1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,740 Every now and again, an article decrying the prevalence of depression among vegans and 2 00:00:04,740 --> 00:00:10,530 vegetarians stirs up controversy, most often prompted by the publication of one study or 3 00:00:10,530 --> 00:00:13,999 another assessing the impact of diet on mental health. 4 00:00:13,999 --> 00:00:18,570 While sensational headlines like “The Scary Mental Health Risks of Going Meatless” are 5 00:00:18,570 --> 00:00:24,740 sure to grab attention and pique the Schadenfreude-driven morbid fascination with taking veganism down 6 00:00:24,740 --> 00:00:30,730 a notch, are the studies behind such articles actually the damning evidence of vegan-induced 7 00:00:30,730 --> 00:00:33,030 mental unbalance their purported to be? 8 00:00:37,820 --> 00:00:41,390 Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. 9 00:00:41,390 --> 00:00:46,330 There is, unsurprisingly, a great deal of back and forth withina the scientific, medical, 10 00:00:46,330 --> 00:00:51,960 and lay communities, about the impact of veganism on mental health, with ample studies indicating 11 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:57,200 the mood enhancing benefits of a whole foods vegan diet, while others suggest a correlation 12 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,320 between veg inclinations and incidents of mental illness. 13 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,740 While I will go into greater depth on the nutritional side of veganism and mental health 14 00:01:05,740 --> 00:01:10,200 in a separate video, I have included on the blog post for this video, citations to some 15 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:15,020 of these studies as well as additional resources if you want help making sure your diet is 16 00:01:15,020 --> 00:01:16,020 balanced. 17 00:01:16,020 --> 00:01:21,369 But I’m addressing something in this video that was, for the most part, entirely absent 18 00:01:21,369 --> 00:01:25,729 in the hundreds of studies and articles I consulted, save for a few mentions here and 19 00:01:25,729 --> 00:01:31,130 there—the reason why, if in fact vegans are by and large more depressed, which I have 20 00:01:31,130 --> 00:01:36,640 yet to see any broad enough statistical analysis of, I would not be surprised in the slightest. 21 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:41,299 In focusing on things like the quality of plant-derived long-chain omega fatty acids, 22 00:01:41,299 --> 00:01:44,929 all of these studies and articles failed to address the issue of awareness. 23 00:01:44,929 --> 00:01:50,979 There are many reasons people refuse to go vegan, but in my personal opinion, one of 24 00:01:50,979 --> 00:01:56,149 if not the main source of that resistance is the pain of accountability and the trauma 25 00:01:56,149 --> 00:01:59,170 of facing the true impact of our choices. 26 00:01:59,170 --> 00:02:04,119 Interestingly enough, the two studies behind the sensationalized headline I mentioned, 27 00:02:04,119 --> 00:02:08,720 stated that participants’ mental illnesses had pre-dated their dietary switch. 28 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:13,280 This of course lead to speculation that “the experience of a mental disorder increases 29 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,920 the probability of choosing a vegetarian diet,” and that “being a vegetarian [is] a fairly 30 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:22,510 significant commitment and it picks up people at the fringe of the obsessive-compulsive 31 00:02:22,510 --> 00:02:23,510 spectrum." 32 00:02:23,510 --> 00:02:29,780 Essentially meaning you have to be crazy to even go vegetarian, god forbid vegan. 33 00:02:29,780 --> 00:02:35,970 Framing veganism as a manifestation of dietary neurosis neglects the true breadth and depth 34 00:02:35,970 --> 00:02:40,470 of veganism, and the non-dietary motivations for changing ones diet. 35 00:02:40,470 --> 00:02:45,580 For example, maybe depressed individuals are by nature more sensitive and empathetic to 36 00:02:45,580 --> 00:02:50,150 the suffering of others, influencing both their depressed state and their decision to 37 00:02:50,150 --> 00:02:51,200 go vegan. 38 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:57,400 There is one preliminary study that ventured into this area, using functional MRIs to observe 39 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:02,260 and compare the brain activity of omnivores, and ethical vegetarians, and vegans as they 40 00:03:02,260 --> 00:03:06,300 viewed scenes of alternatively human and animal suffering. 41 00:03:06,300 --> 00:03:10,710 While admitting their study’s own limitations, their results suggested higher empathy for 42 00:03:10,710 --> 00:03:16,120 non-human suffering amongst ethical vegans and vegetarians than within omnivores. 43 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:21,120 Another study, which I cover in-depth my video “The N-Words Meat-Eaters Use,” attempted 44 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,280 to standardize the rationalizations made for eating meat. 45 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:29,040 A more controversial aspect of their findings, supported by previous work as well, was that 46 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:34,480 the people who ate the most meat tended to support, endorse, or justify, inequality within 47 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,770 their own species as well. 48 00:03:36,770 --> 00:03:40,320 Denial and justification do function as protective measures. 49 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:45,870 The true awareness of the horrors we inflict upon animals, of the destruction we’ve wreaked 50 00:03:45,870 --> 00:03:50,550 upon the environment, and the damage we’ve brought upon our own bodies and those of our 51 00:03:50,550 --> 00:03:56,220 children, can prompt both a shift to veganism and an understandable state of depression. 52 00:03:56,220 --> 00:04:01,740 I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a vegan conversion story devoid of emotional strife. 53 00:04:01,740 --> 00:04:05,600 Of course once we’ve gone through the pain of confronting our own part, we have the pleasure 54 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:10,380 of watching the vast majority of the world, including our own friends, family, and loved 55 00:04:10,380 --> 00:04:16,160 ones, continue to participate in what we now clearly see as the enslavement, torture, and 56 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,879 murder of innocent beings and decimation of our planet. 57 00:04:19,879 --> 00:04:23,240 Perhaps we see their health declining as they eat themselves to death. 58 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,880 If you’re non-vegan and find this a bit hyperbolic, you’re not alone. 59 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:32,340 I have two videos that delve into this matter in greater depth, explaining the apparent 60 00:04:32,340 --> 00:04:37,659 emotional volatility, over-sensitivity, and at times outright aggression of vegans. 61 00:04:37,659 --> 00:04:39,610 Both videos are linked in the sidebar and below. 62 00:04:39,610 --> 00:04:41,919 In many ways, going vegan is like becoming an exposed nerve. 63 00:04:41,919 --> 00:04:46,150 Suddenly everything you’ve worked so hard to shield yourself from even thinking about 64 00:04:46,150 --> 00:04:51,300 comes into painfully clear focus—for some all at once, for others, progressively over 65 00:04:51,300 --> 00:04:52,300 time. 66 00:04:52,300 --> 00:04:57,580 Many vegans—whether consciously or not—start to rebuild their protective insulation, understandably 67 00:04:57,580 --> 00:04:59,939 finding it all too much to bear. 68 00:04:59,939 --> 00:05:05,310 If any of us were ever to be fully and completely aware of what was happening every moment in 69 00:05:05,310 --> 00:05:09,700 this world, we’d literally be driven insane. 70 00:05:09,700 --> 00:05:14,180 Activists working on the front lines every day are exposed to a level of trauma rivaling 71 00:05:14,180 --> 00:05:15,669 any war zone. 72 00:05:15,669 --> 00:05:21,159 Whether undercover at slaughterhouses, hearing the horrific cries of pigs in gas chambers, 73 00:05:21,159 --> 00:05:27,270 seeing the terror in the eyes of cows in knock boxes, watching sentient beings bleed out, 74 00:05:27,270 --> 00:05:32,849 gasping through torn tracheas, standing by as billions of male chicks are ground up alive 75 00:05:32,849 --> 00:05:37,820 in the egg industry, infiltrating the dog meat industry where unspeakable torture of 76 00:05:37,820 --> 00:05:43,180 many species is standard practice, or bearing witness outside of slaughterhouses, watching 77 00:05:43,180 --> 00:05:48,860 truck after truck after truck carry terrified beings to their brutal deaths—striving to 78 00:05:48,860 --> 00:05:55,809 educate and inform a widely uninterested—even apathetic—and at times aggressively resistant, 79 00:05:55,809 --> 00:05:59,990 public to the lies they’ve been told and the realities they’ve denied. 80 00:05:59,990 --> 00:06:05,360 For many, being vegan means seeing what we don’t want to see—what our entire society 81 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,229 strives so profoundly hard to block out and ignore. 82 00:06:09,229 --> 00:06:14,169 And even when it is thrust out into the open whether through undercover footage and documentaries, 83 00:06:14,169 --> 00:06:18,850 solid scientific evidence on the medical and environmental fronts, or the overturning of 84 00:06:18,850 --> 00:06:24,100 a livestock truck, literally spilling out into the open the very individuals we want 85 00:06:24,100 --> 00:06:30,620 so much to remain hidden so we can eat their bodies without thinking of their faces, even 86 00:06:30,620 --> 00:06:37,720 then—when the truth is so blatantly exposed, we have well-practiced denials at the ready. 87 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,611 That it’s an isolated event, it’s not like that here, it’s faulty science, we 88 00:06:40,611 --> 00:06:45,960 buy humane products, we need the protein, it’s what has to be done, we need better 89 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,889 standards, vegans are just overly-emotional, and on and on. 90 00:06:49,889 --> 00:06:53,150 Or may be run out of justifications. 91 00:06:53,150 --> 00:06:55,909 And all we’re left with is brazen denial. 92 00:06:55,909 --> 00:07:01,229 As flimsy and ineffective at hiding the truth as the cardboard used to shield the public 93 00:07:01,229 --> 00:07:06,159 execution of the injured survivors of one overturned truck in Canada. 94 00:07:06,159 --> 00:07:11,900 We see, day after day, astoundingly malicious acts of cruelty, and disgustingly selfish 95 00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:16,749 disregard for the lives of others and the environmental crisis affecting us all. 96 00:07:16,749 --> 00:07:22,719 And perhaps even more heartbreakingly, our own family—self-proclaimed animal lovers—continuing 97 00:07:22,719 --> 00:07:26,009 to support everything we’re fighting against. 98 00:07:26,009 --> 00:07:31,039 We watch as our loved ones eat the bodies and secretions of our loved ones. 99 00:07:31,039 --> 00:07:37,150 We watch as those holding the gun or the blade are protected, while those holding the camera 100 00:07:37,150 --> 00:07:42,479 or bottle of water are arrested and vilified, because within the realm of the animal products 101 00:07:42,479 --> 00:07:48,279 industries, the killing of children is standard business practice, and anyone wanting to stop 102 00:07:48,279 --> 00:07:51,979 or even document this reality, is the criminal. 103 00:07:51,979 --> 00:07:54,469 x So if a study does come out one day finding 104 00:07:54,469 --> 00:07:59,139 definitively that vegans are more prone to depression and mental illness than non-vegans, 105 00:07:59,139 --> 00:08:02,080 don’t expect to count me among the shocked. 106 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:07,270 Honestly, with the state of our world and what we as a species continue to inflict upon 107 00:08:07,270 --> 00:08:13,029 others, ourselves and our planet, not being heartbroken, devastated and enraged is a far 108 00:08:13,029 --> 00:08:15,659 more troubling reaction. 109 00:08:15,659 --> 00:08:21,250 While this video may seem like the worst commercial for veganism ever, going vegan has and does 110 00:08:21,250 --> 00:08:24,099 enhance the physical and mental health of so many people. 111 00:08:24,099 --> 00:08:29,550 But it can simultaneously be incredibly challenging to stay connected to all the suffering and 112 00:08:29,550 --> 00:08:30,550 destruction. 113 00:08:30,550 --> 00:08:36,800 But I for one would not for a second trade the pain of awareness for the comfort of denial. 114 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:41,940 Yes, there is bliss in ignorance, for the ignorant. 115 00:08:41,940 --> 00:08:46,360 For more information on what I covered today, please see the links in the video description, 116 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,670 including the blog post, where I have provided resources to self-care and decompression ideas 117 00:08:50,670 --> 00:08:55,440 for activists, as well as information on nutrition’s influence on mental health, which I will cover 118 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:57,050 more in depth in another video. 119 00:08:57,050 --> 00:09:02,100 I do want to note that while this video largely focused on trauma-induced and situational 120 00:09:02,100 --> 00:09:06,690 depression, mental illness does not depend on one’s experiences or beliefs. 121 00:09:06,690 --> 00:09:10,810 In addition, for any vegans with concerns about the ethics of medication, please see 122 00:09:10,810 --> 00:09:12,920 my video “Is Medication Vegan.” 123 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:19,410 I personally want to thank my $50 and above patrons and my whole Nugget Army Patreon family 124 00:09:19,410 --> 00:09:23,889 for making it possible for me to dedicate myself fulltime to providing free, vegan education. 125 00:09:23,889 --> 00:09:28,540 If you’d like to help support the efforts of Bite Size Vegan please check out the support 126 00:09:28,540 --> 00:09:31,720 links in the video description below or the link in the sidebar. 127 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,440 If you found this video helpful, please give it a thumbs up and share it around to reach 128 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:39,320 others struggling, and subscribe for more vegan content every week. 129 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,940 Now go live vegan, with awareness, and I’ll see you s on. 130 00:09:42,940 --> 00:09:47,720 I've heard people say "I thought I was going to be tougher, I thought I was going to be able to handle this." 131 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,220 There's no honor in being able to "handle it." 132 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:52,620 We should all react that way. 133 00:09:53,140 --> 00:09:54,960 We should all be horrified. 134 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:56,980 We should all be in tears. 135 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,940 If you're there and you see that and it doesn't— it doesn't rip you apart... 136 00:10:03,940 --> 00:10:05,780 ...that's when there might be a problem.