What are the Causes of Depression?
Depression affects millions of people in the United States and is a disease that should be taken seriously and often requires many years of treatment. Sadly, most people who suffer from depression never get any help for it. This is largely because of the stigma of mental illness, which depression is classified as. People often would rather suffer on their own than be labeled as mentally ill and get treatment. You can’t ignore depression and expect it to go away, though.
The cause of depression is not a simple thing to explain because there are many factors that can be involved. There are some theories, though, that are the most common explanations for depression. One idea is that an imbalance in the chemicals in the brain causes depression. This imbalance may be caused by any combination of biological, environmental, genetic, physical and mental issues that exist in the body and brain. It is hard to figure out which factors are truly causing your depression. One thing that often leads to depression is being diagnosed with a life threatening illness especially if their prognosis is not good.
Emotionally stressful situations like the death of a friend or family member can also cause depression especially if it is a traumatic loss. Dealing with abuse of any kind (sexual, physical or mental) can also lead to depression. Drug and alcohol abuse can also lead to depression as well and can be symptoms as well. Some people have gone through a lot in their life so they are just more susceptible to depression. There may be a genetic link to depression since it is often in many generations of a family. Some prescription drugs may cause depression as a side effect.
Stress is the biggest cause of depression, though. We all have stress of some kind in our lives. Stress can come from both negative situations like a job loss, financial problems, and problems in your marriage or stress at your job or from positive situations as well like graduation, a promotion or buying a new house. Positive situations can be stressful because they mean unknown changes and the unknown always stresses people out. Personal relationships can also be the cause of our stress. Doctors know that figuring out why someone is depressed is a large part of treating the depression. If you know someone who suffers from depression, please get them help.