Have you ever thought that provokes clinical depression? Perhaps you or someone close to you recently diagnosed depression, and you wondered why some people suffer from depression while others do not?
Depression is a very difficult disease. It appears for various reasons. Some people suffer from depression due to a serious physical illness. Others after certain life events – moving to another city or the death of a loved one. A significant role in susceptibility to this disease also plays a hereditary factor. And also people are predisposed to it, who, for no apparent reason, tend to feel depressed and lonely.
What are the most common causes of depression?
The following are the most common causes of depression:
- Violence. Sexual, physical or emotional violence that has been experienced in the past provokes depression in later life.
- Medicines. For example, some medications used in the treatment of high blood pressure can cause depression.
- Conflict. Depression can occur due to constant quarrels and conflicts with family or friends.
- Death or loss. Pain or deep sadness after losing a loved one can also increase the risk of depression.
- Heredity. Cases of depression in the family, increase the risk of its manifestation. There is also a version that depression can be passed on from generation to generation. But how this happens is not really known.
- Important events in life. Events like a new job, graduation, or marriage can cause depression. It is equivalent to the loss of a job or basic earnings, a divorce or retirement.
- Personal problems. Social isolation due to another mental illness or expulsion from a family or social group also leads to depression.
- Serious diseases. Very often, depression occurs in people with serious illnesses, or develops as a reaction to them.
- Alcohol or drug addiction. More than 30% of people with alcohol or drug addiction also suffer from acute or clinical depression.
Is there a relationship between the natural structure of the body and emotions, feelings and depression?
Scientists have shown that there is a difference between the mental abilities of a healthy person and a person who is depressed. For example, the hippocampus, a small particle of the brain responsible for saving memories, is much smaller in people with depression than in healthy people. The small hippocampus has fewer nerve endings, especially serotonins. Serotonin is a sedative chemical element of the brain, known as a neurotransmitter, which provides a normal interconnection of nerve cells in the brain and body. There is a theory that during depression a neurotransmitter like norepinephrine is activated.
Scientists have not been able to understand why the hippocampus in people who have suffered depression is smaller than in healthy people. Some scientists believe that an excessive dose of the stress hormone cortisol is produced during depression. And, according to their research, cortisol has a toxic or toxic effect on the hippocampus. As a result, some scholars argue that people prone to depression are simply born with a small gappocampus and, accordingly, are doomed to suffering from this disease.
One thing is clear – depression is a complex disease, which is facilitated by many factors. Recent studies in the field of antidepressant effects have allowed us to study and understand more deeply the biochemical processes that occur in the brain during depression. Since scientists were able to determine in more detail the causes of depression, doctors, in turn, were able to diagnose more accurately and prescribe effective treatment in a timely manner.
Is there a link between heredity and the risk of depression?
As we already know, depression is inherited. Children, sisters, brothers, or parents of people suffering from bouts of depression are more likely to get sick than the rest of the population. Since there are a huge number of genes that interact in different ways with each other, depression within the same family can occur in different ways and with different degrees of complexity. But, despite hereditary predisposition, scientists have not been able to determine the “gene of depression.”
Can drugs cause depression?
For some people, a certain medication can cause bouts of depression. For example, such drugs as barbiturates, benzodiazepines, adrenoceptor blocking agents often cause depression, especially in the elderly. Moreover, scientists have proven that such drugs as hormonal corticosteroids, synthetic narcotic drugs (codeine, morphine) and anticholinergics, which are used to relieve stomach cramps, cause bouts of manic behavior, the manifestation of which is closely associated with bipolar disorders.
Is there a connection between depression and chronic illness?
In some people, chronic conditions can cause depression. Chronic disease is a disease that lasts for a long time and, in most cases, cannot be completely cured. However, the patient’s condition in chronic disease can be controlled with a special diet, exercise, lifestyle changes, and special medications. Depression most commonly occurs in diseases such as diabetes, heart failure, arthritis, kidney disease, HIV / AIDS, skin tuberculosis, and multiple sclerosis. Decreased thyroid function can also cause depression.
Scientists believe that treating depression can also give a positive result in treating a chronic disease.
Is there a connection between chronic pain and depression?
If pain hurts you for weeks or even months, then this pain is classified as chronic. This condition not only hurts you, it also affects sleep, sports, personal relationships and productivity at work. Thus, chronic pain can cause feelings of sadness, isolation from society and depression.
But chronic pain, as well as depression, can be cured. Comprehensive treatment, including the use of medications, psychotherapy, visiting support groups, will help to cope with pain, relieve depression and return to full-fledged life.
Can depression occur due to grief experienced?
Separation from a loved one or his death, loss of work, death or loss of a beloved pet, divorce, manifestation of the empty nest dweller syndrome, or retirement are life events that cause a feeling of grief. Each person, having gone through any of these events, may fall into a state of sadness or loss, but not everyone will fall ill with depression. How a person copes with the hardships of life depends on the individual person and his mental state at this moment.