcium, short-term memory loss and IQ loss were also benefited.”
Magnesium is not the only nutritional component linked to depression in medical research. Other vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids have been studied relative to depression, including zinc, vitamin D, iron, folate, vitamin B-12, and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Given the research, it may be worth a conversation with your primary care physician or practitioner to explore the potential role of nutritional deficiencies.
Emotional Difficulties
Having low emotional abilities can contribute to depression, and difficulties in emotional regulation can be predictive of depression in early to middle adolescent youth. Emotional dysregulation or having difficulties regulating emotions is also a factor in major depressive disorders. It’s not your fault if you don’t have high emotional abilities because that is the thing that we are not teaching people. The great news is that you can learn emotional intelligence over time. Start with a simple technique to boost your mood, and then build on that by expanding your emotional vocabulary as you work to grow your emotional abilities. Thanks to the neuroplasticity of the brain, you can teach an old dog new tricks — so you can grow your emotional abilities with intentional actions over time.
Low Self-Esteem and Raging Inner Critics
According to the research, low self-esteem and self-criticism can either contribute to depression and anxiety or be part of the underlying cause. Dr. Joe Rubino is credited with the oft-repeated statistic that low self-esteem affects 85% of the population. While we may not know the exact number of people suffering, we know low self-esteem is common. You can build self-esteem by various means and you can tame your inner critic through intentional actions as well, both of which can help with depression.
Childhood Neglect, Abuse and Trauma
Something else that you are not responsible for and is not in your head is the impact that childhood neglect, abuse, maltreatment or trauma has had on you. You were a child. Yet, the research is clear that these things can cause or contribute to depression later in life. In 2019, Forbes reported that 70%-80% of people who participated in a study considered their family to be dysfunctional. Aside from any perception of dysfunction, it is also clear that parents and parental actions or influences can put children at risk for depression. Dysfunctional families can lead children to strive to be perfect to gain love, affection and attention. Perfectionism has been associated with depression, anxiety and other psychopathological situations — meaning it’s in your childhood and not in your head.
Anger Turned Inwards
According to Sigmund Freud, depression is anger turned inwards. While not everyone in the field of psychology agrees with that viewpoint, it does nonetheless have some reasonable research supporting it as a possibility. If neglect, abuse, maltreatment or trauma was present in your childhood, that would be a good reason to be angry. You might be in some denial about your childhood of origin, which is very normal. Yet, that doesn’t change the circumstances you grew up in. You can look inward and see if this applies and then take the actions to begin identifying, managing and processing your emotions and move toward healing.
Moving Toward Happiness
Depression is extremely common and I have great compassion for this difficult emotion and the factors that contribute to it. Hopefully, you can see that many causes of depression are not in your head. It can be one of the impacts of having a dysfunctional family, be rooted in some nutritional deficiencies or low self-esteem or be related to your having lower emotional abilities. What I know is that regardless of why you are feeling depressed, you can take intentional actions to move toward happiness because you don’t have to be stuck feeling depressed. I highly recommend that you fall down the rabbit hole and take an amazing road trip to happiness as described here, which will give you the trip plans to bring happiness into your life.
The information provided here is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider for advice concerning your specific situation.
