Motor City Hypnotist
Motor City Hypnotist
The Science of Depression - Part 1
Unlock the secrets behind the mysterious world of depression and how it intertwines with the brain's neurotransmitters in our latest episode of the Motor City Hypnotist Podcast. I, David R. Wright, along with my co-host Matt Fox, promise a journey through the complex labyrinth of mental health, tackling the physiological roots of depression and the potential role of medications. Though not a doctor, I share insights that might resonate with your own experiences. We break into light-hearted celebration, shifting gears to applaud the Detroit Lions' season—injuries, losses, and all—proving that pride and a good blue cocktail can keep spirits high.
Our adventure continues with an awe-inspiring tale from our guest, Sam Benastick, a hiker who emerged victoriously after being lost for five harrowing weeks in British Columbia's wilderness. Hear about the monumental search effort fueled by community spirit and the indomitable human will. Sam's story is a testament to resilience, punctuated with humor, as he recalls surviving frostbite and smoke inhalation. We wrap up with an exploration of neurotransmitters, comparing brain functions to car mechanics and teasing future episodes that promise to unravel more mysteries of the mind. Join us for this captivating mix of science, survival, and sports—a cocktail of content you won’t want to miss.
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Change your thinking, change your life!
Laugh hard, run fast, be kind.
David R. Wright MA, LPC, CHT
The Motor City Hypnotist
David: 0:00
In this episode of the Motor City Hypnotist Podcast, we're going to discuss the science of depression. Oh yeah, I'm just going to go in and believe me, I'm not a medical doctor, I'm not a scientist, but I can describe what goes on in the brains of people who are depressed and we can talk about that, the physiology of it and then also the medication that goes with it. That may help that. So hopefully we'll gain some insight into something you might be dealing with and, as usual, we're giving away free stuff. Hang in there, folks, We'll be right back.
Announcer: 0:35
This sounds like something for the authorities in Detroit. Well, joke's on you. I'm living to 102 and then die at the city of Detroit.
Matt: 0:43
Guys like this can't take over here out of Detroit.
David: 0:47
Spawned in the hellfires of Motown. Take him to Detroit.
Announcer: 0:52
No, no. Detroit, no, no. Stationed in Drambuie, worse than Detroit. We did not have, as a unit, the confidence that we felt like we needed to beat Detroit. Let's go to Detroit. Now you're talking brother. I don't think so. He plays for Detroit now. Do they have many farms in Detroit? Detroit to Michigan.
Matt: 1:17
I go to school, I know where Detroit is.
Announcer: 1:20
Get ready for the Motor City hypnotist, david R Wright. Originating from the suburbs of Detroit, michigan, he has hypnotized thousands of people from all over the United States. David R Wright has been featured on news outlets all across the country and is the clinical director of an outpatient mental health and hypnosis clinic located just south of Detroit, where he helps people daily using the power of hypnosis. Welcome to Motor City Hypnotist David R Wright.
David: 2:07
What is going on, my friends? This is David Wright, the Motor City Hypnotist. We're back with another episode of the Motor City Hypnotist podcast. You better freaking believe it, you freaking believe it. That's Matt Fox, the other voice you hear? Yes, it is, he's hanging out running my sound and my audio and my video.
Matt: 2:25
You sound marvelous.
David: 2:27
He's a producer extraordinaire. Let's say, okay, I've been called a lot better. I'm sure probably. But yes, we're here in the Palatial Podcast, your voice. Southfield Studios Just finished a man Cave Happy Hour podcast, if you guys want to check that out. We were doing a blue cocktails. Is my tongue blue? Yeah, my lips were blue. Yeah, um, to celebrate the lion's season. So far, I mean, this weekend was a little rough, but hey, listen okay, so on that real quick.
Matt: 2:57
The these guys have been just playing out of their freaking minds, however. However, as someone who's performing at a high level, sometimes you have to get a kick in the teeth to refocus yourself.
David: 3:10
Well, here's the whole thing too, and I even said this at home. I said I feel like this will be a loss, because you can only win so many games in a row. At some point you're going to lose, yeah, and if there were?
Announcer: 3:19
any games to lose, it was this one.
David: 3:22
Yes, and it was against a better team, and I would say too, I'd rather have the loss now and get it out of the way than in the playoffs. Oh, amen, I mean, I just feel like let's end the streak during the regular season. Now we can focus on the playoffs.
Matt: 3:38
I want to see them win.
David: 3:39
Playoffs.
Matt: 3:40
I want to see them compete and they have competing at such a high level we haven't seen before in decades. Right, and the fact that they are where they are. I'm totally proud of these guys. But you know what I still want them to understand that you need to refocus yourselves because you know what. There are other teams out there that are just as good as you. Well, and that shows you need to understand that you have to refocus yourself.
David: 4:02
And this is the whole thing with the NFL too. For the most part, there's parity, and I'm talking about the top half of teams. Of course, you have your stinkers like Oakland and Carolina. I'm trying to think of another one. I don't want to insult anybody's team Cleveland, Nope, Cleveland but the whole point is that there are higher echelon teams and any of those teams could beat any other team in that echelon at any given day Any given Sunday, any team could beat any team.
Matt: 4:30
It's just who comes to play, who comes to compete.
David: 4:32
I wouldn't say any. Well, no, no, honestly, you're right there have been total upsets. I mean, carolina has wins, chicago has wins, cleveland has wins. It's not that they haven't won, there is no.
Matt: 4:42
Owen something team. Exactly, there's no winless teams Right, but these guys, these Lions players, they have put Detroit on such a big pedestal and Detroit has put them on a higher pedestal and we want them to win Absolutely. But that was the biggest problem that I had growing up. You would say, okay, okay, the lions are playing, but are they going to compete?
David: 5:06
yeah, and then just that level typically, and I'm older than you, are matt, so I've been suffering with this for way many years. But I get it, I just get what you're saying.
Matt: 5:14
I'm totally proud. But these guys have been overcoming so many uh objections to because in obstacles, obstacles, the. The injury report 11 players on the ir. Yeah, and it's just like that.
David: 5:27
That's an entire defense david montgomery going out now for the season and that that that is a big one that's a big one but we but we still have gifts. But see, here's the thing injuries are part of the absolutely so you have to have somebody that can step up and step in and not to make this a football podcast, but no, no, but. But we were enjoying the, the blue drinks in honor of the lions fantastic season so far so check out the man cave happy hour.
David: 5:57
We get a couple of cocktails that you can make blue and gather around on sundays watching the lions and make your blue cocktails town club and carousel. There we go, there you go. So let me tell you, folks, where you can find me. My website is motorcityhypnotistcom. Check that out If you're looking to book a show for grad season I mentioned. Excuse me, you all right over there. Yeah, the hiccups all of a sudden.
David: 6:24
Oh that's the blue carousel. It could be so um grad seasons it. It seems like it's far away, but it's not. It's only about four or five months away. So now's the time to book. I'm already had to turn down bookings because they were on nights that other shows were booked. So if you're looking for a prom, uh, post-prom or grad night party, now's the time to book. I mean, really, I'll be honest, october is the time to book those, because most of my bookings come in early fall for high school shows for the next spring. But so if you want to show, now's the time.
David: 6:57
Motorcityhypnotistcom check on shows. You can have a quote within minutes. You can sign your contract. You can have it locked in within five minutes. Check out the website. My social media links Facebook and YouTube, are both Motor City Hypnotist and Snapchat, instagram, our Motor City Hypno H Y P N O. Yep, that's it. And, as usual, as we've done every show, going way back to number one, and we're on show 284 right now, I think, free. So, going way back to number one and we're on show 284 right now, I think, free.
David: 7:27
Hypnosis guide. It's a PDF written by me. It's not exhaustive, but it gives you some oversight and hits on some of the major themes of what hypnosis is, what it's not. It's yours for free. Text the word hypnosis to 313-800-8510. Again, that's 313-800-8510. If that's 313-800-8510. If you need the number later, just go to my website. That's the number on the website. Text the word hypnosis to that number. You'll have your hypnosis guide in a couple of minutes and it will also ask you to leave a review. Now, you may not have seen a show of mine, but you're listening to the podcast, so you can leave a review on that. So, whatever, yeah, however, you know me, whether it's in session, whether it's a show, whether it's a podcast, leave a review for that. I would greatly appreciate it.
David: 8:11
The big thing is, wherever you're listening, whatever platform you're on stitcher, spotify, itunes, there's a million of them now, I don't even know, but there's too many to connect, link, subscribe, whatever it is on your platform so you get to show automatically without having to look for it game, and again, the thing that would help us out so much is leaving reviews, and I know that takes a little bit of time and and it's a little bit of effort, but I can leave a review.
Matt: 8:38
I can leave a review right now, yeah, you could, you could.
David: 8:40
Fuck. Yes, get off my, get off my uh phone, whatever, I don't know, it's crazy. Get off my feed, it's only crazy, no, no, don't shut me out leaving reviews is a good thing.
Matt: 8:54
It helps people to understand what you're about, and sure absolutely, if they. If you get something out of the out of the show that we're that you listen to, you know what share it yeah, absolutely join us uh. 8 pm.
David: 9:05
Eastern standard time every monday evening, eastern standard time um eight ish or so could be a few minutes after, it's fine yeah, that's all okay but? But join us on facebook live, because we're on facebook live every monday recording. You can see us as well as hear us and participate in the show. You can join in, make comments whatever it is you want to do. Awesome, it is time. Matt, here we go how winning is done all righty, so we get a lot of winners of the week that that are survival stories yes, we get into weird situations or animals animals, yeah, survival stories.
David: 9:53
Uh, from the mountains of british columbia comes the story of a hiker who's been found alive after being lost in the woods. You want to guess how long? Matt? Uh, 14, 14 days, five weeks, holy sh.
Matt: 10:07
Nikes.
David: 10:07
Five weeks. A person was lost in the woods for five weeks, yes, in a remote provincial park with nighttime temperatures plunging to minus four degrees. Where is this at In British Columbia, oh my goodness. Sam Banastick struck out on October 7th for a 10-day camping and fishing trip. Okay, hey, I'm going fishing. Relatives said he was well-prepared and packed a wool hat and gloves, a hatchet and plenty of peanut butter. But when he failed to return to his family's home on the 17th, fear circulated among the small communities of northeast British.
Matt: 10:41
Columbia, he's just catching more fish.
David: 10:48
Catching more fish. Cbs news confirmed from sam's mother, sandra crocker, that he had been found on a remote access road and taken to the hospital for frostbite, exhaustion and smoke inhalation okay, okay, that that last one is kind of interesting I'm waiting to see where this goes.
David: 10:58
Yeah, in an update published on november 29th, cbc uh canadian broadcasting company, confirmed that he had been discharged from the hospital. The story was followed by a veteran reporter, andrew Curjata, and is flush with details. Flush, I hope it is, because I know, matt, you and I have both said this. We have these winners of the week and sometimes the information is very sparse. He said flush, yes, it's just like we have a lot of questions after a lot of these.
David: 11:27
Hopefully our questions will be answered. All right, go on um. Borrowing his mother's honda dirt bike. Benestick landed at a trailhead and planned to hike about 80 kilometers to catch arctic grayling I have no idea what I would.
David: 11:42
I'm not going to ask you to repeat that, so go on, crocker told the cbc that benestick was feeling a bit listless after returning from an extended trip to Europe and he felt he needed an adventure Fishing adventure. That adventure, coupled with the 10 days of planned excursion, lasted 50 days, but in a picture shared with the CBC, Crocker showed her son giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed, with the caption he complained he didn't even catch a fish. Redfern Kelly Provincial Park is a remote area 660 miles north of Vancouver and boasts exquisite rocky mountain scenery, but threatens visitors with unpredictable weather, wolves bears, no potable water and no telecommunications coverage. Okay, so you'recommunications coverage.
Matt: 12:27
Okay, so you're in the wild, yeah, like you're out there. What was that? Leo, leonardo DiCaprio flick oh oh, oh, oh. The Revenant, the Revenant, yeah.
Announcer: 12:36
So that's like okay.
David: 12:38
According to BC Search and Rescue Association, more than 120 volunteers were involved in efforts to find benestick, with motor vehicles and aircraft across the vast park and part informed by timber bigfoot, land and environment manager and member of the prophet river, first nation whose territory extends to the park.
David: 12:58
All right so this is flush with information it is a lot of information it was an amazing adventure and climate to try to survive, bigfoot told kajada, adding he loved the opportunity to debrief the lost hiker. I think it's a miracle and I congratulate him for being such a tough person. The royal canadian mounted police were also involved in the search effort but haven't shared many details about the case, as there was no criminal element Makes sense. Benasek's plans went awry when he had to retreat from either one or multiple wolves After escaping their unfriendly jaws. He may have made camp to avoid the worst of several inches of snow that blanketed the park in October. I'm still waiting for the smoke inhalation.
David: 13:42
He was eventually found on an access road by surveyors who had been on a series of remote tracks for a week marking trees around potential well sites when they saw someone walking down the road towards them, according to Reed, they were surprised because, although they'd seen a lot of ATVs and snowmobiles, it was not the place for hikers. Eileen Stevens, sam's step-grandmother on his father's side, joke she would be buying the boy a gps for christmas. Sam is a guy who knows the woods, he's been raised, he's a hiker. He is a passionate fisherman, he told. She told cbc. I don't know his story but I'm sure it's going to be a freaking, amazing oh boy. His uncle, al benistek, agreed, whilst adding that he couldn't imagine the ordeal turning sam off from the love of the great outdoors. No information on the smoke inhalation.
Matt: 14:31
What the?
David: 14:31
actual.
Announcer: 14:32
F man.
David: 14:32
There's got to be, and I'm just making an assumption here. There had to be a forest fire nearby.
Matt: 14:38
Yeah, well, I wouldn't say that, I would say he's probably making his own fire and then sleeping too close to it. Well, maybe that could be.
David: 14:45
Because he survived for five weeks. You're right that could be you're that cold, it's negative.
Matt: 14:50
What? Four degrees outside you got to get close to a fire.
David: 14:53
Yeah, I'm sure you had to do some sort of fire so yeah, that's probably where the smoking okay, now that that's a good call. That's a good call on it all right, so so, yeah, definitely solved, pat winner, let me find his. I want to get his name right Sam Benistak Bigfoot Benistak, benistak, benistak, and you call him Bigfoot. I did. Well, that was one of the tribal people.
Matt: 15:16
Oh, okay.
David: 15:17
Who lives in that area. Okay, yeah. Well, if he can do it, anybody can. Right, so there you go. So definitely, sam Benistek Death Layer. Winner of the week.
Announcer: 15:34
I'll win it and start yes, it is, yes, it is so back to it.
David: 15:41
All right, today, folks, we're talking about depression. Maybe that will fit into that story, because well, no, he's probably good now that he was rescued, so that's a positive thing. His family might have had some depression over the 50 days he was gone. So depression, it's something that a lot of people suffer with. I'll even have clients come in and they explain their symptoms and I say, well, you're depressed, and they're like well, I don't know. Sometimes it's hard for people to comprehend exactly what that means.
Matt: 16:13
Well comprehend is one thing. They know it's there. They know something's off. However, they don't know how to verbalize what they're feeling.
David: 16:22
Right, exactly. So I'm going to give you a general description of what depression is okay, and then we're going to get into the science of it and why it happens. Got it. So there there's. Our brain operates, and this is the best analogy I can come up with and I probably shared it on the show before your. Your brain has these electrical impulses that are fed between synapses, as what we call them. The best analogy I can use is a spark plug In a car. There's a spark plug and there's a tiny gap and there's a spark that jumps from the one end to the other in that tiny gap. The brain works the same way. You have synapses and then you also have what we call neurotransmitters. They're brain chemicals that carry the electrical impulses from one side of the plug to the other. Is that what, like a Cymbalta would?
Matt: 17:15
be for, or something to that effect. Yes, yes, okay.
David: 17:17
For antidepressants? Yes, for sure. So here's the problem, though Depression is also highly complex, because there are degrees of depression and there are different physiological symptoms that people may have. So the challenge, especially for those in the medical community, is that we can prescribe antidepressants, but what works for one person might not work for another person. Everyone's made Because there's a different physiology and a different brain makeup, and is that where the science comes in? Yes, okay, yep, and even people who have found something. Let's say, matt, you brought up Cymbalta, which is a fairly common antidepressant. Okay, yes, some people can take Cymbalta and feel great for a year or two, maybe four, but then it stops working.
Matt: 18:04
Is that because their body, brain chemistry, it's used to it?
David: 18:08
yeah yeah, it's almost. It's almost. I don't want to say immune, because I don't think it can become totally immune from the medication, but it just doesn't work as effectively as it used to, is that where a higher dose will come into effect?
Matt: 18:20
that could happen, okay right.
David: 18:22
Um so long story short. Researchers sometimes don't know what the root cause of the depression is, but definitely the focus is on the brain, chemistry and how it works. And that's why it's so hard to kind of nail down, because somebody might have issues where they're, and I'll just throw out random numbers, like on a scale of one to ten. They're like three at a three depression, some people are at a 10, which would make them suicidal or, you know, having thoughts of harming themselves. So I mentioned neurotransmitters. So let's get into the science of really what neurotransmitters are.
David: 19:02
Sure they're the kept. Simply put, they're the chemical messages in your brain. That that's kind of the, the base explanation of it. It's how your brain, the nerve cells of the brain, uses neurotransmitters to communicate to one another and the messages they received. Again, the assumption in in the, in the, the, what people found out is that it plays a vital role in mood regulation. Right, I was going to say feelings, thoughts, and I mentioned this before. The space between two nerve endings is called a synapsis. I thought you were going to say Dave.
Matt: 19:38
Matthews here, but go on.
David: 19:40
So when cells want to communicate with each other, neurotransmitters are packaged up and released from the end of one cell to another cell. And here's the thing and I don't want to get too bogged down in the verbiage because that will confuse everyone but what happens is the neurotransmitters crosses the gap from one synapses to the other. It's a bridge. It's a bridge, Good call. What's not used or what's not taken up can be sucked back in for reuse. So again, I'm going to use the analogy of an automobile Fuel gets injected into the engine, into the cylinders.
David: 20:25
I'm not a big mechanic, so car people forgive me and it sparks and ignites that. That pushes the piston right. The fuel that's not burned gets drained off and reused again. Same thing happens in your brain. If a neurotransmitter is carried, a signal, but there's still neurotransmitter left, it gets taken back in for reusing again.
Matt: 20:48
So, and you and you'll understand this when I get there for a moment Is that is that reuse when it, when it reuses it, when your brain reuses that again, is it just as strong as it was the first time?
David: 21:00
Yes, so. So let me. I'm going to read this paragraph because it explains it pretty clearly. Any excess molecules in the space, the presynaptic cell will gather them back up, which is called a reuptake, okay, okay and reprocess them to use in another communication. So they're reused. If they're not used in one communication, they get sucked back up and used in another one.
Matt: 21:24
Somewhere else Could be, or it could be another thing that your brain is thinking of, so the word that comes to my mind when you say that is that cross-contamination, because it was meant for this purpose but it's being repurposed for something else?
David: 21:39
No, that wouldn't work. So each type of neurotransmitter can carry a different message and plays a unique role as far as how the brain works.
Matt: 21:46
I just say. You know we talk about cross-contamination all the time, but I'm curious if what was meant for is being reused for something else.
David: 21:57
Let's go back to the car analogy because, again, if the fuel isn't totally, burned off, it gets reused and it's just like okay, new fuel Got it. Does that make sense? Yes, yeah. So we mentioned neurotransmitters. There are three neurotransmitters that are that are often implicated in the signs of depression. Okay, dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin endorphins aren't in there. These are, these are simply neurotransmitters okay, on the way to communicate, communicate your brain to communicate signals.
David: 22:29
I'm not a professional, nope, you're all good. There are other transmitters, including glutamate, which is called um. I don't want to get off on a sidetrack here, but glutamate is one of the major neurotransmitters that ketamine affects, and we talked about ketamine a couple of episodes ago. Yes, we did so with ketamine. It kind of opens up the glutamate neurotransmitters to make it more active. Interesting, yeah, go on. So all of these neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, glutamate. There's so much research out there that's going on. But these transmitters are definitely contributors to diseases like Alzheimer's, fibromyalgia and sleep disorders. So if they're not working correctly, you can have a whole host of other side effects.
Matt: 23:30
So let me ask you this question Folks that wake up at 3 am in the morning. Could that be a sign that they're having issues with their neurotransmitters?
David: 23:41
Just keep them asleep. It could be. It could be, and I would lean more towards not just insomnia by itself, but if you're bipolar or manic depressive same thing, just two different terms that could cause your brain to go into a manic state where it's very difficult. In fact, I've had clients who are in manic states that would go a week without sleeping. Oof yeah, because the brain's on overdrive.
David: 24:07
Right, it's just running and there's no way it can't shut itself off and that's why people again with bipolar and manic phases, they participate in behaviors that are questionable Shoplifting, promiscuity, drug use, alcohol use. Because the brain is just, it's looking for stimulation.
Matt: 24:28
And what astounds me sometimes about that is that the individual that has those episodes don't remember that they had those episodes.
David: 24:35
Well, sometimes they kind of and here's what I've found over there, and it's not an intentional rationalization, but they will rationalize Like I've had clients. I had a specific client many years ago who, when she was in a manic phase, her mania caused her to shoplift and she'd been arrested numerous times for it, and every time she would say I wasn't stealing anything, but she was, she was so. So there was some denial in there as well the brain itself is a mystery.
Matt: 25:08
And here we are with these computers in our brains that we use a very a fractional percentage of you know the overall. Like the, you've seen the movie Lucy. Oh, yeah, yep and that is one of my more favorite watches if I'm bored, just because of the whole. You know what she goes through and the drug that she takes and she's using a hundred percent of her brain and what she does. But just the the explanation that Morgan Freeman does at the beginning.
David: 25:37
Yes.
Matt: 25:37
That is, this is, is it, it's extraordinary?
David: 25:39
writing. It really is, it is, it is really good. So. So what we're going to talk about, folks, is and and we're going to come back for part two of this, because there's so much information here and I don't want to like, like, jam it all in, okay, but but we're going to talk about the specific neurotransmitters and how they vary and how that could affect you. So, those of you on facebook live, stay here. We're going to be doing another episode. Those of you on on whatever platform you're on, skip ahead to the next episode. If it's not there, it'll be there tuesday or thursday, perfect. So yeah, like I said, I want to make sure we give this the time it deserves and and I don't want to overwhelm people.
Matt: 26:21
There might be a third or fourth episode about this.
David: 26:23
Maybe We'll see. We'll see where we get to. All righty folks, we're going to be back with the Science of Depression. Part 2 in just a moment. In the meantime, change your thinking, change your life. Oh, before we go, Matt just reminded me Somebody needs a home. Yes, they do. Who is it? Detroit Dog Rescue Rooster. Rooster Needs a home.
Matt: 26:43
Okay, I'm envisioning Rooster is got to be some type of a terrier.
David: 26:48
Oh, you're close, matt. It might be, because unfortunately, when I printed this, the breed got chopped out. It's a male, 30 pounds, dog friendly, kid friendly yes, activity Uh-oh, it's a male, 30 pounds, dog-friendly, kid-friendly, yes, activity level high rooster Rooster.
Matt: 27:02
Oh, look at that, I was very close, you were Very close. Look at that, see, he's got a lot of fun color.
David: 27:10
Look at it, he's right next to Christmas gifts. This would be a perfect time to get your kids a dog. I love it. Rooster needs a home. Love To get your kids a dog. I love it. Rooster needs a home. Love it. Detroitdogrescuecom. Slash adopt. He is ready to go. Excellent, all righty folks. So we'll be right back. Those of you on Facebook Live stay where you are. Change your thinking, change your life. Laugh hard, run fast, be kind.
Announcer: 27:37
We'll see you next time.