Depression involves
a continual focus on negative thoughts, experiences, memories, and feelings to
the exclusion of all else -- a kind of inverse learning. As a person narrows his or her attention,
focusing on only the most negative stimuli, the mind slowly devours itself.
If your threat
circuitry is overly responsive, you become hypervigilant. The neural circuitry becomes sensitized, so
perceived threats generate larger responses.
Depression is an
exercise in torment that is entirely focused on the self. Any lasting solution requires a redirection
of attention elsewhere.