What Causes Depression?
Different types of depression can have different causes. If you can pinpoint the cause, it goes a long way in helping you figure out how to treat it.
Inherited From A Parent
In early ‘06, Rockefeller University researchers–with the help of an international team of scientists–identified a “depression gene” called ⯋. Evidently this gene controls serotonin transmission in your brain. And in case you didn′t know, serotonin is the main ‘mood chemical’ in your brain if you don′t have enough floating around your brain, you will be prone to depression.
But just because your ⯋ gene is faulty doesn′t necessarily mean you’ll be depressed it simply means you’re more susceptible to depression. This is because depression is a complex disease intertwined with psychological causes as well as physical:
Let’s take a fictional character “Joan″ as an example: Her ⯋ gene is bad, but she’s not depressed and never has been. But now - six months after the death of her husband, she still can′t get out of bed until 2pm, her home has not been cleaned for many weeks, and she hasn′t gotten out of the house to see friends or family. She’s not in mourning but clinically depressed. (Joan will probably respond well to a “Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor” like “Prozac.”)
However, anti-depression medication will not bring back a deceased loved one, which was the event (a.k.a. the “precipitating event”) that got the depression started. And this is why it’s important to treat depression with therapy such as cognitive therapy, in addition to taking medicine.
There is, however, another option to treating your depression. It’s called “self help,” and there’s a paint-by-the-numbers plan you’ll find out more about later. For those who can manage it, it’s very effective. More on this later…
Traumatic Or Stressful Event
As in the above example, sometimes a single stressful event can cause someone to get depression (even though their serotonin levels may be normal). And a series of stressful things can cause you to be clinically depressed…
I was so depressed at one time that I tried to kill myself by driving over 130 mph into a bunch of trees. (The fact that it was a “bunch of trees” instead of just one big tree is one reason I′m here with you now.) But when you read my story you will nevertheless be astounded I survived. I was only 16.
Miraculously surviving my suicide attempt was a turning point in my life if there ever was one. I started looking for natural cures for depression because, for one thing, there was no such thing as depression medication like “Zoloft,” and I just knew it was up to me to figure out how to outsmart depression. This was something that–at least in my case–could not be solved in a pill, no matter how “high-tech″ the medical technology.
Normally You′re Taken Down By Many Stressors
The word, “divorce” may mean a single event, but it encompasses multiple highly stressful events all at once:
- Loss of a relationship: It was supposed to be “…to death do us part.”
- Financial security gives way to financial worry.
- Loss of a higher standard of living: The nice car is replaced by a crappy one, nice home replaced by a fleabag apartment.
- Daily contact with your kids is no more.
- Being forced to move. (Moving–by itself–is one of the most stressful events a person can endure–forced or not.)
…And so on–you get the general idea.
Taught To ‘Enjoy’ Depression
It sounds counter-intuitive, but for some people depression feels ‘right′ to them…sort of. They thrive on the drama of big emotional events. It’s like they thrive off the negativity like most other people thrive of being extremely happy. They feel that the importance of an event justifies being sad for a long time, so they do their best to be what they consider ‘appropriately sad.’
The reasons for this ‘depression response’ are two-fold: It protects them from having to deal with responsibilities of everyday life, and/or it gets them attention they wouldn′t otherwise get from people around them.
One theory is that they are “taught″ this behavior as toddlers and young kids:
If your parents rarely paid attention to you unless you cried, you learned that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” as the old saying goes; as long as you were in distress, people paid attention to you and comforted you.
Tags: anxiety, Depression, health, Mental Health, psychology, women's issues
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