Bipolar Depression In Women

Depression is a disorder that can be caused by many factors. Stress, medication, other medical illnesses, and personality traits can all contribute to depression, but the most common cause, however, is heredity (yahoo.com 1). These are all theorized guesses as to what causes clinical depression. The actual cause has not yet been resolved (yahoo.com 1). It is considered that usually more than one factor causes the disorder (yahoo.com 2).

Depression can best be explained by the biological perspective of psychology. The disorder is caused by changes in the brain’s neurotransmitters, chemicals that relay messages to the body from the brain.

The connection between gender and psychological disorders seems to be hard to ignore and yet today we still lack the distinct research and treatment necessary to resolve the epidemic of psychological disorders in women. Women are twice as likely to suffer from anxiety disorders than men, a study showed 10% of mothers obtain a mental health problem during motherhood while only 6% of fathers experience these issues (“Mental Health Statistics: Men and Women.") and women predominate over men in rates of major depression (Astbury, Cabral). The gap in between men and women experiencing these mental health problems seems to be clear but we have to ask ourselves, why? We often associate mental health issues with individual

Through my research I wanted to learn about exactly what anti-depressants do chemically . I also wanted to determine what role genetics, heredity, environment, and biological factors play in depression. Though I was not able to answer all of these questions, I learned a lot about depression and even developed some theories of my own. For a long time, I have thought of some forms of depression as a weakness. I truly believed that in many cases it could be controlled by the depressed person themself. I also felt that environmental and personal factors played were the basis for depression. However, through what we have learned in class and from my research, I have come to realize that this theory is not completely true. Mood is a generalized control mechanism like sleep. Eating also exhibits many characteristics of generalized control mechanisms. Mood can be affected by sensory input and the I-function, but it is also autonomous in that it can vary independent of sensory input. This internal variation is pharmacologically dependent. Changes in a persons pharmacological makeup can cause mood changes, sleep disturbances, and even depression. The I-function influences mood manipulation but cannot determine mood. Though you may want to be in a good mood, make a conscious effort to think RhappyS thoughts, and may not have serious stressors in your life, you may still suffer clinical depression as a result of a chemical imbalance in your system. Depression can be physical and

Depression is not experienced in the same manner and to the same extent by all age groups and sexes. It is a well known fact that women experience depression more than men. This is true regardless of economic status, racial and ethnic background. There are many factors responsible for this difference in the experience of depression. Research has shown that hormonal, biological, life cycle and psychological factors are mainly responsible for the higher rate of depression in women as compared to men. Research has also shown that the chemical processes of the brain, that control mood and emotions, are directly affected by hormones. The hormone secretions in women vary according to life cycles and periodical physical changes that women experience.

Depression is the commonest psychiatric diagnoses in patients attending psychiatric clinics, psychiatric outpatient departments or mental health facilities. The lifetime prevalence of unipolar depression is about 15 percent in males and 25 percent in females in the first world countries with similar prevalance in the developing countries. According to the WHO, about one in four consultations to health care providers is depression related. The twelve month prevalence in the US is about 7 percent with maximum prevalence in the 18-29 year old individuals with females having a 1.5 to 3 fold higher rate than males (23)

For this weeks’ review assignment, I have chosen to write about the sweeping topic of unipolar depression. Depression is such a pervasive term in today’s society, and justifiably so. The textbook states that 19% of all adults will experience an episode of severe unipolar depression in their lifetimes (Comer, 2014). Women are twice as likely to be affected by depression as their male counterparts. 85% of people diagnosed with the disorder recover, while an additional 40% will have a reoccurrence at some point in their lives.

Do you know what depression is? When you have a chemical imbalance in the brain it can lead to many mental illnesses including depression. Depression is common among people, but can be helped through counseling and medication. With depression, there are many forms of depression, mental challenges, and social challenges.

Depression is not as simple as one may think. It is more than just feeling sad sometimes or having a bad day. Depression, the most common form of mental illness, is actually a brain disorder caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain (Hyde and Forsyth 6). There are many causes of depression including stressful life events like the loss of a loved one or physical or mental abuse (Mooney 16-17, 19). Depression can also be hereditary, meaning it is passed down genetically through families (Hyde and Forsyth 21). Numerous types of depression exist, but the three most common ones are major depression, manic depression, and dysthymia (Mooney 9-11).

In almost all countries, women are at least twice as likely as men to experience episodes of severe unipolar depression. Approximately half of people with unipolar depression recover within six weeks and 90% recover within a year, some without treatment (Kessler, 2002; Kendler et al., 1997). However, most of them have at least one other episode of depression later on their lives (Boland & Keller, 2002).

The issue of women experiencing higher incidence of depression is real. This is because of the natural differences that make women the weaker sex; this makes them mores susceptible to depression. Moreover, gender disparities imminent in some societies discriminate against women; this discrimination makes them more prone to depression. However, with more and more societies getting civilized and embracing gender equity, the

Men and women are biologically similar in regards to the hormones and chemicals involved with depression. However socially, each gender encounters different social afflictions that can often lead them into depressive states. In this essay, we will explore the common struggles that each gender experiences and how these realities effect their contrasting developments of depression.

Women experience depression at twice the rate of men. Gender differences emerge first at puberty and occur mainly in the common mental disorders such as depression, anxiety among others. These disorders, in which women predominate, affect approximately 1 in 3 people. The frequency of major depression in adults is estimated to be 7 to 12 percent in men and 20 to 25 percent in women in a community and this constitutes a serious public health problem (NIMH, 2006). Several and variable factors in women contribute to depression, such as genetic, hormonal, developmental, reproductive, and other biological differences like premenstrual syndrome, childbirth, infertility and menopause. Factors associated to social issues may lead to depression

The severity of depression has been supported through scientific evidence that indicates that depression has a biological basis in the brain of a depressed person along with psychological and social implications. Whilst there are many catalysts in a person’s life that can be identified as a possible root cause of depression, such as stressful life events or the death of a loved one, the issue is far more complex, as the biological triggers of depression are not as easily expressed, such as faulty mood regulation in the brain, vulnerable genetics in the DNA, and other medical problems. Many things are altered in the brain of the depressed person. Firstly, what most understand to be an imbalance in the levels of chemicals that regulate emotions, is in reality far more elaborate. The true issue surrounding the many chemicals involved inside and outside of the nerve cells that undergo numerous chemical reaction which make up the dynamic system that is responsible for mood, perceptions, and the way one experiences life you experiences life can be altered in different ways that affect how one lives. Along with the brains chemicals, the connections between nerve cells called neurons decrease and deteriorate, meaning the

Over the years, people have argued and discussed about what could be possible causes of depression. Some experts believe that a person’s genes could be a determinative of whether he or she is inclined or genetically predisposed, to depression. Experts point it to the fact that depressive genes could run in families. Other specialists lessen the role of the person’s genetic, arguing that depression is generally caused by stress, trauma, or physical or mental illness.