Depression is a mental health condition that causes feelings of sadness, loss, anger and/or frustration that interferes with daily life from days, to weeks, or months. It’s also known that depression can change the way you see yourself, other people, and life. There isn’t an exact cause for depression yet but it’s believed that chemical changes in the brain are the source. It can also be in your genes, but it’s thought that it could be both chemical changes and in your genes. Any person of any age can develop depression. Certain causes include: alcohol or drug abuse, medical conditions such as underactive thyroid, cancer, or chronic pain, medications (ex: steroids,) sleeping problems, and stressful live events including—but not limited to—death, …show more content…
(Dryden-Edwards, 2014) Personally, I know when I’m depressed when waking up in the morning because increasingly more difficult in the sense that I feel as if there is no reason for me to be awake. Other signs of depression (especially in me) is consistent jokes about death. People who show signs of depression may tend to bring the dark side of life into anything that they can grasp it to. This also includes—but not limited to, “--threatening to hurt others, becoming irritable or taking excessive risks, giving away personal belongings, or otherwise settling personal affairs.” (Dryden-Edwards, …show more content…
There are documents written by “healers, philosophers, and writers throughout the ages point to the long-standing existence of depression as a health problem, and the continuous and sometimes ingenious struggles people have made to find effective ways to treat this illness.”.. said (RASHMI NEMADE, 2007). Depression was once called “melancholia.” It was in ancient Mesopotamian texts in the second millennium B.C. This place was “an ancient region in the eastern Mediterranean bounded in the northeast by the Zagros Mountains and in the southeast by the Arabian Plateau, corresponding to today’s Iraq, mostly, but also parts of modern-day Iran, Syria and Turkey.” (Mark, 2009) Anyway, mental illnesses at that time were attributed to being possessed by demons (which I find sadly kind of accurate.) Apparently, the “first historical understanding of depression was thus that depression was a spiritual (or mental) illness rather than a physical one.” (RASHMI NEMADE, 2007) Long story short, throughout time ancient Greek and Roman literature had plenty of demonic references in regards to mental illnesses. “In the 5th century B.C., the Greek historian Herodotus wrote about a king who was driven mad by evil spirits.” (RASHMI NEMADE, 2007) Chinese, Babylonian, and Egyptian civilizations all decided on demonic possession but used exorcism techniques such as beatings, restraint, and
In the 1800’s people with mental illnesses were frowned upon and weren't treated like human beings. Mental illnesses were claimed to be “demonic possessions” people with mental illnesses were thrown into jail cells, chained to their beds,used for entertainment and even killed. Some were even slaves, they were starved and forced to work in cold or extremely hot weather with chains on their feet.
Depression: Cause or Effect? Depression supplies a distinct depiction of the brain, equals behavior theory. The physiological characteristics that taint the diseased brain directly impact the thoughts and behaviors of the millions of sufferers. The genesis of this dehabilitating problem is both mysterious and complicated, and I am not offering any sort of revelation in stating that it is a multi-factorial manifestation involving both biological and environmental components.
Evidence shows that Major Depression Disorder has been around four thousands of years. In the fourth century BC, Hippocrates referred to a group of symptoms including loss of appetite, insomnia, flat affect, and irritability as melancholia (Jackson). Taking accountability of melancholia appeared in ancient Mesopotamian texts in the second millennium B.C. At this time, any mental illness had something to do with the demons. It had to be checked by the priests. The first time that there was an understanding of depression it was truly considered more of a spiritual illness caused by demons rather than a physical illness. Ancient Greeks and Romans put taught about the causes of melancholia. For example in the 5th century B.C., Herodotus wrote about a king who was driven mad by evil spirits. Even early Babylonian, Chinese, and Egyptian civilizations point of view also related to mental illness, and used exorcism techniques (such as beatings, restraint, and starvation) which was designed to remove the demons. Roman and Greek doctors thought that depression was both a biological and psychological disease. Gymnastics, massage, special diets, music, and baths would help with the disorder.
The treatment of the mentally ill started back in the far past. In 400 BC, Hippocrates, who was a Greek physician, treated mental illness as diseases of disturbed physiology, and not displeasure of the Gods or demonic possession ("Timeline: Treatments for," ). Greek medical writers found treatments such as quiet, occupation, and the use of a drug called purgative hellebore ("Timeline: Treatments for,”). During these times, family members took care of the mentally ill ("Timeline: Treatments for,”). In the middle Ages, the Europeans let the mentally ill have their freedom, as long as they were not dangerous ("Timeline: Treatments for,”). The mentally ill were also seen as witches who were possessed by demons ("Timeline: Treatments for,”). In 1407, the first mental illness establishment was made in Valencia, Spain ("Timeline: Treatments for,”).
Depression is an equal opportunity disorder, it can affect any group of people with any background, race, gender, or age. Depression is a sneak thief that slips quietly and gradually into people’s lives - robbing them of their time, and their focus. At first, depression may be undetectable, but in the long run a person could become so weighed down that their life may feel empty and meaningless. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone who commits suicide is depressed, but majority of people who commits suicide do so during a severe depressive episode. There are over 300 million people in the world today who suffer from depression. Depression has affected people for a long as records have been kept. It was first called out by the famous Greek philosopher Hippocrates over 2,400 years ago. Hippocrates called it “melancholia”. Many times we think of depression as one disorder alone, when in fact there are many different types of depression. The different types of depression are major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, atypical disorder, adjustment disorder, and depressive personality disorder. All types of depression share at least one common symptom. It is commons from the person who suffers from any form of depression to feel an unshakable sadness, anxious, or empty mood. Major depressive disorder also known as unipolar depression or recurrent depressive disorder is the most severe depressive disorder out of all of the depressive in my estimation. Major depressive disorder is a condition in which affects a person’s family, work or school life, sleeping, eating and general health. It is important to emphasize that we can understand the mechanics of this disorder and how it affects people with major depressive disorder.
Sadness, stress and anxiety are normal in a typical life. But, what happens when sadness feels like it is too strong to deal with, when you cannot think of another way out, when you think the only answer is to take your life? Depression can be one of the many triggers as of why you make be having suicidal thoughts. Depression is not a mood, a phase, a call for attention, or personal weakness. Many times people choose to hide their depression because they feel that people will think they are weak, they do not want people to worry about them or let alone think that they are crazy. But, how will we know to reach out and help them before it is too late? And, is there a way to help save someone who is having suicidal thoughts?
Mental illnesses have been reported as far back as to 4000-5000 years ago. The reason scientists believe that mental illness has existed this long is due to anthropologists finding skulls with holes gashed in them. These skulls look very similar to skulls that have had the process of trepanning performed on them. The process of trepanning is simply the surgical procedure of creating a hole in the skull. Scientists believe that this procedure was done in order to let out the evil spirits which doctors thought possessed the mentally ill of this time. The literature of ancient Greece also contains evidence of the belief that evil spirits or demons controlled the mentally ill. Not only the Greeks believed in the evil spirit theory, writings from the early Babylonian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations have also shown evidence that mental illness was believed to be a possession by demons-using beatings, restraint, and starvation to try to drive out the evil spirits.
The exact causes of depression seem to differ immensely, but there are some who believe that it maybe caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, or that it may even be hereditary. Still there are others who believe that it is a combination of social, biological, emotional, psychological, and economical influences that may cause someone who has no family history of depression to develop even a mild case of depression.
Depression is a serious mental health illness which affects an individuals’ mind, body and mood. It is a chronic and lifelong health condition (NICE, 2006) thought to be caused by a number of biological factors including neurotransmitter disturbances in the brain and an element of genetic vulnerability; these are often in addition to psychosocial factors such as the occurrence of undesirable life events, limited social network options, poor self esteem and the occurrence of any adverse life events during a persons’ lifetime (Bernstein, 2006). Depression can have an impact on a persons’ ability to do many things including working, engaging with others, participating fully in family life or maintaining relationships, and it can also impact on a person...
Archeologists speculate that treatment for mental illnesses dates back to the Neolithic era, where a hole would be chipped into the skull by a sharp object to relieve the patient of an evil spirit. The diagnosis and acknowledgment of particular types of mental illness date back to the 5th century BC in Greece (Harris). Since then, the classification of different mental illnesses has varied immensely. Some classification methods included a handful of diagnostic categories while others included thousands (“History of the DSM”). However, recent Western diagnoses of mental illnesses stem from Sigmund Freud in the mid-to-late 1800s (McLeod). Currently, mental illness is defined as a group of mental disorders that causes severe disturbances in thinking, feeling, and relating
It took a long time for the western world for the western world to start thinking of mental illness in a way that was rooted in science. It wasn’t until the 18th and the 19th centuries that we put forth the notion that psychological disorders may be about a sickness of the mind. For example in the 18th century doctors wer...
Depression is much more common than most people think. Because it is essentially an invisible illness and is largely in the mind, it is difficult to correctly diagnose it and most people suffer for months, years, or even decades with depression. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines depression as “a mood disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty with thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal thoughts or an attempt to commit suicide.” Most medical definitions are able to explain what happens and why it does, but after carefully examining this one, we only notice that it explains what happens, but not why. Usually, the symptoms of an illness are...
Richman, J. The lifesaving function of humor with the depressed and suicidal elderly. Gerontologist 35(2): 271 (1995).
There are many people in the world who are struggling with the disease depression. Depression is the state in which a person feels very sad, hopeless and unimportant. The thing about depression is that it affects both genders and any ages. Depression is something that deserves full attention. For many reasons doctors believe that when a person has depression, they have to start taking medication for it as if medications help. People are becoming more dependent on antidepressants when there are other techniques for dealing with depression.
Depression is one of the most common psychological problems. Each year over 17 million Americans experience a period of clinical depression. Thus, depression affects nearly everyone through personal experiences or through depression in a family member or friend.