Dr. Jameca CooperForensic Psychology Consultant, Emergence Psychological Services · Board Certified Counseling Psychologist and Forensic Psychology Consultant

Why is Depression painful? #pain #symptoms #disease #fyp #depression #shorts

18 Jun 2024 · 1 min

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In this short, Dr. Jameca Cooper explains why depression often feels painful and why many depressed individuals also report physical pain. She describes how the same brain pathways and neurotransmitters—particularly serotonin and norepinephrine—underlie both emotional distress and somatic sensations such as sore muscles, tightness, and inflammation‑related illness. Cooper notes that chronic pain is commonly alleviated by exercise and physical activity, yet people suffering from pain frequently avoid movement because it initially increases discomfort. She concludes that addressing physical pain, for example through exercise, can also help improve depressive symptoms, emphasizing the bidirectional relationship between pain and depression.

Chapters

Depression is painful. Depression can also cause pain. And what maybe all people don't know is that it's a reason for that. Some of those same brain pathways that involve pain and pain receptors also involve the same neurotransmitters that cause depression, such as serotonin and norepinephrine, which is why you see such a high rate of people who are depressed that also complain about pain. Or sore muscles, tightness, illness that results from inflammation, because the same pathways can cause it. Now, what's often the remedy or helps the situation of the chronic pain is exercise and physical activity, but usually it is the one thing that people with chronic pain refuse to do because it makes them be in more pain. But depression is painful, remember that. So if you can treat your pain, sometimes you can treat your depression.