Depression: Causes or Effects?

Depression: Causes or Effects?

Depression supplies a distinct depiction of the brain equals behavior theory. The physiological characteristics that taint the diseased brain directly impact the thoughts and behaviors of the millions of sufferers. The genesis of this dehabilitating problem is both mysterious and complicated and I am not offering any sort of revelation in stating that it is a multi-factorial manifestation involving both biological and environmental components. The end product of these variable factors do, however, provide some common biochemical alterations in the brain that lend insight into understanding the reality and possible treatment of the disease.

So, in the spirit of "working backwards," I will explore this end product. Perhaps the most popularized end-product of depression is the monoamine depletion or disturbance that is commonly detected in depressed persons. Serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine have been identified as the main culprits, serotonin and norepinephrine being the most suspect. "Among the findings linking impoverished synaptic norepinephrine levels to depression is the discovery in may studies that indirect markers of norepinephrine levels in the brain-levels of its metabolites, or by-products, in more accessible material (urine and cerebrospinal fluid)-are often low in depressed individuals. In addition, postmortem studies have revealed increased densities of certain norepinephrine receptors in the cortex of depressed suicide victims" (indicating compensatory up-regulation) (1).

It is not surprising that deficits in serotonin circuits are also seen in depressed patients, as these depletions may interact with and indeed be responsible for falls in norepinephrine levels (a phen...

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...havior equals the brain. A simple point, granted, but it does explain why behaviors (perhaps instigated by stressful environmental "input") have the potential to physically change the brain. Likewise, as stated before, if the cause of depression is sometimes just an inherently sick brain, then it is understandable why some people have intense episodes of depression with no apparent environmental trigger. And if you cannot have a brain without behavior and you cannot have behavior without a brain, it would make sense that the two must interact, both serving as causes and effects working to perpetuate the vicious cycle of depression.

Internet Sources:

1)Scientific American Article,

2)http://mymindfield.com/common_predispositions.html

3)http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/uwashpsp111299.html

4)http://www.psychological.com/psychological_disorders.html