News of 48-year-old Chinese American singer CoCo Lee, who died at the hospital after a suicide attempt left her in a coma on July 5, shocked the world. Ms. Lee’s suicide has once again aroused widespread attention to the effects of depression.
According to World Health Organization statistics, nearly 1 billion people worldwide suffered from depression in 2019—14 percent of those were adolescents. Suicides caused by depression account for more than 1 percent of deaths, of which 58 percent occur before age 50. Women are about 50 percent more likely to commit depression-led suicide than men.
In the first COVID-19 year, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25 percent. In addition, depression is also a leading cause of disability. People with severe mental health problems die on average 10 to 20 years earlier than the general public.
The causes of depression are multi-fold, with social, psychological, and biological factors. People who have experienced extreme adverse events in their lives (e.g., job loss, bereavement, traumatic events) are more likely to develop the condition. Depression, in turn, leads to greater stress and dysfunction, impacting one’s life and exacerbating depressive symptoms.
Depression is closely related to and affected by physical health. People with other disorders such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and respiratory diseases may also experience depression due to difficulties associated with managing such conditions.
Depression is classified as mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the number and severity of symptoms and how they affect one’s bodily functions. The following eight symptoms can be associated with depression:
- Loss of interest in life’s activities.
- Lack of concentration.
- Intense feelings of guilt or denial of self-worth.
- Hopelessness about the future.
- Thoughts of death or suicide.
- Sleep disturbances.
- Changes in appetite or body weight.
- Feeling extremely tired or low in stamina.
A study published in JAMA Psychiatry in 2020 showed that adults with depression have increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death, and the more symptoms one has, the greater the risk. The researchers followed 145,862 men and women aged 35 to 70 in 21 countries for an average of 9.3 years. It found that people with four or more depression symptoms had a 20 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and death, compared with those with fewer than four.
In May, a study in Translational Psychiatry, a peer-reviewed medical journal published by Nature Publishing Group showed that the proportion of patients with depression suffering from digestive system diseases is higher than that of the general public. In a meta-analysis of data from 807,553 people in the UK Biobank, researchers found that a genetic predisposition to depression was positively associated with 12 gastrointestinal disorders, and such associations remained even after adjustment for multiple comparisons. Compared with the general public, people with a genetic predisposition to depression had the following higher odds of disease:
According to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, treatments for depression include lifestyle changes, psychotherapy, antidepressant medication, and neurostimulation therapies including electroconvulsive therapy, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, vagus nerve stimulation, and deep brain stimulation.
Dr. Yang Jingduan, an expert in integrative medicine in the United States, said on the NTDTV program “Health 1+1” that treatment should not be based solely on changing a person’s behavior—but the understanding of the factors behind the patient’s behavior—and treating those factors.
Dr. Yang further explained that there are limitations in current medical treatments that emphasize medication, and the side effects of drugs might risk an increase in suicidal inclination. For example, people with undermethylation (a condition that interferes with the production of glutathione) might find it effective to take serotonin absorption inhibitors, and those with overmethylation (low-folate disorder) may have some side effects.
In addition, the metabolism and processing of drugs are different for each individual’s genetic behavior. People with fast drug metabolism will not achieve the desired effect—while people with slow drug metabolism will not be able to metabolize even a small dose, resulting in serious side effects.
Dr. Yang has treated many patients with depression during his years of clinical practice. He shared:
“Nutrients can regulate many mental problems and improve the state of a person. Drug therapy based on understanding the patient’s metabolic characteristics and biochemical status can also be a good option. There are even more therapeutic possibilities for patients with trauma, such as psycho-emotional therapy, spiritual energy therapy, and the like, which can minimize the impact of past trauma and change the body’s response to it.”
Zhuge Mingyang, an independent writer, told The Epoch Times:
“People must learn to be open-minded, and understand there are gains and losses in everything. People must also realize that life is by far the most precious thing. It is composed of two distinct parts, the physical (body), and the spiritual (mind), which are interdependent and indispensable. As human beings, the one thing we cannot take lightly is life—including our own. That’s why both the religious and the spiritual communities believe that killing or taking one’s own life is a sinful act.”
Dr. Yang also emphasized that human life is very precious, and the soul needs to cultivate through the body and experience joy, anger, sorrow, pain, or temptation in the human body to fully transform our spirit. Therefore, we should never destroy the body, otherwise, the soul will find nowhere to cultivate itself.
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