15 Nov 2022

67

The Main Causes of Depression

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Academic level: University

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While some individuals claim that depression emerges due to an imbalance in chemicals, the statement is incorrect owing to the sophistication of the illness. Researchers argue that depression does not result from limited or excessive brain chemicals. Rather, various probable depression causes prevail, including faulty regulation of the mood, stressful events during life, genetic subjectivity, medical issues, and medications. Beliefs prevail that a number of these factors interact leading to depression. Chemicals play a role in this process, although it does not relate to a single chemical being too high while the other remains too low. Various chemicals are contribute to the process while they work internally and externally to nerve cells. Millions of chemical interactions comprise a dynamic system, which influence their perceptions, mood, and ways that they experience life (Haroz, et al., 2016) . For this form of sophistication, it becomes possible to understand ways individuals portraying similar depression systems, although determining the internal problem and the ideal treatments might be completely different. Researchers have learned of ways that biology influences depression. They focus on genes subjecting people to low moods and affecting ways that people respond to drug treatments. With these forms of discoveries, it might be possible to introduce individualized and advanced treatments. Even while researchers have increased understanding of ways in which biology and other forces influence depression, the investigation of far from complete (Quiroga, López-Rodríguez, & Willis, 2017) . For this paper, it identifies the causes of depression while utilizing two different perspectives including biological perspective and cognitive-behavioral perspective while determining the perspective offering most compelling argument.

Biological Perspective 

According to the biological perspective, depression emanates from history within a family including genetic connections, brain chemical imbalance, including neurotransmitter serotonin depletion, certain medical situations, including underactive thyroid, and the rise in hormone levels, which comprises of cortisol, a hormone responsible for stress. With the biological perspective emphasizing on ways that the brain works and the effect that genetics have toward behavior, the perspective illustrates depression in terms of ways that it links with the ways that the brain operates ( Córdova-Palomera, et al., 2017) . The brain has approximately 10 million cells while every neuron links to another one. After connecting, it emerges as a type of electrical impulse that travels down the links between different neurons. For these neuron carrying the electrical impulses, they comprise of small gaps referred to as synapses. These are crucial since they provide room for electrical activity hence the functioning of the brain (Alghadir, Gabr, & Al-Eisa, 2016) . To ensure that an impose shifts between different neurons, several crucial enzymes referred to as neurotransmitters should serve a role. Noradrenalin and serotonin serve as the key neurotransmitters.

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When persons experience depression, their bodies witness physical changes. The vital changes normally occur inside the brain. As such, depression is regarded as a physical illness as opposed to something psychological or one that only prevails in the perception or imagination of the person facing the situation. Based on the different symptoms that people portray in line with treatment response and the course that the illness follows, it becomes apparent that depression features various interacting and sophisticated causes (Quiroga, López-Rodríguez, & Willis, 2017) . In the event of these force, they might present a myriad of issues to researchers trying to comprehend and treat the condition. Nonetheless, research advancements in research technology have provided scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) with a means for characterizing the psychology and depression affiliated with depression in its distinct types (Abbasi, 2017) . A possibility also prevails of realizing effective treatments depending on how they present symptoms.

Individuals experiencing depression have two low neurotransmitter levels, which are believed to contribute to contribute to key symptoms of owe-energy, low mood, depressed view of life, low drive, lack of sleep, and arousal, which link to depression definition. For the strengths attributed to the biological perspective, it links to the idea that depression mostly emanates from reduced levels of particular neurotransmitters. An additional reason relates to hormone imbalance that illustrates why more than double the number of women compared to men experience depression conditions annually (Haroz, et al., 2016) . The effect that hormones have toward the depression that women portray has remained a major area of research by the NIMH. For instance, a recent study have portrayed that the challenging depressive mood swings coupled with the premenstrual syndrome symptoms influence between 3 and 7 percent of menstruating women. This mostly occurs when they respond abnormally to normal changes in hormones during menstrual cycle (Dickson, Ciesla, & Zelic, 2017) . Regarding the hormonal system responsible for regulating how the body reacts to stress, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HAP) axis, it remains overactive for a large number of patients having depression.

For the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that facilitates in the management of release of hormones from glands overall all the body, they lead to a rise in the production of an element referred to as corporation releasing factor (CRY). It usually occurs after the detection of a psychological or physical threat. In the event of elevated levels together with the influences of CRY, they result in a rise in the adrenal and pituitary glands increasing the secretion of hormones that prepare the body of individuals for defensive activity ( Córdova-Palomera, et al., 2017) . Research by the NIMH claims that unending over activation related to this hormonal system might serve as the basis for depression. When patients portray elevated levels of CRY, it is possible to reduce them using the antidepressant drug treatment with the reduction corresponding to an improvement in the symptoms of depression, which individuals portray. During the 1960s, biological perspective emerged as a dominant force (Haroz, et al., 2016) . This is because of the diverse breakthroughs realized in neurophysiology, psychopathology, genetics, and brain research. Research in genetics has also managed to reveal support for biological elements playing a critical role in depression.

The Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective 

From the viewpoint of the cognitive-behavioral perspective, faulty thinking, including negative view of the world, reduced levels of low esteem, and learned helplessness, which entails giving up because of lacking control influence depression directly. Additionally, the influences of race, gender, social support levels, socioeconomic status, and stress among other environmental forces, including divorce also influence depression. In the perspective of cognitive behavioral theorists, depression emanates from distorted judgments and thoughts. People can learn these socially while it serves as the case in the event of kids residing in dysfunctional families witnessing their parents incapable of coping with traumatic events and stressful encounters (Abbasi, 2017) . It can also emanate from lack of encounters, which would contribute to establishment of adapting skills for coping with situations. 

The cognitive behavioral perspective argues that persons having depression usually think in a different manner when likened to others in the society who lack have depression. The difference that prevails in thinking leads them to portray depression. For instance, people showing depression usually regard themselves, their future, and their environment negatively. In this sense, they end up misinterpreting facts from negative viewpoints (Alghadir, Gabr, & Al-Eisa, 2016) . Additionally, they normally blame themselves whenever they experience negative thinks in their lives. The negative judgment and thinking style leads the persons having depression to perceive situations worse than they presently exist ( Córdova-Palomera, et al., 2017) . This leads to a rise in the risks for those kinds of people in portraying depressive symptoms when responding to situations that stress them. 

With these kinds of believes prevailing in the thoughts of people, depression have higher chances of emerging in the event that it has not occurred already. Regarding the depression process, it is vital to have an example. For instance, in case a person is terminated from work, people not understanding the cognitive-behavioral perspective might regard that the event relates to an employer’s economic position as opposed to the performance of the employee (Quiroga, López-Rodríguez, & Willis, 2017) . People in such situations would imagine doubting themselves or think that the event indicates that they were washed up while at the same time throwing themselves down. However, in case the people follow a cognitive behavioral perspective, they might end up regarding the layoff as relating to personal failures. They would also end up losing future jobs that they secure due to the hopelessness of their situation. Depending on these forms of judgments, they would commence portraying feelings of depression. On the other hand, in case the negative cognitive behavioral perspective does not influence them, they would not focus on questioning their self-worth (Dickson, Ciesla, & Zelic, 2017) . Rather, they would respond to the lay off by commencing job search. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, the behavioral and cognitive-behavioral perspectives regard the causes of depression differently. The biological perspective focuses on biological forces, including genetic connections, brain chemical imbalance, neurotransmitter depletion, certain medical situations, including underactive thyroid, and the rise in hormone levels. Regarding the cognitive-behavioral perspective, depression emanates from distorted judgments and thoughts that contribute to persons portraying negative perspectives of the things that they witness in life. In this sense, the cognitive-behavioral perspective offers the most compelling argument. The reason for this is that the people having negative self-perception and reduced self-esteem are the most depressed. They normally perceive all the things that they encounter in life negatively, which contribute to increased loss of hope in various things in life. These issues lead the people to become unsuccessful in diverse aspects of life. 

References  

Córdova-Palomera, A., de Reu, M. A., Fatjó-Vilas, M., Falcón, C., Bargalló, N., van den Heuvel, M. P., & Fañanás, L. (2017). FKBP5 modulates the hippocampal connectivity deficits in depression: A study in twins. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 11 , 62-75.

Abbasi, J. (2017). 23andMe, Big data, and the genetics of depression. JAMA, 317 (1), 14-16.

Alghadir, A. H., Gabr, S. A., & Al-Eisa, E. (2016). Effects of physical activity on trace elements and depression related biomarkers in children and adolescents. Biol Trace Elem Res, 172 , 299–306.

Dickson, K. S., Ciesla, J. A., & Zelic, K. (2017). The role of executive functioning in adolescent rumination and depression. Cogn Ther Res, 41 , 62-72.

Haroz, E. E., Bolton, P., Gross, A., Chan, K. S., Michalopoulos, L., & Bass, J. (2016). Depression symptoms across cultures: an IRT analysis of standard epression symptoms using data from eight countries. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol, 51 , 981–991.

Quiroga, A., López-Rodríguez, L., & Willis, G. B. (2017). Parental support buffering the effect of violence on adolescents' depression: Gender differences. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 32 (7), 1068 –1086.

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