RAT 3 (actual) Flashcards
What are the causal factors of antidepressants?
Unknown, even among experts.
When given a medical treatment, what two things are patients given?
A drug (chemical effect) and a story (treatment expectations).
What did Irving Kirsch’s research reveal about antidepressants?
25% chemical, 50% placebo effect, 25% natural recovery.
What’s the relationship between grief and depression?
Depression may be grief for an unfulfilled life. Symptoms are similar.
Why are people living in poverty more likely to become depressed?
More stress, negative events, and fewer stabilizers.
What is endogenous depression?
Depression from internal malfunction.
What is reactive depression?
Depression from external life events.
What points are made regarding the biopsychosocial model for depression and anxiety?
All factors matter; environment may be as important as treatment.
What does being disconnected from work mean and how might it contribute to depression/anxiety?
Lack of fulfillment at work leads to stress and disengagement.
What is disempowerment, and how does it affect people?
No control at work leads to boredom and emotional detachment.
How are physical and mental health related to loneliness?
Physically: Higher cortisol, more illness, higher mortality.
Mentally: Loneliness leads to depression/anxiety.
Define loneliness.
An aversive state that motivates reconnection.
Why might depressed and anxious people receive less love?
They scan for threats, withdraw, and receive criticism instead of support.
What is the relationship between technology (including social media) and loneliness?
Creates an illusion of connection but isolates people.
What is the difference between meaningful values and junk values?
Meaningful = pursued for their own sake.
Junk = pursued for external rewards.
What are the reasons junk values contribute to depression and anxiety?
Harm relationships, prevent flow states, increase social comparison, fail to meet core needs.
What’s the significance of the ACEs study?
Greater trauma increases risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide.
Why might we prefer to think of depression and anxiety as brain diseases?
Simplifies distress, avoids personal meaning, aligns with pharmaceutical interests.
What is meant by labeling depression a ‘submission response?’
A biological signal to avoid conflict, like a low-status animal yielding.
What is the connection between nature and depression/anxiety?
Nature shrinks the ego and restores vitality.
What is the relationship between insecurity, identity, and depression/anxiety?
Identity issues requires reconnecting with meaningful work, community, and intrinsic values rather than seeking validation from unstable sources like social media, status, or consumer culture.
What does neuroplasticity have to do with depression and anxiety?
Brain changes based on experiences, reinforcing distress or recovery.
What is the role of genetics in depression and anxiety?
Genes exist but require environmental activation.
Why might we prefer to think about depression and anxiety as genetic or as originating in the brain?
Easier than addressing life dissatisfaction, avoids stigma, suits pharmaceutical interests, removes meaning.
Why might people in the United States have limited success when trying to be happier?
Focus on individual happiness instead of collective well-being.
Define social prescribing.
Doctors prescribe social activities for connection.
Why is the biggest job of the doctor (or other clinician) to listen?
People often need to be understood rather than simply diagnosed and given medication.
What is the connection between business cooperatives and alleviating depression/anxiety?
Workers gain control, autonomy, and purpose, reducing distress.
What point is made with the two questions: ‘What do you spend your money on?’ and ‘What do you really value?’
People buy things they don’t truly value.
What is sympathetic joy and what does meditation have to do with it?
Feeling happy for others. Meditation fosters this mindset.
What is the connection between meditation and psychedelics with regard to depression and anxiety?
Both shift perception, reducing attachment to distressing thoughts.
Why might a healthy relationship with the ego seem threatening?
Ego protects but can isolate; letting go feels vulnerable.
What is the value of sharing with another a shameful experience?
Reduces shame by receiving nonjudgmental support.
In what ways might a basic universal income affect depression and anxiety?
More time with family, job choice empowerment, human dignity.
How might depression and anxiety expose sanity?
They signal that current life conditions are unsustainable.
