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Cancer Is Not The Only Serious Disease That Chronic Stress

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Cancer is not the only serious disease that chronic stress can lead to; while not as directly life-threatening as cancer, chronic stress often leads to mental disorders. Research has suggested “...that chronic stress can lead to or exacerbate mood disorders…,” the most common being depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders (Mills et al, “Mental”). Many sources state stress as a cause of depression. The byproduct of stress hormones act as sedatives, and the buildup of or large amounts of byproducts from chronic stress can contribute to a feeling of low energy or depression. This factor, as well as a sense of dysfunction and frustration at not being able to manage stress, may result in an increased sense of depression. Feeling …show more content…

All of this abnormal brain activity could result in a mental disorder, as mental disorders are a result of changes in brain structure or function (Grohol, “Causes”). More study is needed to verify the findings of this study, as they were done on rats. However, it does provide insight as to what the connection between chronic stress and mental disorders could be. Clinical depression is the term used for any kind of depression disorder, which includes the most common one: major depression, or informally known as depression. While there are several types of depressive disorders, they are share the same gamut of symptoms. These include not just cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms, but also physical ones. Major depression is a mental medical illness that affects both the body and the mind, and it creates “physical, psychological, and social symptoms” (Nemade et al; “Depression”). Major depression is defined by a set of criteria before being labeled to a subject: the subject must experience several of the symptoms of depression almost every day for a span of at least two weeks (Grohol, “Warning”; Nemade et al). It is not absolutely certain what causes depression, as it is “a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors”(Smith et al). Chronic stress can contribute to all those factors which makes it a cause for depression; different events may trigger people in different

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