Social And Biological Aspects 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 widespread public health concern of major significance. According to The World Health Organization (WHO) depression is within the top five leading causes of disability globally. The decline in the quality of life is accompanied with major distress and their capacity for social, interpersonal, and the physical role of functioning become debilitated in adults with this ailment. Many adults seeking help are disinclined to accept antidepressant medication to aid them in their recovery, or they simply are unable to tolerate the side effects of them. So, what other options do they have to aid them in their recovery?

One of the studies showed that a combination of exercise and counseling was more effective than counseling alone (Rueter et al. 1982). Martinsen et al (1985) divided a group of 23 participants with clinical depression into two groups – (i) a control group of 14 patients and (ii) a exercise group of 9 patients who were given TCAs (Tricyclic antidepressants) to augment treatment. It was seen that both the group showed similar improvement in depressive symptoms. This does show that exercise has an impact that is as good as medication to lower depressive

“Recent data estimate the overall prevalence of depression at about 11.1% of the American population, or nearly 35 million individuals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). A predictive models suggest that up to 50% of the population will experience at least one episode of depression during their lives” (Life Extension, 2014). Depression has negatively affected the lives of many individuals throughout the world. Look around you there may even be someone close to you that is demonstrating signs of its stifling affects. Depression does not discriminate with its suffocating

A growing epidemic in America is depression. Physicians are able to prescribe drugs to help with the symptoms of depression, but other therapeutic methods have been studied and show great results in recovery. Therapeutic Physical Fitness has shown to reduce depression and anxiety. Ihas been confirmed through experiments that physical exercise can be as effective as antidepressant drugs and some cases suggest that it better prevents symptom recurrence.

There is a flourishing interest in the use of physical activity or exercise in the treatment of depression because

Many researches indicated that exercise have impact on mental disorders such as depression. Depression is a common problem that affects many people’s lives directly or indirectly, through their family members or friends. This paper will introduce the definition of exercise and depression, what the influence that exercise have on depression, biological supportive reason, under what circumstance the treatment have the best influence and the negative effects on certain condition.

(3) While successful drug therapies which act on neurotransmitters in the brain imply that depression is a neurobiological condition (4), the fact that such medications do not help about 20 percent of depression-sufferers seems to show that not all depression is due to such imbalances. Rather, depression is not caused by one single factor; it is most often caused by many different things. Genetics, biochemical factors, medicines and alcohol, developmental and other external factors, and relationships, marriage and children all have effect on the development of clinical depression. (5) The strongest hypotheses on the pathways to depression are in decreases in the activity of specific neurotransmitters, or the overactivity of certain hormonal systems. (3)

While the research of Blumenthal et al. (2007) focused on exercise being effective in reducing self-reported depressive symptoms, Diaz and Motta (2008) and Motta, Kuligowski, and Marino (2010) looked at the positive effects of exercise on depression, anxiety and PTSD. The theory of exercise’s positive effect on mental health has heavily been focused on

This report aims to determine the efficacy and benefits of exercise in the management of depression, which is classified by the World Health Organisation as a mood disorder. In order to place exercise therapy into context, conventional methods for treating clinical depression are discussed. A personal meta-analysis is then undertaken, summarising the findings of studies that have explored the clinical significance of physical exercise as an intervention in treating depression. The advantages and disadvantages of such an intervention are described, and

Recent credible research studies were gathered for data involving exercise as a treatment for depression. The interest of change is to help people with depression to improve overall quality of life. Throughout the studies gathered, time and time again exercise of varying intensities and time frames were stated as being beneficial in treating people with depression. These types of exercises include moderate intensity, such as walking, or low intensity, such as yoga or resistance training. Benefits were seen with exercising for as little as four weeks to twelve months. Improved symptoms included feeling more “alive” or less “numb” and improving body image and self esteem (Danielsson, Kihlbom, & Rosberg, 2016). Exercise was also found to

They found that an exercise training programme could be an alternative treatment for MDD. Although antidepressants had a more rapid response than exercise, after 16 weeks of exercise the effectiveness in reducing depression was equal to the anti-depressants. A study also found that a single bout of exercise could result in substantial improvements in mood, which shows that it’s not just duration and frequency. However, it may be that the improvement in mood is only temporary (Dimeo et al., 2001). Lawler and Hopker (2001) stated that effectiveness of exercise on depression couldn’t be determined due to lack of quality research based on clinical populations. They also wrote that the explanations of the results may have been that depressed patients who did regular exercise could have got positive feedback from other people and a sense of self worth, which may act as a diversion from negative thoughts. Physical activity was found to be linked with less coexisting depression, which remains the same after controlling for gender, age, and race. The results of the study showed that physical activity is helpful with medical problems, life stressors and quality of sleep (Harris et al., 2006).

Exercise may be one of the most important influences on your overall health to date. While the only benefits that are mainly focused on are the physical benefits, significant psychological impacts can also be linked to exercise. Although some of these benefits aren’t viewed with much enthusiasm, studies have proven that exercise can actually improve one’s quality of life greatly by increasing not only their physical health but their mental health as well. It is because of this that exercise is a

Depression is the most common of all psychological disorders, affecting 100 million people worldwide. The depression ranges from mild feelings of uneasiness, sadness, and apathy to intense suicidal despair. (Kasschau) If left untreated, it could lead the

In a world of vast technology and research, the study of medicine has greatly improved and continues to grow. In this day and age modern diseases have been cured and/or treated by “new” medicine. However, many carry short and long term side-effects that sometimes eliminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Are antidepressants one of them? Imagine spending every hour of everyday overeating, experiencing headaches, cramps, body pains or attempting suicide (NIMH, nd). Life would not be pleasant; however, these are just a quarter of the symptoms people with depression have to endure. Depression interferes with a person 's life and can cause pain for that person and others around him or her. It can even be very difficult trying to look for ideal treatment. Even though the most common treatments are antidepressants, some doctors consider exercise as a reliable treatment because of its preliminary health benefits. Cardiovascular/aerobic exercise helps to prevent health problems such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, strengthen the immune system and heart, and improve the working efficiency of the respiratory system (Mayo Clinic, 2014): considering cardiovascular/aerobic exercise as a treatment for depression would not be farfetched. However, there are some factors to consider as not every human body is made the same. This indicates both antidepressants and exercise treatments most likely do not have a hundred percent success rate on their own. Gayathri