Deciphering the Blues

During the book, Steven talks about his depression because of the traumatic experiences with his father. When Steven says, “At this point, my depression really kicked in” (pg. 45). This is because his hippocampus has shrunk. It has been researched, that people that have major depression, have a shrunken hippocampus. The longer Steven has been depressed, results in his hippocampus getting smaller and loses the ability to work correctly. In addition to the hippocampus, the amygdala has a role in depressive behavior as well. The amygdala forms part of the limbic system and is a set of neurons that are shown to play a major role in the processing of emotions. The amygdala is a part of the brain that has a direct correlation to depression and oversees evaluating the emotional significance of different kinds of stimuli. For example, the amygdala is overly active in people with depression when you show them sad stimuli, and is under-active when shown positive things like rewards. This part of the brain also organizes the emotional experience in expression. What this means is that it organizes endocrine response to stress and threats. The more depressed a person is, the more their amygdala must act. The DLPFC, stands for dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and is the latest part of the brain to form in humans and other mammals. This part of the brain also has a lot to do with major depressive disorder because

In James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" the narrator gives you a glimpse into the hardships and woes of Sonny, the main character, how his story unfolds, and how he overall can find hope for the future in blues and in his family. Throughout the story there is constant reference to darkness and suffering that is seemingly inevitable, this is best described on page 54, "And when light fills the room, the child is filled with darkness. He knows that every time this happens he's moved just a little closer to that darkness outside." This small piece of the story shows just one example of how Baldwin underlined this feeling of impending suffering throughout the story, that the brothers were fighting.

The hippocampus lies near the center of our brain. It's functions include storing our memories and maintaining a hormone called cortisol. During the time of physical and mental stress, our body releases immoderate amount of cortisol that can create chemical imbalance in the body and cause problem. During depression, long term exposure to increased cortisol level in dentate gyrus (a part of hippocampus) cause hippocampus to shrink as well slow down the production of our neurons. This can lead to memory

Can we blame the decline of the blues on our Prozac mentality? Remember when Neil Diamond gave us permission, “You and me are subject to the blues now and then.” I want my blues. How am I ever going to know when I am feeling good if I’m never sad or blue?

Disruption of hippocampal function, including the capacity for neuroplasticity, could contribute to a range of aspects of major depression. In addition to the role in declarative memory, the hippocampus is the primary regulator of prefrontal cortical function; hippocampus and DLPFC function together to regulate explicit memory. Disruption of hippocampal function in major depression may therefore add to observed deficits in concentration. Hippocampal afferents are important regulators of both the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area (VTA). It has been suggested that an indirect excitatory projection from hippocampus to VTA is critical for coordinating the firing of VTA cells in response to novelty; impairment of this hippocampal

The blues, a genre of music so well known and so universal, that one knows is associated with black culture; and forever connected to it. However, some may argue that not anyone can play the blues and blues is only black music. That being said, does it matter what the skin color of an individual may be to play the blues? In contrast I strongly believe anyone can play the blues because music is the purest form of creativity and communication.

Jason found himself driving the streets of Bloomington. He’d taken Third Street just to get away from the house. After a few blocks and turns, he found himself driving away from the university on Kirkwood. Passing “Nick’s” he remembered all the fun he’d had there watching basketball games and drinking beer. It was the main college hangout and had been for decades. If he’d have known somebody there, he’d have probably gone inside. That would change when he started classes next semester.

While the entire central nervous system helps control our emotions, the limbic system and autonomic sensory system are particularly powerful influences on our emotional well being. The whole limbic system includes many parts like the hippocampus, hypothalamus and amygdala and is in charge of transferring information into memory which helps to control various emotions, sensations, thoughts, feelings, motives, actions, as well as memories. The endocrine and visceral reactions to our surroundings that we interact with on a daily bases. The hypothalamus is a very complex, minute neural structure in charge of numerous parts of our behavior, for example, the way we feel about certain things and what drives us to do things, and the way we react

Thank you for trusting me enough to be open with me about your struggles with the blues. In one way or the other, I will try to provide you with the utmost educational background of treatment options available for the blues, which is also considered to be depression or sadness. First thing I would like to know is why do you consider you have the blues? Is your sadness interfering with your daily life activities? Do you feel like you are sad for longer than a week? If so, what is the estimated amount of days your sadness lasts for? Lastly, what do you feel is the cause(s) of your sadness?

when looking back at my childhood at first glace it would seem like i have a very well rounded life.it was something my parents were proud of and time to time i would have myself believe it. well that was untill my palms got sweaty and my stomach turned with embarsment at my ownself at what was another lesson to be leaned. I felt like i missed to super important meeting on how to be normal at a young age. But about a good ten years of of feeling like an outsider and unexplainable social anxiety i really began to figure the whole kinda normal thing. while being a socailly awkward person did play an important role it wasnt as simple as a lightsitched on im my brain and i had figured it out. i remember this day distinctly i was nine years old

When I was thirteen years old, I was anxious on fitting in with the other children at my new school. I never

What is love? What is acceptance? What is it to know who you truly are and be happy with yourself? These are common questions a person thinks to themselves at one point or another in their lifetime. Many people unsure of who they are, unsure how to truly discover themselves, if they would be happy with who they are and if their loved ones or even society will love them the same or even accept them. These questions have become more prevalent in recent years with the rise of people coming out as transgender as well as other topics under the LGBT+ spectrum. A human being is a human being and everyone struggles with finding

The hippocampus is is involved with serious mental illnesses, such as severe depression and schizophrenia, as well as Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer’s attacks the hippocampus first and most harshly before other parts of the brain, causing confusion and loss of memory, and during severe depression the hippocampus appears to shrink. The hippocampus shrinkage isn’t permanent and can be reversed with effective treatment.

In modern society, individuals continue to adapt to live among strangers. Humans make relationships with certain people which technically ends up determining their place in society. Many people stick with that saying you are who you associate yourself with. It might be difficult to determine where do you belong in society. Many people start to feel frustrated because they lack the since of belonging in society. For instance, when high school student begins to search their identity, they socialize with others and make friends with people they feel comfortable with. However, that’s not always the case. Many times teens look at the fashion of their peers, and try their hardest to “fit in” into a certain group. It becomes very frustrating when teens try to be part of a certain

The Limbic system is separated in three parts, the Hippocampus, the Amygdala, and the Hypothalamus. The Hippocampus’s role is controlling emotion, learning, and memory; while the Amygdala controls aggression, eating, drinking, and sexual behaviors. Then you have the Hypothalamus which monitors the blood levels of glucose, salt, blood pressure, and hormones. It also helps to control the processes in the body through its connection to the central and autonomic nervous systems and endocrine system.