Is this really the exact cause of depression?

Adding to the wealth of neurobiological research that supports the human givens theory of depression is this Stanford study (reported here as the 'Exact cause of depression revealed') on how neural motivation pathways are found to be depleted in severely depressed brains.

But is this really the exact 'cause' of depression? We wouldn't say so. When you look at the bigger picture, it's obvious that what happens in the brain is not the first step in the cycle of depression. Something has to happen to make those motivation pathways exhausted in the first place, and the authors of this research might benefit from a bigger organising idea to make sense of the data which, as we shall see, provides implications beyond drug treatment for lifting depression.

Here's our organising idea behind the real cause of depression:

When a person starts worrying about innate needs not being met, this results in an excess of unresolved emotional arousals in the brain that must be resolved. This excess of unresolved emotional arousals can only be resolved in one way, through dreaming in REM sleep, and, as the increased REM sleep of depressed people shows, depressed people do indeed dream a lot more than non depressed people.

But how does this impact motivation pathways?

Too much REM sleep leads to the exhaustion of motivation pathways as dreaming continually fires the orientation (motivation) response - and it's these exhausted motivation pathways in depressed brains that are now visible through studies like the Standford one.

Recognising the importance of getting innate emotional needs provides gives far more implications for treatment of depression quickly, effectively and without drugs. See peer reviewed research in which it is recommend that human givens treatment for mild to moderate depression be fully included in NICE guidelines.

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why-we-dream.com - the expectation fulfilment theory of dreaming sheds light on so many previously unexplained topics from dreaming, and hypnosis to psychosis and why we forget our dreams.

lift-depression.com - focusing on treating depression, this website covers the link between REM sleep and depression.

humangivenscollege.com/courses/cycle-of-depression - effective, evidence based training on understanding the cycle of depression from Human Givens College.