Depression: Cause and Effect Essay

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Depression – also called clinical depression or depressive disorder – is a kind of mental disorder, with various categorizations which have as main symptoms, continuous sorrow, disinterest, lack of enthusiasm, swings between feelings of guilt and low self-confidence, insomnia, and low appetite (What is depression, 2016). Depression can lead to suicide and there are four main causes of depression hormone factors, stressful lifestyle, feelings of loss, and negative thinking patterns.

The first cause that leads to depression is a hormonal factor. In any given year, the estimation from the World Health Organization has clarified that there are 5 percent of males and 9 percent of females encounter depressive disorders (Nancy, 2018). The given data has shown that the probability for a female to get clinical depression is almost twice of a male. Research that investigated the differences in serum hormone levels between depressed and non-depressed females found that depressed females have lower levels of estrogen (Harlow et al., 2003; Young et al., 2000 as cited in Ryan, Carrière, Scali, Ritchie, & Ancelin (2008). Furthermore, the abnormal levels of free thyroid hormones and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), even though within normal levels, are correlated with prolonged therapeutic response in bipolar depression (Price et al., 2007 as cited in de Souza Duarte, de Almeida Corrêa, Assunção, de Menezes, de Castro, & Teixeira, 2017). Based on the evidence found in studies, there is a vivid relation between hormonal dysregulation and depression.

The next cause of depression is the accumulation of stressful life incidents. Stress is always occurred in people’s daily lives. Stress can come from many sources such as relationship issues, a dialogue in people’s heads, examination, work, and others. Based on Daniel (2017), chronic stress will cause people to be in a foul mood, and feel harsh to continue their normal daily routine. For instance, people may encounter anxiety, exhausted, absent-minded, or bad-tempered for no good reason, and start to extract themselves from other people. The changes in the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and stress hormone systems produced by stress mimics might be observed in depression (Praag, 2004). According to Bruno (2011), if a person fails to cope with their stress after experiencing a difficult situation, they might suffer from depression.

Depression can be caused by thinking. Depression in fact manifests in negative thinking before it creates negative affect (Marano, 2001). Negative thinking can create stress at the same time damage body and mind resulting in disease depression. Our feelings follow what we are thinking, and dwelling upon negative thoughts can send us spiraling down into depression (Cicetti, 2012). Besides, the thinking pattern that only taking responsibility for bad things happening will make the person not feel happiness in everything, but feel badness in everything that happens. Healthwise Staff stated that filtering out the good and focusing only on the bad is an irrational thought (2017). A person who lives in a worry and anxiety condition will have a higher risk of getting depression.

The experience of loss will lead the person to have depression. There are a few examples of loss such as the loss of a loved one, loss of a relationship, loss of support, and loss of job. Common cases that occured are people suffering depression after losing their loved one. The sadness and shock that people feel after losing a loved one are overwhelming (The University of Texas at Austin, n.d.). Once the people are unable to get out of the pain after loss, they will probably get depression. The more important a relationship is to us, the more painful the breakup is likely to be (Benton as cited in Christie Calucchia, 2018). Some studies indicate that as many as one out of five teenagers suffer depression because of a romantic breakup (Haiken, 2015).

Reference

    1. Bruno, K. (2011). Stress and depression. Web MD. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/depression/features/stress-depression#1
    2. Cicetti, F. (2012). Can negative thoughts be stopped? Live Science. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/36586-stop-negative-thoughts-depression.html
    3. Calucchia, C. (2018). A psychologist weighs in: This is how to get through depression after a breakup. My Domaine. Retrieved from https://www.mydomaine.com/depression-after-breakup
    4. Daniel, K. H-F. M.D. (2017). Can chronic stress cause depression? Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress- management/expert-answers/stress/faq-20058233
    5. de Souza Duarte, N., de Almeida Corrêa, L. M., Assunção, L. R., de Menezes, A. A., de Castro, O. B., & Teixeira, L. F. (2017). Relation between depression and hormonal dysregulation. Open Journal of Depression, 6, 69-78. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4236/ojd.2017.63005
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    7. Healthwise Staff. (2017). Depression: Stop negative thoughts. HealthLink BC. Retrieved from https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/uf9919
    8. Marano, H. E. (2001). Depression doing the thinking. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200107/depression-doing-the- thinking
    9. Nancy, S. (2018). 9 most common causes of depression. Verywell mind. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/common-causes-of-depression-1066772
    10. Praag, H. M. V. (2004). Can stress cause depression? Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 28(5), 891-907. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2004.05.031
    11. Ryan, J. , Carrière, I. , Scali, J. , Ritchie, K. , & Ancelin, M-L. (2008). Lifetime hormonal factors may predict late-life depression in women. International Psychogeriatrics, 20(6), 1203-1218. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610208007412
    12. The University of Texas at Austin. (n.d.). Helping a student who has lost a friend or family member to suicide. Retrieved from https//cmhc.utexas.edu/ bethatone/studentscopingsuicide.html
    13. What is depression? (2016). Depression is basic. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/ health/publications/depression/index.shtml

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