{"id":9970,"date":"2014-05-26T03:29:32","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T03:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/2014\/05\/26\/sunkissedsigh-so-depression-is-like-the-rewards\/"},"modified":"2014-05-26T03:29:32","modified_gmt":"2014-05-26T03:29:32","slug":"sunkissedsigh-so-depression-is-like-the-rewards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/2014\/05\/26\/sunkissedsigh-so-depression-is-like-the-rewards\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

sunkissedsigh<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

so depression is like the rewards system in your brain pretty much shuts down. normally, there are things you do that you know make you feel good. the thing is so easy for you to do that you don\u2019t even have to think about it too much.<\/p>\n

when the rewards system starts to weaken, it gets more complicated. sometimes doing the thing doesn\u2019t feel as good. you start to question why you do the thing, if you\u2019re even good at the thing, if you even deserve the thing\u2014because now when you do it, that rewarding feeling is weak or absent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

and, gradually, you stop doing the thing at all, or only manage to do it with great effort and a lot of pep talks or tough love before and during.\u00a0<\/p>\n

that\u2019s depression. things stop feeling good. little things, from cleaning up a mess or eating well or getting up early\u2014they don\u2019t seem worth it. and the big things, like getting a job or following what used to be your passions or studying for exams\u2014why bother? your brain can\u2019t respond to it properly anyway.<\/p>\n

most people with depression also have anxiety. anxiety is when your brain amps up the risk factor. maybe it\u2019s just a few specific things that set off the alarms, or maybe there are too many to handle. things that made you nervous before now paralyze and consume you. combined with depression, too many things feel like they\u2019re high risk and low reward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

depression and anxiety aren\u2019t just feelings. the feelings are the symptoms, like a phlegmy cough or severe joint pain. the cause is as invisible to the eye as a cold virus, but it still causes damage.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

sunkissedsigh: so depression is like the rewards system in your brain pretty much shuts down. normally, there are things you do that you know make you feel good. the thing is so easy for you to do that you don\u2019t even have to think about it too much. when the rewards system starts to weaken, … Continue reading <\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[33],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9970"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}