Depression and The Fight-Or-Flight Response
Depression occurs when people’s self-worth slowly begins to erode as the hide in silence feeling alone and worthless and lose hope in the world believing that they cannot make a difference. In many cases it leads to apathy and sadness, but in many cases, it can also lead to anger.
Humans are biologically predisposed to respond to stress with a “fight or flight” response. Stress is often triggered by some form of threat, whether physical or mental, whether the fear comes from bodily harm of for the inability to be able to feed their family. In any and all cases the individual feels vulnerable and unprotected facing a situation that they believe cannot be overcome.
While in many cases depression leads to withdrawal in others the individual becomes angry. The withdrawal being the “flight” side while the anger and aggression becomes the “fight” response. In many circumstances the anger becomes a more powerful response often to prove to ones’ self that they are not cowardly, and the aggression will release them from that fear itself.
So, getting angry is often the result of coming to the end of the rope with depression and lashing out. Sometimes, people with depression feel so fed up with themselves and the world that they decide to lash out, either verbally or physically. In fact, Sigmund Freud used to conceptualize depression as anger turned inward.
In the heat of the moment and being so engulfed by constant depression the individual doesn’t see their aggressive actions as a negative and incorrect action and justifies it by believing that they have had enough with their depressed condition and therefore anyone in their path becomes victim to their unjustified aggression.
Depression has been linked to the gut and improper nutrition has been linked to many illnesses and such oppressed feelings compiled with the pain and anguish of the illnesses are often revealed as sudden aggression.
While aggression has often been the result of those taking illegal drugs, one must be realistic enough to understand that the vast chemicals in the current manufacturing of packaged foods today and the improper nutritional habits of most people ingesting excess sugar and breaking down their nervous system and the body inner functions leads to aggression, confusion, pain, illnesses and despair. In fact Society today is far worse than those individuals being addicted to street drugs, the vast majority of our society is addicted to chemicals in our food and thus a society of unconscious drug abusers.
© Copyright – Hector Sectzer
