Depressive realism is the theory that depressed people see the world more realistically than others.
Out of 28 different symptoms of depression, these four are the most important.
“Human beings are seekers — we seek meaning in our relationships, our work, our faith, in all areas of social life.”
The conclusion comes from 21,000 Swedish twins who completed personality tests.
The conclusion comes from 21,000 Swedish twins who completed personality tests.
Negative emotionality is the strongest risk factor for depression among personality traits, research finds.
Negative emotionality is essentially being highly neurotic and involves finding it hard to deal with stress and experiencing a lot of negative emotions and mood swings.
People who are neurotic are more likely to experience negative emotions like fear, jealousy, guilt, worry and envy.
Some neurotic people can be quite shy and self-conscious.
The good news is that a depressive personality can be changed, contrary to what many people think.
The study’s authors write:
“…personality is at least somewhat malleable, especially in youth, but may forecast the onset of depression years in advance, which makes traits a potentially attractive means of identifying individuals at risk and informing selection of interventions.”
In addition, other aspects of personality can protect against the disadvantages of negative emotionality.
Being high in conscientiousness and an extravert together has a protective effect on people who are highly neurotic.
The conclusion comes from two studies — one looked at around 21,000 Swedish twins who completed personality tests.
They were followed up over 25 years later and asked about any experience of depression.
The results revealed that negative emotionality was key and that genetic factors were important in the development of depression.
Professor Kenneth S. Kendler, who led the study, said:
“The personality trait of neuroticism – perhaps better understood as “negative emotionality” is a strong risk factor of major depression.
Our study shows that this occurs largely because levels of neuroticism are an index of the genetic liability to depression.”
The second study reviewed many other studies on the link between personality and depression.
It also found that neuroticism or negative emotionality is strongly linked to depression.
The authors conclude that:
“Current evidence suggests that depression is linked to traits such as neuroticism/negative emotionality, extraversion/positive emotionality, and conscientiousness.
Moreover, personality characteristics appear to contribute to the onset and course of depression through a variety of pathways.”
Although links are sometimes found between depression and being introverted, as well as being low on conscientiousness, it is neuroticism that has the greatest link to depression.
The studies were was published in the journals Annual Review of Clinical Psychology and Archives of General Psychiatry (Klein et al., 2011; Kendler et al., 2006).
Two-thirds of people with a major depressive disorder had a history of childhood trauma.
Major depression is the most common mental health disorder in the U.S. and many other countries.
During this type of weather, people are more likely to experience severe symptoms of mental illness, such as depression.
On balance, they found that the vitamin supplement was more effective than placebo at reducing depression symptoms.
Depression is passed down to children by more than just genetics.
While the effects were weaker than antidepressant medication, there were also far fewer side-effects.
While the effects were weaker than antidepressant medication, there were also far fewer side-effects.
High doses of vitamin B6 supplements reduce feelings of depression and anxiety, a trial finds.
After taking the supplements every day for a month, people reported feeling their mental health improve.
While the effects were weaker than antidepressant medication, there were also far fewer side-effects.
The amount of vitamin B6 ingested in the study exceeds what can realistically be obtained from a normal diet, so supplements are required.
B6 supplements are thought to work by providing a calming effect on the brain.
B6 is known to have a role in how the body manufactures Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).
GABA typically has a relaxing effect on the mind, hence higher levels of GABA in the brain are linked to lower levels of anxiety.
Dr David Field, the study’s first author, explained:
“The functioning of the brain relies on a delicate balance between the excitatory neurons that carry information around and inhibitory ones, which prevent runaway activity.
Recent theories have connected mood disorders and some other neuropsychiatric conditions with a disturbance of this balance, often in the direction of raised levels of brain activity.
Vitamin B6 helps the body produce a specific chemical messenger that inhibits impulses in the brain, and our study links this calming effect with reduced anxiety among the participants.”
The study included over 300 people, some of whom took vitamin B6, others vitamin B12 and the remainder a placebo.
Only vitamin B6 helped to reduce levels of anxiety and depression.
The amounts given were 50 times the recommended daily dose, which is why it would be hard to get these levels from a normal diet.
Dr Field explained:
“Many foods, including tuna, chickpeas and many fruits and vegetables, contain Vitamin B6.
However, the high doses used in this trial suggest that supplements would be necessary to have a positive effect on mood.
It is important to acknowledge that this research is at an early stage and the effect of Vitamin B6 on anxiety in our study was quite small compared to what you would expect from medication.
However, nutrition-based interventions produce far fewer unpleasant side effects than drugs, and so in the future people might prefer them as an intervention.
To make this a realistic choice, further research is needed to identify other nutrition-based interventions that benefit mental wellbeing, allowing different dietary interventions to be combined in future to provide greater results.
One potential option would be to combine Vitamin B6 supplements with talking therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to boost their effect.”
→ Related: Intense exercise increases the levels of two common neurotransmitters that are linked to depression.
The study was published in the journal Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental (Field et al., 2022).
