Depression is called the ‘Common Cold’ of mental illnesses. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of the disease. The causes are as varied as the symptoms. Treatments for depression are also largely based on the causes of ailment. Death, divorce, domestic problems, like abuse of a physical, emotional or sexual kind, separation of parents, events like change of place or job etc. could be some of the causes. People can nosedive into gloom, sometimes as a result of the loss of faith in something or someone, loss of self-esteem, due to unfulfilled desires, unrealistic expectations, and such other factors. Abuse of substances like alcohol and drugs, illnesses like chronic aches or cancer, and medications may also trigger the disease.
Suppressed anger can cause depression. Curtailing expressions of emotions like extreme rage, and seething inside, may drive the person into melancholy. Chemical reactions in the brain are also known to cause the ailment. Stress hormone cortisol that is present in high level in the brain of the patient of depression adversely affects the hippocampus. Hippocampus is a small component of the brain that has neurotransmitters like serotonin. Neurotransmitters are chemicals in the brain that help transmission of messages. Hippocampus is found to be smaller in patients of depression due to the increased levels of cortisol.
Those who are low are found to use drugs and alcohol to seek relief, if only for a short period. On the contrary, constant use of drugs and alcohol may induce depression. Drugs like Cocaine and Methamphetamine can release chemicals like dopamine and serotonin in the brain, there by creating a feeling of high. Body in course of time ceases to release these chemicals efficiently, and the person lapses into melancholy.
Depression may run in the family. The interaction of some genes in a particular way may lead an individual to the disorder, and is carried through generations.
Women are twice as prone as men to depression. Hormone fluctuations in connection with menstruation, pregnancy, menopause etc. are common causes. Society lays lot of expectation on women and she is constantly juggling roles of a working woman, mother, wife, etc. Women who have high expectation from themselves, and who are forever trying to please people around them, end up feeling worthless and unhappy when they cannot live up to the expectations. Postpartum depression accompanies the birth of a baby. Women are physically and emotionally hassled during this period, there are many hormonal changes and so they are very vulnerable to the malady. In severe cases, mental issues pertaining to postpartum may interfere with taking care of the baby.
Men generally tend to deny depression, and therefore the disease has devastating effects on them. The ailment is often physically manifested in men in the form or anger or fatigue. Men are less likely to show signs of depression, and they do not articulate their insecurity. Depressed men resort to alcohol or drugs, or overwork themselves, in order to avoid the problem. Sexual problems resulting from it exasperate them. Suicide is not uncommon among men. In fact, records show that though suicide attempts are more in women, the number of men who actually succeed in killing themselves is more than that of women. Studies show that suicides among men rise after the age of seventy.
Ageing is accompanied by a multitude of ailments. Mental illness may not receive due attention in case of older people as they may be camouflaged in some other issue of health, and often is overlooked. Sometimes it is caused by a medicine, or is a side-effect of some other ailment.
As far as children are concerned, depression is very difficult to diagnose and treat. Parents and teachers tend to attribute it mood swings of adolescence, where as it could actually be the beginning of the mental illness.
Finding a therapist and diagnosis is only the first step towards tackling the malady called depression, that interrupts all your activities and interferes with your life. Experts believe that the disease could be the contribution of psychological, social and biological factors working together, and there may not be just one simple reason. A patient diagnosed as depressed can be helped to revert to health and happiness through treatment with medication or psychotherapy, or sometimes both.
Depression is called the ‘Common Cold’ of mental illnesses Depression It is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of the disease. The causes are as varied as the symptoms. Treatments for depression are also largely based on the causes of ailment. www.seosaver.com Death, divorce, domestic problems, like abuse of a physical.