Perspectives on depression, distress, dysregulation, and how to gain more emotional health

Artists and therapists on experiences and recovery

Amy Scher: “I work a lot with clients with depression and anxiety, and many times they start to feel better... but feel like there’s something missing.”

Fredrik Backman: “I’ve been in and out of depressions since I was a kid. That’s no one’s fault. I wasn’t cut out for reality, that’s why I write.”

Cathleen King: “One of the most apparent symptoms of a dysregulated nervous system is emotional dysregulation, where managing feelings becomes challenging.”

Kristen Bell: “I struggled a lot with anxiety and depression. My mom said there is a serotonin imbalance in our family line.”

Julie Bjelland (among others) notes, “The brain has a negativity bias…”

Aimie Apigian finds when trauma remains unresolved as adults, “you’re gonna see the sleep issues, the digestive issues, you’re gonna see the anxiety, the depression…”

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Installing positive emotions to help recovery and emotional health

Therapist Amy Scher: “So you do want to install things if they’re positive.

“And there’s a reason I work a lot with clients with depression and anxiety, and I can’t tell you how many times they start to feel better, meaning less anxiety, less depression, and then they tell me they feel like there’s something missing.

“It feels like something could be wrong. It feels like I feel a little empty or I feel a little ungrounded.”

She explains “it’s because when we release something that we’ve been holding for so long, we can feel a little imbalanced.

“And installing positive emotions are my way of helping bring something good into the body to almost complete the healing process.”

She says “all emotions have an energetic vibration. And I feel like in the same way, it lifts us up to be around positive people or friends that help us laugh or have fun.”

From podcast page Releasing Emotional Blocks - from an interview with Amy B. Scher.

▶️ Her online course: Lifting Depression for Writers and Creatives: Stop Feeling Like Sh*t.

video about depression understanding - a promo for her book - voice by Amy Scher

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Fredrik Backman is a Swedish author of multiple books including New York Times bestsellers such as Anxious People.

He comments in a post on his site: “Depression is a difficult thing to explain. It’s an aching of the soul... I’ve been in and out of depressions since I was a kid. That’s no one’s fault. It’s me. I wasn’t cut out for reality, that’s why I write.

“I’m fragile and emotionally unstable, always have been, I’m too sad or too angry or too loud or too silent or sleeping or burning…rarely anything in between.”

* See more from his post below.

Fredrik Backman, from the video: “I don’t have creative anxiety. I never get writer’s block. And the secret is easy; it’s procrastination.

“I don’t want to brag, but I’m very good at procrastination. I’m going to have writer’s block, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I am so good at procrastination that the only reason that I am here tonight is because I’m supposed to be finishing a book right now.

“But my anxiety is not creative. My anxiety is Scandinavian because I am from Sweden. In America, Sweden is often confused with Switzerland, but we are very different. In Switzerland, they have chocolate and watches. In Sweden, we have Ikea and depression.

“Swedish depression is just like American depression, but it’s cheaper, and you have to assemble it yourself. Some parts may be missing.”

» List of Fredrik Backman books.

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Do You Think Your Nervous System Is Dysregulated?

Dr Cathleen King, DPT, is a “doctor of physical therapy who teaches neuroscience principles, and is a mind-body practitioner.” She writes:

“If you’re feeling persistently anxious, stressed, or physically unwell, it might be more than just a temporary response to life’s challenges—it could be a sign of a dysregulated nervous system.

“Ultimately, our nervous system is responsible for helping us manage stress, process emotions, and keep our bodily functions in balance.

“When it’s out of sync, however, it can leave us feeling on edge, disconnected, or worn down in ways that don’t seem to improve.”

Causes of Dysregulation

“Here are some of the primary causes of a dysregulated nervous system:
Trauma... Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)... Chronic Stress...Lifestyle Factors...”

King explains, “A dysregulated nervous system can turn routine experiences into sources of stress.

“The things you used to handle easily may feel intimidating or exhausting, and tasks that once brought joy might feel overwhelming.”

And, she adds, “This state can leave you feeling anxious and jumpy like you’re always bracing yourself for something—even if nothing specific is wrong...

“One of the most apparent symptoms is emotional dysregulation, where managing feelings becomes challenging.

“You might experience frequent irritability, mood swings, or difficulty staying calm. Even small events can trigger intense emotional reactions, leaving you feeling overwhelmed.”

See much more in her article Understanding A Dysregulated Nervous System: The Symptoms and Signs.

Follow the link to her site with more articles, a membership program, and more.

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"I only know that summer sang in me a little while, that in me sings no more." poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

Actor Kristen Bell expressed a similar experience of depression: earlier in life, in college, she “felt plagued with a negative attitude and a sense that I was permanently in the shade."

Kristen Bell: “I struggled a lot with anxiety and depression. My mom said there is a serotonin imbalance in our family line.”

See longer video: Kristen Bell on Depression and Self Esteem.

In her Time mag. article (2016), she wrote: “For me, depression is not sadness. It’s not having a bad day and needing a hug.

“I felt worthless, like I had nothing to offer, like I was a failure.

“Now, after seeking help, I can see that those thoughts, of course, couldn’t have been more wrong.”

» See more below.

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“Symptoms of low serotonin may include mood changes, feelings of depression or anxiety, and difficulty with functions such as sleep and memory.” (Medical News Today)

When I was getting several different types of depression treatment medication, under the care of a university-based research psychiatrist (many years ago), it would have been interesting, even helpful, to have known about these impacts of serotonin.

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Strategy to counteract our negativity bias

As Therapist and author Julie Bjelland (among others) notes, “The brain has a negativity bias which means we have more electrical activity in our brain when we’re exposed to things that are negative.”

She writes that this brain tendency toward negativity “has to do with the evolution of humans in general because we used to be living out on the land and could be attacked by a lion at any moment.

“You had to be very conscious of threats. But the brain can’t tell the difference between a real threat and a perceived threat.”

As a consequence of this brain wiring, “stress, nervousness, fear...can actually trigger a response in the brain that alerts your system to think that it needs to set off these alarm bells.”

And, she notes, “that happens even more so in highly sensitive people.”

One of the strategies she suggests to counteract negativity bias is to keep a positivity journal.

» Free class “Tools For A Chaotic World“ by Julie Bjelland, LMFT.

» Creative Mind highly sensitive person posts and podcasts.

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Trauma and depression and health issues

Trauma recovery physician Aimie Apigian, MD:

In an interview with Emma McAdam (”How Trauma Gets Trapped in the Body”), Dr. Apigian noted a trauma response may start very early in our life:

“It was actually our main adaptive mechanism to survive at that time because we couldn’t run away. We couldn’t walk away. We couldn’t even crawl away yet. Right? Like, we’re just babies.

“So, the only way to survive micro misattunements was to disconnect from our body that felt so uncomfortable.

“And so it started to form this habit and this habit of the disconnect is this habit of going into the trauma response.”

But, she adds, when this trauma response remains unresolved as adults, “you’re gonna see the sleep issues, the digestive issues, you’re gonna see the anxiety, the depression... you’re going to to start to develop chronic health issues.”

Resources by Dr. Aimie Apigian:

» TheFoundational Journey for addressing stored trauma in the body. - “People found a more than 30% reduction in depression and anxiety after 21 days.”

» Steps to Identify and Heal Trauma - free guide.

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» More resources:

video list: Depression understanding, recovery

video list Emotional Health

More Substack emotional/mental health posts & podcast episodes.

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Article continues below with videos and more from: Fredrik Backman, Anne Hathaway, therapists Emma McAdam, Mihaela Ivan Holtz, Cathleen King, psychologist Gail Post.