Can you die from depression?

Let's see if there is a relationship between depression and the risk of dying from physical health problems.

In literary novels it is common to find stories of people who are so sad about losing the love of their lives that they die of grief. Their sadness is so great that their body can no longer cope and they end up dying with no apparent medical cause to explain it.

Stories are stories, but to what extent are they right? After all, in our everyday language there are countless expressions that relate to this belief. Grief seems to be not only painful but also harmful.

Can one die of depression? Can we be so sad that our heart can no longer beat? These questions are those that we are going to try to answer next.

Can one die of depression?

There are many stories that tell of people who, after having experienced the loss of someone very dear to them, fell into a deep depression that took their lives. It is not that they died because they ended their own lives, but that their grief was so great that their body could not take it any longer and they went to the other side, dying of sadness. To what extent are these kinds of stories right? Is it possible to die of depression?

Grief and sadness are not direct causes of clinical death.However, these emotions, along with others associated with depression, have been linked to the likelihood that an organically healthy person will eventually develop physical health problems such as Cardiovascular disease, or stop taking care of themselves and ignore symptoms of serious medical illness. In other words, depression can affect us so much that it actually leads us to die, although not directly, of course.

Depression is a very disabling mental disorder, so much so that it causes the sufferer to progressively give up.. People with depression find it difficult to maintain good health habits, such as eating a varied and healthy diet, exercising frequently or going to medical appointments. Their disorder may awaken in them a nihilistic feeling about life that, while not necessarily leading to suicide, does flood their mind with "what for" thoughts, feeling that striving to preserve life is not worth the effort or being less cautious.

In turn, people with chronic or serious physical illnesses are more likely to become depressed, which may cause them to be noncompliant with treatments or abandon healthy lifestyle habits. Ironically, this neglect to which patients with serious illnesses are subjected leads to a worsening of their health and, consequently, to greater mortality.

Higher risk in men

In a 2020 research published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, it was observed that men between the ages of 18 and 64 have a six times higher risk of death when suffering from depression.. In other words, the group most vulnerable to mortality associated with depression are young and middle-aged men, which is surprising considering that women have been the most likely to suffer from this mental disorder.

To say that men are more likely to die from depression is not entirely accurate. The long explanation would be that men with depression are at greater risk of dying because this mental disorder, coupled with the conception of what a man should be like in our society, means that they do not receive adequate treatment or care for their own health, which can lead to the point at which they suffer from a life-ending medical illness.

Men receive poorer treatment because they are less likely to seek professional help when they suffer from depression.. Although progress has been made in recent decades regarding the need to take care of mental health, many men still internalize that expressing emotions is a sign of weakness or that going to a psychologist or psychiatrist is "crazy". There are also still toxic ideas of masculinity, such as the idea that men cannot be emotional or require help in this regard.

It should also be noted that depression in men often presents with symptoms that do not seem typical of sadness, such as irritability or aggressiveness, which sometimes makes depressive symptoms go unnoticed or more difficult for mental health professionals to detect. Depressed men may have greater violent behaviors and addictions than women, which also puts them at a higher risk of mortality.

Relationship between depression and heart disease

In recent years, the relationship between depression and heart disease has been analyzed. The reason why it has been decided to address this particular relationship is that heart disease is one of the leading causes of mortality.The case that depression alters cardiovascular health would be proof that, albeit indirectly, this psychological condition can lead to a person's death.

Current studies have pointed out that suffering from depression, moderate or severe, is a risk factor when it comes to suffering a cardiac problem, such as heart failure.

As the symptoms of depression worsen, there is an increased risk of developing a heart condition and dying from it.. So, the notion that one can die from depression, in the sense that it is the characteristic sadness of this condition that makes it possible for us to die, is partly true. If the person suffering from depression does not see a professional, pay attention to the state of his or her body or monitor his or her symptoms, it is to be expected that his or her life expectancy will progressively decrease.

Over the last decade, several studies have established a direct connection between the hormonal imbalances caused by depression and the different effects it has on the heart. Apparently, depression increases the release of hormones associated with stress, which induce inflammatory phenomena or atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

Another proof of how depression or, at least, sadness can lead to death in some cases is that there is research that link the experience of a recent bereavement with the death of the person experiencing it.. After the death of a partner, one is more vulnerable, susceptible to heart disease or stroke. This risk is much higher between 14 and 18 days after the death of the loved one.

About broken heart syndrome

Broken heart syndrome, also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or stress-induced cardiomyopathy, is a muscular condition of the heart that appears after having lived an experience of great emotional distress..

This syndrome can appear in healthy people with no previous history of cardiac disturbance. Although it is a temporary ailment of the musculature of the heart, it can be serious enough to cause major problems, including death.

Although it remains a relatively understudied medical condition to this day, relevant data have been found. It has been found that approximately 90% of people affected by broken heart syndrome are older women (+66 years). (+66 years). Old age is the period of life in which there are more possibilities of losing a spouse and, if we combine this with the fact that women have a longer life expectancy, it is common for them to be the ones who become widows, having to go through the grief of having lost their husbands.

However, this should not lead us to make the mistake of thinking that men and younger people cannot suffer from this problem. Any person is susceptible to Takotsubo's diseaseIf you have lived through a highly stressful and depressive experience, you may be prone to develop this condition.

The symptoms associated with broken heart syndrome is similar to that of myocardial infarction, and they are the ones that come:

• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Hypotension
• Arrhythmia
• Fainting or collapse

It should be noted that these symptoms are not usually fatal, although if severe they can be life-threatening. In fact, only 10% of Takotsubo patients have a real risk of death, especially if they present symptoms such as severe hypotension, decreased consciousness and pulmonary edema. Be that as it may, being caused by an emotionally tense situation, in which there may be depressive symptoms, it is another link between depression and death.

The cause of this condition is not known with certainty.. The main theory available today is that a large amount of stress-related hormones are released into the bloodstream after experiencing an emotionally disturbing situation, which may affect the integrity of cardiac tissue and cause the symptoms of the syndrome. Stress hormones would cause the arteries of the heart to build up, increasing the risk of heart muscle ischemia and causing the symptoms of cardiomyopathy.