I don’t like posting studies like these, because folks prone to worry are likely to respond to info like this by doing the worst possible thing for their health — worrying.
However, hopefully, instead of worrying, you’ll say, “Wow, I really should do something about my depression and anxiety. It will make life much better for me and everyone around me NOW, and also LATER.”
So it’s supposed to be inspiring. As inspiring as a study about depression and dementia can be.
A brand new study confirms the growing body of evidence that clinical depression and anxiety raise the risk of developing dementia earlier.
Further, when you combine the two (and add a side of another mental health condition), things start going downhill even earlier.
After controlling for loads of factors, here’s the results.
People with 1 mental health disorder started showing signs of dementia, 1.5 years sooner than those without a mental health disorder.
People with 2 mental health disorders started showing signs of dementia, 3.3 years sooner.
And for those of us with 3 mental health disorders — it was 7.3 years earlier.
Keep in mind, too, that’s it’s extremely common to be diagnosed with more than one disorder.
One study showed that, in a 12 month period, nearly 50% of all adults in the U.S. with any psychiatric disorder had two or more.
Anecdotally, nearly everyone I know with depression also has anxiety and vice versa — whether they know it or not.
And there are lots who have three disorders at once.
Scientists are looking into reasons why these psychiatric diseases seem to be associated with earlier-onset dementia, but a popular theory has to do with inflammation.
Researchers have already found that years of untreated depression can change the brain, due to inflammation, and that inflammation can help trigger neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s.
And another compelling study showed that older adults with depression experienced more rapid cognitive decline than those without depression.
What did the authors mean by “rapid cognitive decline”? Diminished executive functioning, memory loss, and impaired information processing.
Now look, I don’t want to make this site all about this life….because as Christians, Jesus promises that in this life we’ll experience many trials. The interesting thing is that the Greek word for trials, in that famous quote, has to do with an internal sense of despair.
We often think of it as external hardships, but no, Jesus is saying we’ll be vexed emotionally in life. There’s no getting around that, and trying to extricate ourselves from that isn’t the end-all, be-all.
But if we’re feeling terrible all the time, we won’t be much good to the ones Christ has tasked us to love — which is everyone, particularly, our own families.
So yes, how we feel matters.
My dad passed away from dementia, and it is a horrible disease. If you’re young and think about the prospect with a stoic “oh well” attitude, then you’re not caring for your family, because they will suffer as you suffer.
Depressed folks like myself tend towards cynicism. But cynical stoicism is dangerous in the Christian life.
In his book A Praying Life, Paul Miller quotes Yoanni Sanchez: “[Cynicism] protects you from crushing disappointment, but it paralyzes you from doing anything.”
Miller writes: “Cynicism and defeated weariness have this in common: They both question the active goodness of God on our behalf. Left unchallenged, their low-level doubt opens the door for bigger doubt. They’ve lost their childlike spirit and thus are unable to move toward their Father.”
Untreated depression takes us in the direction of cynicism, and it’s not early-onset dementia that should provoke us to seek help (although that’s another handy reason) — it’s the fact that we can better fulfill Christ’s call on our lives. To go into the world, and make disciples.
[Painting: David Hockney, My Parents]
