What color do you think of when you think of depression? It’s probably a dark color, like blue, black or gray.
There is a reason for that.
Research from the University of Freiburg shows that depressed patients cannot view black and white contrasts accurately.
A new study in Biological Psychiatry showed a dramatically lower retinal contrast gain in patients with depression than in healthy subjects.
For the study, Seeing Gray When Feeling Blue? Depression Can Be Measured in the Eye of the Diseased, Dr. Emanual Bubl and his team evaluated 40 patients suffering from depression (20 who were taking antidepressant medication and 20 who were not.) 40 healthy patients were also studied as a control.
They found a significant decrease in the retinal sensitivity of depressed patients, even patients taking medication.
Further, the more severely depressed a patient, the lower the retinal response.
Depression can change the way a patient sees the world, eliminating the vibrancy of naturally occurring colors.
But also, viewing the world as a drab, colorless environment could worsen depression, perpetuating the emotions of loneliness and sadness.
According to Mark Hyman MD, there is a significant correlation between biology and mood.
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In the meantime leave a comment. How do you treat patients with depression?
Here in May 2020. At 46 & on a working combination of meds, for the first time in my life, after having symptoms of depression since childhood… around 12 years old. My favorite colors had always been black, grey/silver, & blue. Any other colors seemed very unappealing. Now, after receiving treatment that actually works for me, I’m liking colors. I’m wanting colorful makeup, I’m buying colorful nail polishes. My sisters have been on my case for so long about the drab colors I always picked for my wardrobe & everything else, but everything else was unappealing to me, until now. Now, colors are different… pretty, vibrant. So I did some digging & am finding info, like this article, about the link between depression & color, or lack thereof. Amazing! All these decades, I didn’t know that I was suffering from depression, anxiety, and c-ptsd. I didn’t even know what all the symptoms were. I just was never able to understand why everything for me was so difficult it was so easy for everyone else. Little, everyday things, I like clean up after myself, doing dishes, taking out the garbage, even personal hygiene, taking a shower left me exhausted. I thought I was just lazy because it came so much easier to everyone else. I’m finally starting to feel normal, and human, for the first time ever, in my whole life. I can’t thank Dr. Farhan Jawed, MD enough. He was the first to get me on a combination of meds that worked. He literally saved my life, & gave me life, for the first time. 💜♡
idk if i am depressed or not. this kind of stuff helps me so much thnx y’all
I’m colour-blind and suffer from depression, I’ve often wondered if the two are linked. I see the world as drab & grey, it seems reasonable to assume that that would affect my state of mind. Does anybody know of any studies into this?