| What Causes Depression |
| Written by Nancy McMahon | |
Causes of DepressionIt is thought that a propensity towards developing major depression is a complex series of events, including a hereto unnamed and unidentified genetic component. Also apparently required are an emotional as well as an environmental trigger. It is unknown what sort of environmental triggers are most prevalent, especially since it wasn't' even thought that chemicals could interact on the brain directly until relatively recently. However, there are certainly plenty of them out there, natural and synthetic. Another environmental cause can by a physical injury to the brain or a physical ailment such as hypoglycemia that literally starves the brain of “food.” In such cases, some other cognitive disorders often accompany the patient, such as color blindness and loss of concentration, as well as the most common symptoms of depression. Causes found in the physical world can also include medical malpractice or dental surgery gone awry. While women are twice as likely to suffer a major depressive episode in their lives, men are more likely to commit suicide. Whether this is evidence of a social or genetic component to depression, though this trend is universally represented in countries all over the world, is unclear. Just as it also tends to run in families, it remains difficult to determine how much of that is a consequence of family life. Nevertheless, depression treatments usually take this into account, often checking with the family members of those who have strong depressive tendencies. Other things to take into consideration is a possible nutrition-related component, especially in the case of individuals with eating disorders or highly restrictive diets that include very little fat or sugar or any kind. When treating depression, causes aren't always necessary to find the appropriate depression treatments that will speed the patient on the way to recovery. Much of the time, no one is quite sure if there is a physical problem causing a depressive episode, though there is very often an emotional trigger. Such emotional triggers, however, are very often events that the sufferer would normally be able to handle without problem. When someone is already in the midst of a depressive episode lasting two weeks or more, just about any personal or emotional setback can be devastating. In essence, depression is something like a moving target that many clinicians attempt to knock out by simply prescribing the pharmaceutical equivalent of a shotgun, in the form of SRI medications and their more advanced cousins. If you believe you know someone with clinical or major depression, there could be more wrong with her or him than a bad case of the blues. For this reason, professional diagnosis tries to rule out all the physical problems before focusing upon the emotional realm. While not everyone responds to any one treatment, depression treatments tend to be broad spectrum, encompassing many different specialties. |
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