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The psychological causes of depression
The psychological causes of depression
Causes of depression biologiical perspeCtive
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The human brain controls everything that goes on within the body, but there are many functions of the brain that remain mysterious. Depression is one major disease that remained unexplainable for a period of time. Although the mechanism for this disease is basically unknown, technology has increased within the last decade to help better understand this disorder. It is one of the top mental diseases in the United States affecting overall 6.7 percent of adults and 2.7 percent of children ages 8-15. Depression is caused by the lack of emotional stimuli, which are caused by neurotransmitters. The limbic system contains parts of the brain that control the neurons that output emotional response: the hypothalamus, hippocampus, thalamus, and amygdala.
Through my extensive research on depression I have learned a lot of new things. I have learned about the many forms of depression and treatment for depression. I have also learned a little about what is believed to go on chemically in the brain of a clinically depressed person. I was also able to partially determine what sort of role genetics, chemicals and personal influences in the brain. Though I was unable to determine exactly how environmental and personal stress can cause a chemical imbalance in a person, I was even able to speculate about this issue and determine some theories of my own on why and how this may happen.
Depression is a mental illness, which affects millions of Americans each year. Currently there are many prescription drugs, called anti-depressants that have been proven to successfully treat it. The causes of depression are somewhat of a medical enigma, however, it is known that depression is associated with a change in the brains chemistry involving the function of neurotransmitters (Reichert). This chemical change occurs in healthy brain’s, which experience sadness, but ends after the unpleasant stimulus is removed. In people suffering from depression this chemical change does not correspond to any particular stimulus. Symptoms of depression are often incapacitating and include severe and extended sadness, feelings of worthlessness, feelings of emptiness, irritability and anxiety (Reichert, Spake).
The human brain weighs only 3lbs. Though it is the most fragile organ in the human body is the most complex. It has complete control over a person 's physical and psychological homeostasis. The brain plays a large role when it comes to emotions. The amygdala is a structure in the brain that recognizes the first response to an emotional event. It is a tiny almond shaped structure located deep within the brain. This tiny structure triggers a series of reactions within the brain and sends signals throughout the body that account for body language, facial expression, breathing and awareness. These emotions are important in social interactions and forming social connections. The awareness of one’s emotion is crucial to everyday decision making,
ADHD also known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a condition including attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. To be fit for having ADHD a person must have six or more symptoms of inattentions. Scientist see majority of ADHD in young people. 9% of children that are between three and seventeen are diagnosed with ADHD ( Center of Disease Control and Prevention). “How does ADHD Affect the brain?” By Liji Tomas is and educational new article that tells the reader how someone diagnosed with ADHD brain functions and their findings during their research. The article has many interesting findings such as the effects of each part of the brain and what symptoms come along with it.
Although historically depression has been considered a character condition, evidence has accumulated suggesting the role of a biological substrate, namely serotonin, in subgroups of depressed patients. This accumulated evidence supports the indoleamine hypothesis of depression, which suggests that major depression results from a deficiency of available serotonin or inefficient serotonin. (16). We see that depletions of serotonin from certain regions of the brain such as the hypothalamus, amygdala, and cortical areas involved in cognition and other high processes, can have a great impact in contributing to depression.
Most people have felt sad or depressed because of disparate causes. Feeling sad in short period of time can be a normal, but feeling of intense sadness including feeling helpless, hopeless, and worthless for along time affect to health negatively. In some cause, it reaches a depression. There are three main causes of depression: biological, environmental and medical.
The thalamus is like a bouncer or doorkeepers for messages that are being passed between the spinal cord and the cerebral hemisphere. The hypothalamus controls emotions and it also keeps the temperature of your body stable, it also controls crucial urges like eating and sleeping. The hippocampus directs memories and decides where they’re to be kept and make sure that they’re in the right sections of the cerebrum and recalls them when
The biologic basis of Clinical Depression originates in the brain. Your brain is made up of a complex network of nerve cells, called neurons and of brain chemicals, called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters transmit messages from one neuron to another. Two of these neurotransmitters are not produced in sufficient quantities in a depressed person’s brain. Because of this lack, too few messages get transmitted between neurons and the symptoms of depression occur. In Clinical depression the chemicals in the brain are out-of-balance. New technology allows researchers to take pictures of the brain that show activity levels in the brain. These imaging techniques such as f-MRI and PET scan actually create images of how active different parts of the brain are. Some studies with these kinds of techniques have suggested that the patterns of activation in the brains of depressed people are different than those who are not. These tests can help doctors and researchers learn more about depression and other mental illnesses. Since this research is fairly new, it is not yet used to diagnose clinical depression.
At the help of scientists around the world have found that depression actually changes your brain. At the help of Dr. Mercola, a physician of Natural Health Center (google), says “When your hippocampus shrinks, it's not just your rote memory that is affected, behaviors associated with your sense of self are also altered, and a smaller hippocampus equates to a general loss of emotional and behavioral function (mercola).” The hippocampus is located in the brain, if that shrinks then the persons’ emotions
The notion that mental illness is caused by human deficiencies is challenged by neuroscience-related research findings that suggest brain structural and functional abnormalities associated with mental health conditions. “Psychological factors such as affect the impact of depression
I was absolutely puzzled and heartbroken. Once again, there were only questions and no answers. I couldn’t fathom how a person’s brain could manifest thoughts of death. This traumatic life event propelled my driving force to seek out the “why” and “how” of the neurobiological and chemical processes a human being with the diagnosis of depression endures.
“With my background in physiology to credit my ideas, I published my seminal textbook The Principles of Psychology (1890), and advanced the idea that psychology should be studied in conjunction with biology.” (Cochran, 2013) Another psychologist in the field, Knight Dunlap, “advanced the concept of biological psychology by writing the book An Outline of Psychobiology.” (Cochran, 2013) Besides both our studies on the subject, there has been studies to show that what I believe is true. Neurotransmitters, electrical messages, in the brain release chemicals that go to the receptors passing the message along. “Researchers found that low activity of the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine, was linked to depression.” (Comer, 2013)
How your brain operates determines how happy you are, how adequate you feel, and the way in which you interact with others (Amen, M.D. 2009). The physiology of the brain is equally as important as psychological aspects. The deep limbic system, basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex, and cingulate system are all brain systems that can control our thinking and behavior. Becoming familiar with these systems and being able to identify particular thoughts are beneficial for optimizing brain function and positivity. For instance, the deep limbic system directly relates to one’s mood.
Many people feel apprehensive and miserable every now and then, but when does it take over their whole lives? Losing a loved one, doing poorly in school or work, being bullied and other hardships might lead a person to feel sad, lonely, scared, nervous and/or anxious. Some people experience this on an everyday basis, sometimes even or no reason at all. Those people might have an anxiety disorder, depression, or both. It is highly likely for someone with an anxiety disorder to also be suffering from depression, or the other way around. 50% of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
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.