What is a Depression?

depression

Depression (from Latin depressus, which means ‘killed’, ‘down’) is a mood disorder that occurs in colloquial terms as a state of depression and unhappiness that can be transient or permanent. The medical term refers to a syndrome or cluster of symptoms that affect mainly the emotional sphere: sadness pathological decay, irritability or mood disorder that can decrease performance at work or limit the normal life activity, regardless that their cause is known or unknown. Although this is the core of symptoms, depression can also be expressed through conditions of the cognitive, volitional or somatic. In most cases, the diagnosis is clinical, but must be differentiated from similar expression boxes, such as anxiety disorders. The person suffering from depression may not experiencing sadness, but loss of interest and inability to enjoy normal play activities, and a little experience motivating and slower over time. Its origin is multifactorial, although it is noted triggers such as stress and feelings (derived from a disappointment in love, contemplation or experience of an accident, murder or tragedy, the bad news disorder, grief, and having gone through an experience near-death). There are other sources, such as inadequate elaboration of mourning (for the death of a loved one) or even the consumption of certain substances (alcohol or other toxic substances) and predisposing factors such as genetics or educational status.

Depression can have important social and personal consequences, from incapacity to suicide. The different schools of psychiatry have proposed various treatments for depression: Biopsychiatry, through a pharmacological approach, endorsed by the success of recent generations of antidepressants (fluoxetine flagged by the “happy pill” of the twentieth century), school through procedures psychoanalytic or cognitive-behavioral therapy, through behavioral and cognitive proposals.

The origin of depression is complex, since its appearance in influencing genetic, biological and psychosocial. Evidence of abnormalities of neurotransmitters, cytokines and hormones that appear to modulate or influence significantly on the onset and course of disease. Psychoneuroimmunology has shown disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal related neurotransmitters, and cytokines associated with immunological abnormalities in major depressive disorder (eg reducing the number of serotonin transporters in peripheral blood lymphocytes of depressed patients). This seems to point to a strong relationship between serotonin and the immune system in this pathology.

Some types of depression tend to affect members of the same family, which would suggest that you can inherit a biological predisposition. In some families, major depression occurs generation after generation. However, severe depression can also affect people who have no family history of depression. Whether hereditary or not, major depressive disorder is often associated with changes in brain structure or function.

People with low self-esteem perceive themselves and perceive the world as pessimistic. People with low self-esteem and are easily overwhelmed by stress are predisposed to depression. It is unclear whether this represents a psychological predisposition or an early stage of the disease.

In recent years, scientific research has shown that some physical illnesses can lead to mental problems. Diseases such as stroke, heart attacks, cancer, Parkinson’s disease and hormonal disorders can lead to a depressive illness. The sick person feels depressed and apathetic and unwilling to meet their own physical needs, thus prolonging the recovery period. The loss of a loved one, problems in one or many of your relationships, financial problems or any stressful situation in life (intended or unintended situations) can also trigger a depressive episode. Causes of Depressive disorders generally include a combination of genetic, psychological and environmental. After the initial episode, depressive episodes are usually triggered by mild stress, and may even occur without a stressful situation.

Still not found any biological marker of depression, so that none of the biological changes attributed to depression may be used for diagnosis.

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