Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts, that affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. People with a depressive disease cannot merely “pull themselves together” and get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. Appropriate treatment, however, can help most people with depression.
Causes of Depression
Psychological – is where a stressful, or upsetting, life event causes a persistent low mood, low self-esteem and feelings of hopelessness about the future.
Physical or chemical – depression is caused by changes in levels of chemicals in the brain. For example, your mood can change as hormone levels go up and down. This is often seen in women as it is associated with the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and the menopause.
Depression is a medical disease, caused by a neuro chemical or hormonal imbalance. Depression is caused by certain styles of thinking. Depression is a result of unfortunate experiences.
Some types of depression tend to run in families, suggesting a genetic link. However, depression can occur in people without family histories of depression as well. Genetics research indicates that risk for depression results from the influence of multiple genes acting together with environmental or other factors.
We can see another complication by going back to the broken leg example. Some people suffer from osteoporosis which makes their bones more fragile (more vulnerable). If you only had a minor accident when you went skiing, your osteoporosis was probably as much the cause of your broken leg, since it made your leg more vulnerable to the effects of pressure. If you have a major accident, however, the leg will probably break, osteoporosis or not.
Hormonal causes
Women experience depression about twice as often as men. Many hormonal factors may contribute to increased rate of depression in women, particularly such factors as menstrual cycle changes, pregnancy, miscarriage, postpartum period, pre-menopause, and menopause.
Other causes of depression can be the result of various diseases. People suffering from an under active thyroid, anemia, heart attack, stroke, cancer, or diabetes may be at a higher risk for depression. This can be caused from the stress of the illness or the illness itself. Some prescription medication can increase the risk of getting depressed. Eating habits, sleep patterns, and lack of exercise may contribute to depression tendencies as well. There are medical reasons for not being able to sleep that can lead to depression. If you are suffering from depression, you need to see a doctor.
Events such as the death of a loved one, divorce, financial strains, history of trauma, moving to a new location or significant loss can contribute to the onset of clinical depression.
During clinical trials, depression was not reported as a side effect, however, drug makers are required to keep track of side effects reported to them after drugs go to market. During the past year, Merck & Co, Inc., which manufactures Singular, had received reports of tremor, depression, suicidality and anxiousness. In February of this year, Merck and the FDA began discussing how to disseminate this information to the public and the decision was made to interact face-to-face with prescribers and provide them with patient information leaflets to distribute.
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