Recognizing Depression

Most of us experience depression at least once in our lifetime.  People get depressed for many different reasons.  Understanding the cause is important since it will help determine the most appropriate and effective ways to deal with the depression.  Recognizing and identifying the factors can provide the first step in gaining some mastery over the depression itself.

The following are some common reasons behind depression:

                     Genetics:  Recent studies indicate some depressive disorders are biologically generated, particularly Bi-polar or manic-depressive disorder.  Bi-polar disorder usually shows up in early adulthood.  Uni-polar depression (dysthymia or major depression) also runs in families.  Studies indicate that if one parent has depression, about 40% of the children will get depressed at sometime before their 20th birthday.

                      Illness:  Some medical conditions actually cause depression.  These include: thyroid disease, Parkinson's disease, cancer, kidney disease, electrolyte imbalance, celiac disease, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

                      Bio-chemical changes:  Depression can be a side effect of some medication interactions.  These can include high blood pressure medications, sedatives, tranquilizers, anti-inflammatory and anti-Parkinson drugs.  Alcohol is also a depressant.

                       Stress:  Just living in stressful conditions over time can produce depressive symptoms.  Financial problems, loss of a loved one, divorce, retirement, care giving to a chronically ill family member, feeling trapped in a bad relationship, parent/child problems and excessive demands from work or family are some stressors related to depression.

                      Psychological Trauma:  Depression and severe anxiety can result in adulthood as a response to past childhood trauma (physical, sexual, emotional).  Abuse of all kinds in the environment (chaos, neglect, lack of consistent parenting, horrible events witnessed--such as deaths, finding bodies, losing parents, etc.) contribute to depression in children.  In a recent study, 50% of depressed children and adolescents experienced at least two major stressors in the year before they got depressed.  There is a strong link between a family history of depression and bad things happening in childhood.  A depressed child is a very likely outcome.