Social Causes of Depression

Depression is one of the most prevalent psychological disorders. Depression can be caused by several factors, including interpersonal relationships. Interpersonal relationships are the relationship between individuals and the reactions and emotions of each individual expressed directly and discreetly to each other. Common interpersonal relationships include (a) within the family, such as between the parents and between parents and children; (b) the social environment where differences in ethnicity and social class come into play; and (c) interactions between genders across age groups for both females and males. Many people suffer from depression at one point in their life. It is inevitable, the feeling of hopelessness, sorrow, or being alone. These are all common emotions associated with depression....

Main Causes of Depression

Some types of depression run in families, indicating that a biological vulnerability to depression can be inherited. This seems to be the case especially with bipolar disorder. Studies have been done of families in which members of each generation develop bipolar disorder. The investigators found that those with the illness have a somewhat different genetic makeup than those who do not become ill. However, the reverse is not true. That is, not everybody with the genetic makeup that causes vulnerability to bipolar disorder will develop the illness. Apparently, additional factors, possibly a stressful environment, are involved in its onset and protective factors are involved in its prevention.Major depression also seems to occur in generation after generation in some families, although not as...

Types of the Depression-Related Mood Disorders

Depression is a form of what is known as a mood or affective, disorder, because it is primarily concerned with a change in mood.Depression is a very complex illness. No-one really knows for certain what causes depression, and everyone's experience of depression is different. Depressive disorders come in different types, just as is the case with other illnesses such as heart disease. When a psychiatrist makes a diagnosis of a patient's depressive illness, he or she may use a number of terms--such as bipolar, clinical, endogenous, major, melancholic, seasonal affective or unipolar--to describe it. These labels confuse many people who don't understand that they can overlap. People with depressive illness may also receive more than one diagnosis since the illness is often linked with other problems,...

Rehabilitation Research Depression Questionnaire

Depression is often hard to recognize. Depression can express itself in more than a dozen ways and no two people will necessarily have the same kind of experiences of symptoms. Surprisingly, you don’t even have to be sad to be depressed! Because depression develops slowly, people just kind of slip into it.  One way to help determine if you need a formal evaluation is to take the Depression Questionnaire shown below. Examine each statement, and mark “T” if the statement applies to you and “F if it does not. When you have completed the questionnaire, give yourself one point for each “T” you chose. Scores totaling 1 to 5 indicate normal responses to everyday life. Scores from 6 to 10 indicate a moderate degree of depression that can affect health, functioning and outlook. Scores higher than...

Physician Depression Questionnaire (PDQ-9)

This questionnaire consists of several statements. Read each statement carefully, then pick the number that best describes the way you have been feeling during the past two weeks, including today. See the Table below for interpreting your score.Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?                                                                             ...

What is Depression?

The word "depression" causes much confusion. It is often used to describe when someone is feeling "low", "miserable", "in a mood", or having "got out of bed on the wrong side". However, doctors use the word in two different ways. They can use it to describe the symptom of a "low mood", or to refer to a specific illness, i.e. a "depressive disorder". Officially, there are two definitions of the depression, reflecting the two approaches highlighted above:The condition of feeling sad or despondent. A psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, anhedonia, feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death. Also called clinical depression. This confusion is made all the worse because...