Monday, March 3, 2014

Highlight: Letter to the Editors; from Susie Freud of Vienna, Austria

Dear Editors of “Confessions About Your Depression”,
            Although I respect your perspective and idea that depression stems from biological factors, I have to insist that they are utter hogwash. Depression can be better explained with the psychodynamic approach to psychology, and is often caused by suppressed or unconscious childhood experiences. People who suffer from depression are likely suffering from repressed memories of traumatizing or difficult events. For example, a child who has very demanding, neurotic, or inconsiderate parents will grow up in a hostile environment. This hostile environment may leave the child feeling neglected, alone, sad, or angry. However, the child may not express his or her feelings out of fear or obligation, so his or her feelings of sadness and anger may become repressed. The child may then subconsciously dwell on these feelings later in life and become depressed as a result. Moreover, children who are abused as children, whether verbally, mentally, physically, or sexually, may repress their memories of the abuse and consequent feelings. These feelings could later emerge and cause the person to feel worthless, which could lead them into becoming depressed. Unconscious thoughts or experiences from a person’s childhood can cause the person to develop depression later on, although they may be unaware of the repressed memories or thoughts. Overall, although your blog’s biological approach to depression has some ground, the psychodynamic approach is clearly more valid.
                                                                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                                                                        Susie Freud

No comments:

Post a Comment