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Every now and again, an article decrying the
prevalence of depression among vegans and

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vegetarians stirs up controversy, most often
prompted by the publication of one study or

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another assessing the impact of diet on mental
health.

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While sensational headlines like “The Scary
Mental Health Risks of Going Meatless” are

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sure to grab attention and pique the Schadenfreude-driven
morbid fascination with taking veganism down

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a notch, are the studies behind such articles
actually the damning evidence of vegan-induced

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mental unbalance their purported to be?

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Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome
to another vegan nugget.

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There is, unsurprisingly, a great deal of
back and forth withina the scientific, medical,

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and lay communities, about the impact of veganism
on mental health, with ample studies indicating

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the mood enhancing benefits of a whole foods
vegan diet, while others suggest a correlation

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between veg inclinations and incidents of
mental illness.

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While I will go into greater depth on the
nutritional side of veganism and mental health

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in a separate video, I have included on the
blog post for this video, citations to some

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of these studies as well as additional resources
if you want help making sure your diet is

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balanced.

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But I’m addressing something in this video
that was, for the most part, entirely absent

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in the hundreds of studies and articles I
consulted, save for a few mentions here and

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there—the reason why, if in fact vegans
are by and large more depressed, which I have

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yet to see any broad enough statistical analysis
of, I would not be surprised in the slightest.

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In focusing on things like the quality of
plant-derived long-chain omega fatty acids,

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all of these studies and articles failed to
address the issue of awareness.

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There are many reasons people refuse to go
vegan, but in my personal opinion, one of

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if not the main source of that resistance
is the pain of accountability and the trauma

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of facing the true impact of our choices.

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Interestingly enough, the two studies behind
the sensationalized headline I mentioned,

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stated that participants’ mental illnesses
had pre-dated their dietary switch.

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This of course lead to speculation that “the
experience of a mental disorder increases

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the probability of choosing a vegetarian diet,”
and that “being a vegetarian [is] a fairly

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significant commitment and it picks up people
at the fringe of the obsessive-compulsive

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spectrum."

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Essentially meaning you have to be crazy to
even go vegetarian, god forbid vegan.

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Framing veganism as a manifestation of dietary
neurosis neglects the true breadth and depth

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of veganism, and the non-dietary motivations
for changing ones diet.

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For example, maybe depressed individuals are
by nature more sensitive and empathetic to

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the suffering of others, influencing both
their depressed state and their decision to

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go vegan.

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There is one preliminary study that ventured
into this area, using functional MRIs to observe

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and compare the brain activity of omnivores,
and ethical vegetarians, and vegans as they

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viewed scenes of alternatively human and animal
suffering.

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While admitting their study’s own limitations,
their results suggested higher empathy for

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non-human suffering amongst ethical vegans
and vegetarians than within omnivores.

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Another study, which I cover in-depth my video
“The N-Words Meat-Eaters Use,” attempted

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to standardize the rationalizations made for
eating meat.

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A more controversial aspect of their findings,
supported by previous work as well, was that

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the people who ate the most meat tended to
support, endorse, or justify, inequality within

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their own species as well.

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Denial and justification do function as protective
measures.

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The true awareness of the horrors we inflict
upon animals, of the destruction we’ve wreaked

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upon the environment, and the damage we’ve
brought upon our own bodies and those of our

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children, can prompt both a shift to veganism
and an understandable state of depression.

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I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a vegan
conversion story devoid of emotional strife.

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Of course once we’ve gone through the pain
of confronting our own part, we have the pleasure

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of watching the vast majority of the world,
including our own friends, family, and loved

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ones, continue to participate in what we now
clearly see as the enslavement, torture, and

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murder of innocent beings and decimation of
our planet.

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Perhaps we see their health declining as they
eat themselves to death.

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If you’re non-vegan and find this a bit
hyperbolic, you’re not alone.

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I have two videos that delve into this matter
in greater depth, explaining the apparent

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emotional volatility, over-sensitivity, and
at times outright aggression of vegans.

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Both videos are linked in the sidebar and
below.

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In many ways, going vegan is like becoming
an exposed nerve.

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Suddenly everything you’ve worked so hard
to shield yourself from even thinking about

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comes into painfully clear focus—for some
all at once, for others, progressively over

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time.

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Many vegans—whether consciously or not—start
to rebuild their protective insulation, understandably

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finding it all too much to bear.

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If any of us were ever to be fully and completely
aware of what was happening every moment in

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this world, we’d literally be driven insane.

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Activists working on the front lines every
day are exposed to a level of trauma rivaling

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any war zone.

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Whether undercover at slaughterhouses, hearing
the horrific cries of pigs in gas chambers,

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seeing the terror in the eyes of cows in knock
boxes, watching sentient beings bleed out,

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gasping through torn tracheas, standing by
as billions of male chicks are ground up alive

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in the egg industry, infiltrating the dog
meat industry where unspeakable torture of

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many species is standard practice, or bearing
witness outside of slaughterhouses, watching

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truck after truck after truck carry terrified
beings to their brutal deaths—striving to

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educate and inform a widely uninterested—even
apathetic—and at times aggressively resistant,

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public to the lies they’ve been told and
the realities they’ve denied.

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For many, being vegan means seeing what we
don’t want to see—what our entire society

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strives so profoundly hard to block out and
ignore.

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And even when it is thrust out into the open
whether through undercover footage and documentaries,

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solid scientific evidence on the medical and
environmental fronts, or the overturning of

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a livestock truck, literally spilling out
into the open the very individuals we want

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so much to remain hidden so we can eat their
bodies without thinking of their faces, even

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then—when the truth is so blatantly exposed,
we have well-practiced denials at the ready.

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That it’s an isolated event, it’s not
like that here, it’s faulty science, we

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buy humane products, we need the protein,
it’s what has to be done, we need better

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standards, vegans are just overly-emotional,
and on and on.

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Or may be run out of justifications.

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And all we’re left with is brazen denial.

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As flimsy and ineffective at hiding the truth
as the cardboard used to shield the public

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execution of the injured survivors of one
overturned truck in Canada.

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We see, day after day, astoundingly malicious
acts of cruelty, and disgustingly selfish

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disregard for the lives of others and the
environmental crisis affecting us all.

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And perhaps even more heartbreakingly, our
own family—self-proclaimed animal lovers—continuing

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to support everything we’re fighting against.

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We watch as our loved ones eat the bodies
and secretions of our loved ones.

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We watch as those holding the gun or the blade
are protected, while those holding the camera

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or bottle of water are arrested and vilified,
because within the realm of the animal products

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industries, the killing of children is standard
business practice, and anyone wanting to stop

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or even document this reality, is the criminal.

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x
So if a study does come out one day finding

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definitively that vegans are more prone to
depression and mental illness than non-vegans,

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don’t expect to count me among the shocked.

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Honestly, with the state of our world and
what we as a species continue to inflict upon

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others, ourselves and our planet, not being
heartbroken, devastated and enraged is a far

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more troubling reaction.

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While this video may seem like the worst commercial
for veganism ever, going vegan has and does

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enhance the physical and mental health of
so many people.

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But it can simultaneously be incredibly challenging
to stay connected to all the suffering and

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destruction.

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But I for one would not for a second trade
the pain of awareness for the comfort of denial.

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Yes, there is bliss in ignorance, for the
ignorant.

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For more information on what I covered today,
please see the links in the video description,

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including the blog post, where I have provided
resources to self-care and decompression ideas

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for activists, as well as information on nutrition’s
influence on mental health, which I will cover

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more in depth in another video.

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I do want to note that while this video largely
focused on trauma-induced and situational

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depression, mental illness does not depend
on one’s experiences or beliefs.

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In addition, for any vegans with concerns
about the ethics of medication, please see

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my video “Is Medication Vegan.”

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I personally want to thank my $50 and above
patrons and my whole Nugget Army Patreon family

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for making it possible for me to dedicate
myself fulltime to providing free, vegan education.

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If you’d like to help support the efforts
of Bite Size Vegan please check out the support

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links in the video description below or the
link in the sidebar.

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If you found this video helpful, please give
it a thumbs up and share it around to reach

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others struggling, and subscribe for more
vegan content every week.

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Now go live vegan, with awareness, and I’ll
see you s on.

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I've heard people say "I thought I was going to be tougher, I thought I was going to be able to handle this."

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There's no honor in being able to "handle it."

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We should all react that way.

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We should all be horrified.

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We should all be in tears.

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If you're there and you see that and it doesn't—
it doesn't rip you apart...

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...that's when there might be a problem.