How does depression make you feel stupid?!
Question: How does depression make you feel stupid?
Neither of them actually talk to me today, and honestly, I'm glad. I want nothing to do with either of them. They aren't healthy to be around. It certainly doesn't help when I was constantly being yelled at and criticized just because I may have suffered from selective mutism, made out to be this rude, wicked child. Yeah, I think you know why I'm depressed and have trouble talking to people. The thing is that I constantly feel stupid. I just had an exam today that I don't think I did well on. During the past month, I've been tired all of the time and had trouble concentrating, so that hurt me. I don't sleep well at all. I have no motivation to learn anything new. I have a desire to write, but everytime I do, it comes out horrible and I give up. I have a lot of trouble even listening to instructions, and because I have social anxiety so bad, it leads to all kinds of problems.
I just don't know why I'm like this. I consider myself to be highly intelligent, yet most people think I'm stupid and naive. It's extremely frustrating because they don't understand that I'm really trying my best here to feel good about myself. Of course I'm very serious about my studies and I want to do well, but that's hard to do when I can barely get out of bed and eat anything during the day.
Answers:
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Your post does not lead me to believe that you're stupid. Firstly, stupid people don't get in to college. Secondly, you're writing is both fluent and correctly punctuated, and your style and syntax are both good. I have been and am still going to college though I had to stop for a while because I had really bad depression. It's important to remember that depression actually alters your brain chemistry.
When a human brain functions normally, the dendrites (nerve endings) of one brain cell transmits signals to the axon terminals of another cell. These signals are formed by a complex array of chemicals. When someone has depression, the production of those chemicals decreases. Which means that there is decreased 'communication' between the neurons. Basically that means that depression causes your brain to slow down. You can't concentrate as well, your memory is poor, you can't think clearly, your physical responses are slow, you feel lethargic and apathetic and your brain can get a bit mixed up. Basically everything you described is a symptom of a decrease in your neurotransmitting chemicals.
Medication attempts to restore the balance by supplying some of those chemicals (serotonin for example). It may be that you need to go on a low dose of an anti-depressant to restore you to your normal level of functioning, and it may take the edge off your anxiety as well. If you don't want to go the synthetic drug route, you can take St John's Wort capsules, which is a herb that can help depression. It should never be taken with anti-depressants though.
As a kid I was often told I was stupid and it damages you more than you realise. When my depression was bad I felt like it confirmed what everyone had told me, that I was stupid, because I was failing at college and my anxiety was crippling. You need to trust your inner prompting that tells you that you are highly intelligent. Depression can make you FEEL stupid, but it doesn't mean that you are.
Science Degree
Experience
While you definitely have issues that could cause problems, some of the issues you suggest seem indicative of a systemic issue. Auto-immune diseases like hypothyroidism can be at fault for many of your listed symptoms. Food allergies (too mild to cause hives, but can make your body have problems), food sensitivities, and food intolerances can cause issues, too. If they are foods you eat daily, you wouldn't even be able to tell a reaction form normal, because they'd be happening every moment of the day.
There is also a disease called Celiac Disease that affects your ability to digest your food; you slowly get more nutrient deficient the longer you have it. It affects your sleep, makes you exhausted, deprives your brain of nutrients so depression, anxiety, and concentration issues are common. However, it is completely diet dependent. If you go gluten free, the symptoms go away.
The tests for this disease are blood tests, and they don't work once you go gluten free. However, many people go gluten free just to see if it helps, you might consider it.
http://glutenfreeworks.com/gluten-disorders/celiac-disease/symptom-guide/