Depression is a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant. It brings together a variety of physical and psychological symptoms which together constitute a syndrome. There are many types of depression which each have their own causes, symptoms and forms of dealing with them. While some forms of depression are chemical based which can be a result of genetics, others are based on traumatic experiences which can trigger the person to have these feelings of hopelessness. There are many symptoms that are expressed with depression and treatments are available for those who suffer with the illness. If gone untreated, depression can lead to serious complications and other mental diseases coming to the surface. …show more content…
However, the most common causes include abuse, medications, conflicts, death or a loss, genetics, major events, serious illnesses, substance abuse, and other personal problems. Abuse, which could be physical, sexual or emotional, in the early stages of life can cause depression in the later years of someone’s life. Researchers believe that abuse harms parts of the hippocampus, part of brain, which causes him to be more vulnerable to depression. Specific medications have side effects that is or can lead to depression. Medications can off balance the chemicals levels in the brain, producing depression, An example would be the acne treatment, Accutane or the antiviral drug, interferon-alpha. Someone can also develop depression from the emotional harm done by fighting with family members or a loved one. Experiencing someone close moving out of your life usually always makes a person sad, but depressed people are more than just sad; they believe that their life is unimportant and hopeless. Scientists know that depression is hereditary by studying the patterns of illnesses in families to determine a percentage of how much the cause of depression was caused by genes, which is called the heritability. Specifically they look at a twin who has depression sees if the other has depression and they came to the conclusion that the heritability is 40-50% (Levinson 1). Genes can cause depression, but so can other stressful, more emotional things, like when a major event is stressing a person out. This could mean a new job, graduating, getting married, losing a job, getting divorced, and retiring. Sometimes depression is a reaction to a major illness, or co-exists. Substance abuse and depression is one of those situations of which came first. Sometimes depression caused substance abuse, while substance abuse can cause depression. Adding to this long list, any other personal problems, like being bullied or
Depression does not have a lone cause. An individual gene cannot handle mood or spur up depression. However, genes can influence the way nerve pathways perform. Multiple genes cooperate to evolve a susceptibility to depression. In addition to the biological aspect of depression, neurotransmitters and hormones are chemicals that allow nerve cells to communicate. Not only do they control mood and emotions, but the way these chemicals are broken down may add to the growth of
Depression is a serious medical illness that negatively affects how a person conducts him/herself, and the way he/she think. Depression may include anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, manic depressions. People with a depressive illness cannot merely ‘pull themselves together’ and get better. About 5% of the population will have some form of a mental illness at some point in their lives. Half of these people will also have a substance abuse
Depression is considered a mental disorder that can lead an individual to commit suicide, experiment fatal risk that can injure his or her life. Furthermore, an individual feeling depressed lacks motivation to do anything progressive with his or her life. With that said, these individuals sometime gives up interest in activities that were once enjoyable, gets in a phase were he or she loses appetite, begins to overeat, loses concentration on what he or she is trying to complete, and becomes indecisiveness. Moreover, depression is a condition that makes an individual feel miserable, have no motivation to any activity that can influence his or her views, actions, welfare. Furthermore, depressed individuals at times may feel sad, apprehensive, desperate, destitute, useless, awkward, short-tempered, and agitated. In addition, the melancholy of depression is categorized by a greater concentration and length that is attached to severe symptoms. According to Wedding & Corsini (2014) states, “Physical disease, severe and acute stress, and chronic stress area also precipitating factors” (Pp. 240) of an individu...
It is not common knowledge, but people can be genetically predisposed to develop depression during their lives. Depression runs in families. It can be passed d...
This paper introduces a 35-year-old female who is exhibiting signs of sadness, lack of interest in daily activities and suicidal tendencies. She has no interest in hobbies, which have been very important to her in the past. Her lack of ambition and her suicidal tendencies are causing great concern for her family members. She is also exhibiting signs of hypersomnia, which will put her in dangerous situations if left untreated. The family has great concern about her leaving the hospital at this time, fearing that she may be a danger to herself. A treatment plan and ethical considerations will be discussed.
Depression is a serious issue that has no single cause. Depression is likely a combination of many factors such as genetic, biochemical, psychological and environmental. According to research, depressive illnesses are indications of disorders of the brain. Depression can affect all ages and all parts of society. Periods of sadness, irritability, fatigue, and loss of interest are some symptoms of depression.
Depression is much more common than most people think. Because it is essentially an invisible illness and is largely in the mind, it is difficult to correctly diagnose it and most people suffer for months, years, or even decades with depression. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines depression as “a mood disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty with thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal thoughts or an attempt to commit suicide.” Most medical definitions are able to explain what happens and why it does, but after carefully examining this one, we only notice that it explains what happens, but not why. Usually, the symptoms of an illness are...
Depression is an equal opportunity disorder, it can affect any group of people with any background, race, gender, or age. Depression is a sneak thief that slips quietly and gradually into people’s lives - robbing them of their time, and their focus. At first, depression may be undetectable, but in the long run a person could become so weighed down that their life may feel empty and meaningless. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone who commits suicide is depressed, but majority of people who commits suicide do so during a severe depressive episode. There are over 300 million people in the world today who suffer from depression. Depression has affected people for a long as records have been kept. It was first called out by the famous Greek philosopher Hippocrates over 2,400 years ago. Hippocrates called it “melancholia”. Many times we think of depression as one disorder alone, when in fact there are many different types of depression. The different types of depression are major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, atypical disorder, adjustment disorder, and depressive personality disorder. All types of depression share at least one common symptom. It is commons from the person who suffers from any form of depression to feel an unshakable sadness, anxious, or empty mood. Major depressive disorder also known as unipolar depression or recurrent depressive disorder is the most severe depressive disorder out of all of the depressive in my estimation. Major depressive disorder is a condition in which affects a person’s family, work or school life, sleeping, eating and general health. It is important to emphasize that we can understand the mechanics of this disorder and how it affects people with major depressive disorder.
Depression is a mental health condition that causes feelings of sadness, loss, anger and/or frustration that interferes with daily life from days, to weeks, or months. It’s also known that depression can change the way you see yourself, other people, and life. There isn’t an exact cause for depression yet but it’s believed that chemical changes in the brain are the source. It can also be in your genes, but it’s thought that it could be both chemical changes and in your genes. Any person of any age can develop depression. Certain causes include: alcohol or drug abuse, medical conditions such as underactive thyroid, cancer, or chronic pain, medications (ex: steroids,) sleeping problems, and stressful live events including—but not limited to—death,
Depression is a serious mental health illness which affects an individuals’ mind, body and mood. It is a chronic and lifelong health condition (NICE, 2006) thought to be caused by a number of biological factors including neurotransmitter disturbances in the brain and an element of genetic vulnerability; these are often in addition to psychosocial factors such as the occurrence of undesirable life events, limited social network options, poor self esteem and the occurrence of any adverse life events during a persons’ lifetime (Bernstein, 2006). Depression can have an impact on a persons’ ability to do many things including working, engaging with others, participating fully in family life or maintaining relationships, and it can also impact on a person...
Strong evidence suggests that clinical depression runs in families. Still, just because a person has family members with clinical depression does not guarantee that he or she will develop it. Similarly, you may get it even if no one else in your family has had it. People with high levels of stress are much more likely to develop depression that those who do not. Though most people go through a "down" period after a particularly stressful event like a divorce or death of a loved one, sometimes extremely difficult stresses can trigger depressive episodes in certain people who are susceptible to the illness.
Depression is an illness within itself that affects the “whole body”. (Staywell,1998) The body, feelings, thoughts, and behavior are all immensely altered when someone is depressed. It is not a sign of personal weakness, or a condition that can be wished or willed away. For some people depression is just temporary, but for others it can last for weeks, months and even years.
What is depression? Depression is an illness that can take over a person’s life---it can take their happiness and their will to live. This illness can effect adults, teenagers, and even kids. “Depression is an equal opportunity disorder---- it can affect anyone of any group, any background, any race, any gender, and any age. It is the great leveler of all groups and can take the greatest and the smallest of us all and reduce us to the pain and nothingness that is depression (Nydegger 1)”. Depression is an emotion most people may feel they have experienced, but little do they know it’s just the basic emotions we feel. It is important to identify the symptoms of depression, the types of depression, who can get them and how they manifest, in other to be able to treatment them.
There are many people in the world who are struggling with the disease depression. Depression is the state in which a person feels very sad, hopeless and unimportant. The thing about depression is that it affects both genders and any ages. Depression is something that deserves full attention. For many reasons doctors believe that when a person has depression, they have to start taking medication for it as if medications help. People are becoming more dependent on antidepressants when there are other techniques for dealing with depression.
Depression is one of the most common psychological problems. Each year over 17 million Americans experience a period of clinical depression. Thus, depression affects nearly everyone through personal experiences or through depression in a family member or friend.