Major Depressive Disorder Essay

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Major Depressive Disorder, according to Coon, is a mood disorder in which the person has suffered one or more intense episodes of depression. Major Depressive Disorder falls under mood disorders subtopic depressive disorders (Coon 2013). “Psychologist have come to realize that mood disorders (major disturbances in emotion) are among the most serious of all psychological conditions. In any given year, roughly 9.5 percent of the U.S. population suffers from a mood disorder (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011a)” (Coon 2013). I was one of the 9.5 percent. I have decided to write on this topic because I want to understand what causes it. I have been depressed before without medication or counseling and I wanted to know why do you get depressed and how does it impact you. This essay will talk about disorder information, disorder triggers, research on depression, treatment for depression, and theorist’s experiments for Major Depression Disorder. Personality Disorder Information Description Major mood disorders are characterized by emotional extremes. The person who only goes “down” emotionally suffers from a major depressive disorder. During major depressive episodes, everything looks bleak and hopeless. The person has feelings of failure, worthlessness, and total despair (Coon, 2013). Essentially it causes a constant sense of hopelessness and despair, and may be difficult to work, study, sleep, eat, and enjoy friends and activities. Depression indeed can be deadly. Behaviors “In depressive disorders, sadness and despondency are exaggerated, prolonged, or unreasonable. Signs of a depressive disorder are dejection, hopelessness, and an inability to feel pleasure or to take interest in anything. Other common symptoms are fatigue,... ... middle of paper ... ...appen to anyone. The person can experience feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, unacceptance, withdrawal, and thoughts of suicide. There is no exact cause and there is no prescribed cure. Depression seems to be caused by life situations and if the symptoms of depression seem to last more than two weeks then it is classified as Major Depressive Disorder. Symptoms of SAD will resemble Major Depressive Disorder. There are many treatments for Major Depression Disorder but how good the treatment works depends on the person. Harlow’s experiment shows the connection of mother and child using monkeys. From this experiment you can see that withdrawal or removal can cause depression in the rhesus monkeys. Harlow further relates that to children and their mothers. Seeing that there was too much maternal contact he notes that over attachment can cause severe depression.

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