In layman’s terms, the study of how colors affect your mood and mental state is called “color psychology.” Although this field of research is relatively new, people have been using colors to describe how they feel for centuries, such as "my world is gray" to describe someone's gr

In layman's terms, the study of how colors affect your mood and mental state is called "color psychology". Although this field of research is relatively new, people have been using colors to describe how they feel for centuries, such as "my world is gray" to describe someone's grief and despair, or the flush of someone's face when they are extremely angry and angry.

Many factors affect how a color makes you feel, including its hue, shade and vibrancy. For example, in the FPA personality color test, most people with blue personality are introverts, and they are also among the people who are more likely to suffer from depression .

So, are certain colors really linked to depression? Next, New Concept Psychological Counseling Center will work with you to understand the connection between them.

What is the connection between color and depression?

When it comes to colors associated with depression, gray and blue tend to be “high” on the list of colors associated with feeling low.

In a 2010 study using the Manchester Color Wheel, experts found that gray was the color people pointed to when asked to reflect their depressed mood.

Additionally, a 2016 study also found that those who scored highest on a depression scale chose gray as their preferred color.

Gray is often considered a neutral color (a color without emotion), which may partially explain why it has been described as feeling depressive. And depression is more than just sadness, it can be a feeling of emptiness, apathy, hopelessness, and hopelessness. Just like gray, it can be calming.

In addition to gray, blue is a color often associated with low moods (especially sadness), although the tone of blue may affect how you feel about it.

For example, a 2017 study found that dark blue was the color most associated with depression.

said in two studies from 2010 and 2017 that the vibrancy of a color is just as important as the color itself. Cooler, darker tones are more closely associated with negative emotions than warmer, lighter tones.

For example, warmer, lighter blue tones were identified as “favorite” colors and associated with soothing effects.

Why are certain colors associated with depression?

"How color affects our mood" is an ongoing area of ​​research.

Experts agree that the ability to see color has a purpose, meaning that your brain wants to know the colors of things around you for a reason.

For example, when a banana changes from green to yellow, you know it's ready to eat. To your brain, a green banana means "can't" and a yellow banana means "can."

Likewise, other colors in nature may convey important survival cues. Cold, dreary days may be less active than warm, sunny days.

Red (like the color of hot surfaces and blood) can be a color of alarm or danger. From this perspective, it makes sense that every color you see causes a physiological response in the body.

Each color produces different brain activity, according to a 2020 neuroimaging study.

Different areas of the brain are stimulated depending on the color you see, which releases hormones and sends signals to other parts of the body - when it comes to depressive colors like gray and blue, these colors are often labeled as "cool" tones and are thought to have a calming effect on the brain.

[Cultural influence]

Professor Rong Xinqi, a new concept psychology expert, said that colors may affect your brain in specific neurological ways, but how you view the value of colors will also be affected by your culture and environment.

For example, black is often associated with death and mourning in Western culture. It is often a color of fictional villains in movies and television.Many people associate black with darkness, which can represent a terrifying fear of the unknown.

For these reasons and many others, black has been labeled a negative color in most cases.

Do certain colors trigger depression?

Currently, there is no evidence that specific colors cause or induce depression.

While some colors, such as blue and gray, may evoke negative emotions that can cause depression, depression is a clinical psychological disorder characterized by long-term patterns of distress and dysfunction.

The exact cause of depression is unknown, but trauma, chronic stress, genetics, physical illness, and medication side effects have been identified as possible factors.

Does depression change your color vision?

Emotions affect your senses. For example, if you're in a state of heightened fear, you're more likely to see something worrisome or scary when in fact there's nothing at all.

If depression is a persistent emotional state, it's natural to wonder whether it affects your visual perception.

In a 2010 study, 40 people diagnosed with major depression were found to have a significant decrease in retinal sensitivity, even though they were taking medication. And reduced retinal sensitivity may affect how well you perceive color vibrancy, making things appear dimmer than they actually are.

Similar findings were found in a 2014 study that looked at light sensitivity in people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a form of depression. The results showed that the sensitivity of the retina to light in people with SAD decreased throughout the year.

Because colors are reflections of different wavelengths of light, decreased sensitivity to light in depressed states may affect the perception of color.

[Light and Depression]

pointed out important insights about light and depression in a follow-up study in 2021.

While there is no known link between specific colors and triggers of depression, this 2021 study suggests that a reduced ability to perceive light may be a potential cause of SAD.

SAD is a form of depression that is directly affected by sunlight and the seasonal day-night cycle.

Reference:

· 7 sad colors that can affect your mental state. (2020).

·Bubl E et al (2010). Do you only see gray when you are sad? Depression can be measured in the eyes of the dead.

·Caivano JL (2021). Black, white and gray: are they color, no color or the sum of all colors?

· Carruthers HR et al (2010). Manchester Color Wheel: Development of a new method of identifying color choices and validation in healthy, anxious and depressed individuals.

· color vision deficiency. (n.d.).

·Depression. (n.d.).

·Imagine colors: The patterns of activity in your brain are specific to the colors you see. (nd).

·Fennelly LJ et al. (2018). Chapter 42: Psychological properties of color. CPTED and traditional security countermeasures: 150 things you should know. Boca Raton, Florida.

·Hanada M. (2017). Correspondence analysis of the “color-emotion” association.

·Korkmaz S et al (2016). Correlations between color choice and impulsivity, anxiety, and depression.

· Roecklein KA et al (2021). Melanopsin-driven pupillary responses in summer and winter in patients with unipolar seasonal affective disorder.

· Roecklein KA et al. (2013). Pupillary responses to light exposure are reduced in seasonal affective disorder.

·Rosenthal IA et al (2021).Revealing color space geometry using magnetoencephalography.

·Seasonal affective disorder. (n.d.).