I had never really heard the word “safe” used in a non-physically risky context until my first inpatient stay. After that, I hardly could describe what I was feeling without using the word. Feeling “unsafe” was like saying I felt not-okay + restless + fearful + on-edge + anxious + in danger. It’s hard to explain because it is just this underlying/unconscious/indescribable feeling.

When I stumbled upon this article (Safety Can Be Learned – And Helps Combat Depression), everything seemed to just make sense — the fear conditioning occurs on a cellular level. I never really thought of it this way, but this explains why I can feel “unsafe” even when there isn’t an immediate stressor. Chronic fear causes changes in cellular and molecular processes, resulting in depression and this persistent “unsafe” feeling.

What was even MORE interesting was the idea of “learned safety.” Again, probably not a new concept, but the idea of associating a specific stimuli with a feeling of safety and reducing fear on a molecular level is pretty cool.

According to the article, fear causes that unsafe feeling. Chronically, this results in depression. Learned safety can be used to reduce fear… which means that it should also decrease depression.

Some technical highlights from the article:

Learned safety leads to cell biology reactions such as those caused by antidepressants but uses different molecular mechanisms.

Learned safety has a positive effect on newly created cells in a specific region of the hippocampus (dentate gyrus) in the brain. This was because significantly more new cells survived there when they had previously experienced a stimulus through learned safety. This effect on cell survival could be traced to increased expression of the protein BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which is also triggered by learned safety.

Now, my antidepressants don’t do much for the unsafe feeling that I sometimes get — maybe that’s why I never put the two together. However, if learned safety really can help combat depression, this could be a great adjunct to current MDD treatment…