Are Vegans More Depressed?

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

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

another assessing the impact of diet on mental
health.

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

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

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

mental unbalance their purported to be?

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

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

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

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

between veg inclinations and incidents of
mental illness.

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

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

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

balanced.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

of facing the true impact of our choices.

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

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

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

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

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

spectrum."

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

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

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

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

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

go vegan.

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

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

viewed scenes of alternatively human and animal
suffering.

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

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

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

to standardize the rationalizations made for
eating meat.

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

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

their own species as well.

Denial and justification do function as protective
measures.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

murder of innocent beings and decimation of
our planet.

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

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

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

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

Both videos are linked in the sidebar and
below.

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

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

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

time.

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

finding it all too much to bear.

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

this world, we’d literally be driven insane.

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

any war zone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

strives so profoundly hard to block out and
ignore.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or may be run out of justifications.

And all we’re left with is brazen denial.

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

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

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

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

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

to support everything we’re fighting against.

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

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

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

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

or even document this reality, is the criminal.

x
So if a study does come out one day finding

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

don’t expect to count me among the shocked.

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

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

more troubling reaction.

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

enhance the physical and mental health of
so many people.

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

destruction.

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

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

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

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

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

more in depth in another video.

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

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

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

my video “Is Medication Vegan.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We should all react that way.

We should all be horrified.

We should all be in tears.

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

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