Short Essay About Depression: Types and Causes

Introduction

Unfortunately, there is small amout of essays about depression, but I want to mention that if you have a depression, then you may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life is not worth living. More than just a bout of the blues, depression is not a weakness, and you cannot simply 'snap out' of it. Depression may require long-term treatment. But do not get discouraged. Most people with depression feel better with medication, psychotherapy, or both. In short essay about depression we will briefly reveal this topic. 

What is Depression?

Depression refers to the feeling of sadness and low mood that last longer than 2 weeks start to have influence in your everyday life. It is absolutely normal to feel a depressed for a few days when going through some stressful time but if that mood stays for a few weeks then something is going on and reaching out to health professional is required. Depression is not caused by a single factor. It is caused by combination of factors such as stressful work place, genetics, losing someone closed to you or socioeconomic status such as income and many more. Depression is the most common type of mental illness. Symptoms of depression can have influence with all areas of person’s life including their work and social life. Depression can be described as melancholic or psychotic.

• Melancholic

This is a severe type of depression where most of the symptoms present are mainly for physical part of the body. One major symptoms is that a person starts to move slower than they usually do. This can then be followed by complete loss of pleasure in daily activities.

• Psychotic depression

People with depressive disorder can lose touch with reality and experience psychosis. This can include hallucinations or start to have false beliefs that are not shared by anyone such as believing that they are bad or evil. They can even start to become paranoid, feeling as though everyone is against them or that they are the main causes of all those evil things happening around them even if the victim has nothing to do with it.

• Antenatal or postnatal depression

Women increased their risk of experiencing depression during pregnancy or even during the first year of child birth. Many women experiences Baby Blues which is conditions related to hormonal changes and affect about 80% of women. It is different from depression as it not only affect the only mother but it affects her relationship with the baby and even her partner.

Causes of Depression

It is not known exactly what causes depression. As with many mental disorders, a variety of factors may be involved, such as:

1. Biological differences. People with depression appear to have physical changes in their brains. The significance of these changes is still uncertain but may eventually help pinpoint causes.
2. Brain chemistry. Neurotransmitters are naturally occurring brain chemicals that likely play a role in depression. Recent research indicates that changes in the function and effect of these neurotransmitters and how they interact with neurocircuits involved in maintaining mood stability may play a significant role in depression and its treatment.
3. Hormones. Changes in the body's balance of hormones may be involved in causing or triggering depression. Hormone changes can result with pregnancy and during the weeks or months after delivery (postpartum) and from thyroid problems, menopause, or a number of other conditions.
4. Inherited traits. Depression is more common in people whose blood relatives also have this condition. Researchers are trying to find genes that may be involved in causing depression.

Conclusion

This is a full essay about depression with Introduction, body and conclusion. To sum up, depression is a mood disorder (one of the nervous system disorders) that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think, and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. Depression is among the most treatable of mental disorders. Between 80% and 90% percent of people with depression eventually respond well to treatment. Almost all patients gain some relief from their symptoms.