Depression : Causes And Biological Abnormality Associated With The Disease

Depression is a serious illness that can worsen or last for years if it is left untreated. Depression can occur in a number of ways for different reasons. It is common to feel depressed as a reaction to loss, life's struggles, or an injured self-esteem. When these feelings become too much to handle they can prevent you from living a normal, healthy life. If you or a family member think you are experiencing depression signs to look out for include difficulty concentrating, fatigue, guilt, worthlessness, Insomnia, Irritability, restlessness, and thoughts of suicide. These are only some of the signs associated with depression, and if symptoms worsen over time a trip to the doctor is necessary. Unfortunately, a lot of the people who experience symptoms never do get diagnosed or treated for their illness because they are too afraid to speak out.

According to Mayo Clinic, “Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest.” This mental health disorder affects the way you feel, think, and act. It can also lead the person to many emotional and physical problems. The person may have trouble doing normal daily activities and have a feeling that life is meaningless. Surprisingly and sadly, according to WHO.int Depression Fact Sheet, “Depression is a common mental disorder. Globally, more than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression.” Now, what causes so many people on Earth to feel this horrible disorder?

Clinical Depression is a serious common neurological disorder that can affect anyone from the adolescents to the elderly. Clinical Depression affects the mood, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and symptoms could become severe if left untreated. Clinical Depression is widespread and common, but also misunderstood and we should be well informed on the causes, effects, and treatments of depression.

Major depression is a commonly diagnosed psychological disorder affecting individuals’ ability to feel happiness and peace of mind. Those who suffer experience negative emotions, lack of motivation, changes in behaviour and dysfunctional cognitive symptoms. Depression is classified by the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) as five of more of the listed symptoms present persistently over the same two weeks. One of these symptoms must be depressed mood or loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities. Depression causes disruption to typical daily life such as inability to maintain friendships and jobs. Other symptoms outlined by the DSM-5 include; insomnia, fatigue and recurrent thoughts of death. There is much debate over what exactly causes depression. Biological explanations question hereditary and neurotransmitter factors. While psychological theories include the cognitive ideas of Beck’s negative triad and hopelessness theory. This essay will focus on the ways in which psychological and biological explanations contrast and how their theories can overlap to better understand depression.

Depression is a clinical condition associated with the normal emotions of bereavement and sadness. However, this condition does not pass on when the external causes of these emotions dissolve and is usually inconsistent to their cause. In essence, the classic severe conditions of depression have not been attributed to external precipitating cause. One of the most common conditions of depression is Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), which is a psychiatric condition that impairs moods, behavioral patterns, and thoughts for a protracted duration. This psychiatric illness tends to impair the patient’s social functioning and quality of life due to its impacts on cognitive functioning. Some of the most common symptoms of the condition include difficulty in concentration, weight change, minimal interest in pleasure, high rate of suicide, and physical impairment. The severity of this disease was evident in the year 2000 when the World Health Organization ranked it as the fourth cause of disability and premature death across the globe.

Depression is defined as “an alteration in mood that is expressed by feelings of sadness, despair, or pessimism” (Neeb’s, 397). There are seven types of depressive disorders which are major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, postpartum depression, major depressive disorder with seasonal pattern, substance-induced depressive disorder, depressive disorder associated with another medical condition, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Each type of depression has it’s own criteria for a patient to be diagnosed under. Depression often goes hand in hand with anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, substance use disorders, eating disorders, and personality disorders (ATI, 97).

We all experience gloomy and hopeless chapters in our life however, the feeling is brief and pass within a couple days. Unfortunately, for some individuals the gloominess do not seem to pass. Depression is one of the most prevalent psychological disorders and countless people suffer from depression at one point in their life (Beattie, 2005). The feelings of hopelessness, sorrow, or being alone are the topmost feelings linked to depression and is sometimes unavoidable, for some individuals these feelings can be difficult to overcome, thus is where depression becomes a disorder that requires active treatment (Beattie, 2005). I will discuss an overview, the biological, psychological, sociocultural factors and the treatment for Major Depressive

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a very common mental illness; it can affect anyone. Many people feel down, sad, or “blue” occasionally, but most the time is short-lived and passes quickly. Depression is more than grief after a loss or just feeling down and/or sad. Major Depressive Disorder consists of at least a two-week episode in which a person’s mood is lowered and can be accompanied with low self-esteem, diminished interest in most activities the individual once enjoyed, low energy, sleep too much or not enough, feeling hopeless and/or empty. An individual may also experience feelings of worthlessness or guilt, unable to concentrate or indecisiveness, and recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation, or an actual

Depression has many degrees of severity from a passing feeling to a serious illness, which destroys lives and relationships. Major depressive disorder is the most severe form of depression. It is extreme and persistent, rendering the patient inconsolable and helpless (1). Depressed patients often cannot continue working and have difficulty dealing with family and friends. Other symptoms of major depression are deep despair, misery, irritability, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, change in eating and sleeping habits, fatigue and inability to concentrate. Other mental illnesses, such as anxiety and alcoholism are also associated with major depression (2). While serious depressive episodes are

People of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life have felt depressed and unhappy at some time in their lives. These periods of sadness usually pass after a short time, but for some people, this feeling can remain for weeks, months, and even years. (1) This prolonged state of unhappiness is called major (or clinical) depression and is characterized by a persistent sad or "empty" mood, loss of interest in favorite activities, difficulty concentrating, and many other symptoms. It is not simply a mental state but an illness that interferes with the way people feel, function, and think.(2)

Depression is a mood disorder that is described as a persistent feeling in sadness or overbearing feelings of hopelessness and loss of interest. The official name for depression, “major depressive disorder” affects 14.8 million people in the United States in a given year (Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005 Jun; 62(6): 617-27). The causes of depression include: biological differences meaning physical changes in the brain, brain chemistry, hormone imbalance, inherited traits, and traumatic events (Mayo Clinic, 2014). These general facts give a relevant reference as to how common depression actually is, because it affects a significant amount of people in the United States.

Depression is a mood disorder which prevents individuals from leading a normal life, at work socially or within their family. Depression also known as Major Depressive Disorder (MMD) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act, but it’s mental disorder is characterized by a pervasive and persistent low mood that is accompanied by low self-esteem and by a loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Depression affects an estimated one in 15 adults in any given year. And one in six people will experience depression at some time in their life. Depression can strike at any time, but on average, first appears during the late teens to mid-20s. Women are more

Major depression can last for long periods of time that has severely distinct emotional, mental and physical systems that can be disabling. It is also the leading cause of disability in the United States of America between the ages of 15-44. (The World Health Organization) A more mild form of depression is called dysthymia which lasts for at least a few years affecting approximately 1.5 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. (Kessler, 2005) Symptoms can include periods of prolonged sadness, anger, worthlessness as well as significant changes in appetite and sleep patterns. Other signs an individual can show is an inability to concentrate, social withdrawal and thoughts of suicide. While there is no singular cause of depression that can be applied all, current research suggest that a combination of genetic, biological, environmental and psychological factors lead to depression. (NIH, Depression) Results from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have shown that the parts of the brain that effects an individual’s mood, thinking, sleep, appetite, and behavior are unbalanced or appear different. (NIH, Depression) Although these images have yet to explain to researchers why depression has occurred, once diagnosed this disorder can be

There is no single cause for depression. Depression can be caused by one or more factors. Some people are more likely to have depression than others. There are different reasons that attempt to explain this predisposition:

Depression is a chronic, recurrent psychiatric disorder affecting nearly 21% of the world population (Gu et al., 2014; Lai et al., 2014). According to the world health organization (WHO) reports, it will become the 4th leading cause of disability worldwide by the year 2020 (WHO, 2001; Wang et al., 2013). The monoamine theory states that the brain neurotransmitters such as 5-Hydroxytyrptamine (5-HT), Norepinephrine (NE), and Dopamine (DA) assume to play a key role in the pathophysiology of depression (Patel and Galani, 2013). Clinically, at the early stages of depression, noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (e.g. desipramine, reboxetine, etc.) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (e.g. fluoxetine, citalopram, etc.) have been mainly exploited