Whole & Healthy

A lot of people claim that they become depressed due to reasons such as, a loss of a dear one, or they got retrenched. Basically, they claim they become depressed due to a terrible thing that happened in their lives. However, research begs to differ and indeed studies have shown that outside of the physical abnormalities in the brain, depression is not solely caused by sadness.

It is commonly believed that a combination of biological, genetic and environmental factors would result in depression. Besides leading to the commonly known clinical depression, it can also lead to psychotic depression which is a very severe type of depression. For example, when a dear person to you passes on in an accident (environmental), you will be grieved but adding on to it the biological and genetic factors as well, you would probably end up in such a deep depression hole that you would need medication to get out of it.

Environmental factors or also known as circumstantial factors play a big part in a persons fall into depression. Environmental factors can come in the form of losing a job, a loved one, or having a traumatic childhood experience or having grown up in extreme social conditions. These all helps shape our mind and thinking since young and play a great part in the creation of mental disorders. Given a hypothetical example, you’re dating a nice girl for a while and you are so sure she is the one for you. One day, you found out that being together may mean compromising a lot of yourself and you are not sure whether to break up with her or stay on in the relationship. You are then confronted with a dilemma, with no right solution. That can cause major depression too.

Genetic factors have to deal with your family background and history. Some families have a history of depression, where it runs through the family. Though depression has yet to be proven to be hereditary, research has shown that a person with a depressive parent are more likely to become depressed themselves. Actually, this has got to do with the environment the child grows up in also. As we all know that parents are the one who impart values to their children, it is inevitable when a depressive parent teaches her child to be good, her contradictory actions may actually sub-consciously affected the development of their child causing them to become depressive.

The biological factor implies an improper level or amounts of brain chemicals in our brain. Depression can also set off from hormonal change, explaining the cause for postpartum depression. However, the problem with this theory is that it has yet to be confirmed whether it is the imbalance in brain chemicals that causes the depressive state or is it the depressive state that causes the imbalance in brain chemicals.

These are some of the causes of depression and no doubt there may be others, but this is the overview of all of them. Being able to look out for these causes of depression, we can be more equipped to prevent it from occurring in our lives. Depression can be fatal, we should be aware of what causes it and should take the necessary actions to protect ourselves from it.