Understanding
Depression Causes, Myths, and Treatments By Diane Del Toro
Do you know someone who has depression, or has someone in your family been diagnosed with depression? Even if we are dealing with depression in ourselves or our families, we may not know what it really is. Is it just feeling sad all the time? Why can’t people just snap out of it?
WHAT CAUSES DEPRESSION?
Depression is a complex disease. Nobody knows exactly what causes it, but there are a variety of different reasons it can occur. For some, it is triggered by a serious medical illness. Others may become depressed after a sudden life change, like the death of a loved one or a divorce. Some depression sufferers may have a family history that predisposes them to the disease, and still others report feeling overwhelming sadness for no known reason at all. 14 www.sghealthandwellnessmagazine.com
It’s often said that depression results from a chemical imbalance, but that figure of speech doesn’t capture the many physical conditions that are contributing factors, including too much or too little of certain brain chemicals, faulty mood regulation, or other genetic vulnerabilities. Generally, though, depression can be separated into two categories: circumstantial and clinical. Circumstantial depression refers to feelings surrounding an event, such as the diagnosis of a serious medical condition or having to sell one’s house and move. The circumstances that can cause depression are extremely numerous: teenagers can become depressed when they have problems with their friends at school; the elderly may fall into depression when they move to a care facility; and a middle-aged man can lapse into depression when he loses a long-promised promotion to a co-worker. Circumstantial depression is highly individualized.
