Why Depression Is High In Today's Society

“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

Depression comes in all kinds of forms including, Major depression, Clinical depression, and Major depressive disorder. There are multiple different contributors to what causes it. Many scientists and doctors have found that “scans showed patients with clinical depression had less brain volume in several regions, including the frontal lobe, basal ganglia and hippocampus.” (Nordquist) An article published in “Harvard Health Publications” explained that although there aren’t just one chemical that is too high or too low, there are several that are playing a large role in depression disorders. As chemical and biological factors are at play, some disorders like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia autism, major depressive disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder share genes that can only be inherited. Depression can have multiple symptoms, suicidal tendencies, self injury, self hating, hopelessness and individuals can become restless and develope sleeping disorders like

Depression can be defined as a mental disorder that affect the way people think, feel, and act. According to researchers, this mental disorder affects two parts of the brain such as the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. This areas of the brain have different role. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that controls attention and focus whereas the hippocampus responsible for learning

Psychology, as most know, is the study of the mind and personal or group thoughts, feelings, and emotions in humans and animals. Scientists study, analyze, and investigate many areas of psychology, but the causes and effects of mood disorders and emotion irregularities are still unrecognized. Many studies were an attempt to find more information on mental illnesses. One of the most common illnesses in the United States is depression, also; it is the most often recognized mental illness in the world. What most clinicians don’t know, however, is what happens in the brains of patients before, during, and after depressive episodes.

The cause of Clinical depression has long been a mystery to physicians and researchers. Many different theories have been proposed, but no conclusive evidence has been put forth. However, most of what we know about depression stems from the results of certain drugs which have been successful in treating the clinically depressed. These anti--depressants have led to the assumption that depression is most likely due to a chemical imbalance (of neurotransmitters) which somehow leads to the symptoms of depression. To try and write a paper on all the theories of depression would be endless, as would be a study on all the different types of

Furthermore, depression is so widespread and heritable and it comes with a high cost for survival and reproduction

Brain chemistry. Change in the balance of neurotransmitters are likely play a role in depression.

Doctors are not sure what causes depression, but studies have shown that there is a change in brain activity and brain shape with the rapid change in a person’s mood. The brain is reported to shrink, or at least certain parts do, such as the hippocampus, which function is to store and create a human’s memories and the frontal lobes which are involved in motor function, problem solving, spontaneity, memory, language, initiation, judgment, impulse control, and social and sexual behavior. This destruction of the brain is linked to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

More people suffer from depression than you might think. People of all ages, backgrounds, lifestyles, and nationalities get clinical depression. An estimated 35 to 40 million Americas living today will suffer from major depression at some time during their lives. (4) This is about 13 to 20 percent of all Americans. (1) About half of these individuals will experience recurring depression. (3) Despite being what authorities call "the nation's leading mental health problem" (6), depression is often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, and therefore not treated. (4) Often as a result, about 25 percent of these people attempt suicide to end their

The brain is the control center for one’s thoughts, speech, and the way the body moves. Depression can slow down the way the brain functions. The way the brain has developed may also be a cause for depression. “It is often said that depression results from a chemical imbalance. Research suggests that depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals” (Harvard Health). Depression also impacts how the brain communicates and operates. Patients have “difficulty making decisions, planning, setting priorities, and taking action” (Hellerstein). Headaches and other pain issue can also occur without any explanation. Individuals may feel like they are useless human beings due to all these thoughts created

Depression is an illness, which means it affects an organ, the brain. There are three parts of the brain that appear to play a role in depression: the hippocampus, amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. “The hippocampus stores memories and regulates the production of a hormone called cortisol. The body releases cortisol during times of physical and mental stress, including during times of depression. Problems can occur when excessive amounts of cortisol are sent to the brain due to a stressful event or a chemical imbalance in the body. In a healthy brain, brain cells (neurons) are produced throughout a person’s adult life in a part of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus. In people with MDD, however, the long-term exposure to increased cortisol

Every year, approximately, 350 billion people globally are effected by depression. (Holmes) Unfortunately, depression is very common in individuals of all ages. Depression is nothing to joke about, and the effects it has on individuals is all too real. Depression not only makes someone a little sad, it effects their brain, relationships the individual may have with people around them, and can have very clear physical effects. Due to these factors depression can have very devastating effects on an individual.

Emily Dickinson, in one of her many infamous writings stated “The brain- is wider than the sky” (Dickinson Dickinson left her mark on composition long before the discovery of the expansive capabilities of the mind, but she was being more intuitive than she even thought in this quote. She is discussing the abstract ability of the human mind- the ability to imagine. Her thought, however, is also congruent to the fact that the human brain works in such a strange pattern of chemicals, and our thought process in itself is a very intricate thing. Depression is a seemingly complex state of mind that we as a people are trying to understand right now, and its roots could go deeper than we

According to Morgan (2015), the neuroscience of depression has an emotional impact on many areas of the brain. The stressors in the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis initiate the release of the

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