The Neurobiological Factors Associated with Depression

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The Neurobiological Factors Associated with Depression

Depression is a mood disorder that affects approximately ten percent of men and nearly twenty-five percent of women at least once in their lifetime (1). There are several types of clinical depression, such as unipolar depression and bipolar depression. Unipolar depression consists of primarily depressive states while bipolar depression involves a fluctuation between states of depression and mania (2). Some of the most common symptoms of depression include excessive feelings of sadness, guilt, or worthlessness, a significant change in appetite, insomnia or hypersomnia, energy loss, thoughts or attempts of suicide, and anhedonia (3), (4). While the symptoms of depression are understood fairly well, how the exact causes of the disorder interact in the development of depression remain somewhat of a mystery.

There are several biological factors that may contribute to the increased susceptibility to depression. Genetic links have been made as the result of twin studies suggesting that family members of depressed patients are more likely to be depressed or to develop depression than the general population. However, it is important to note that these results may be due to the similar environments of twins rather than genetic influence (5). Consequently, studies comparing twins who were reared apart have been conducted and the data suggest that the concordance rates for twins reared together or apart is nearly identical, although the rate is slightly lower for twins reared apart. This suggests that while the environment does play an important role in the development of depressive symptoms, genetic influences are also important (6). In addition, other genetic studies have sugges...

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8) Carlson, Neil. Physiology of Behavior. Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon, 2001.

9)Carol Hart, Secrets of Serotonin, Chapter 2, Information about Serotonin

http://nasw.org/users/twoharts/serotonin.htm

10) Depression: Beyond the Catecholamine Theory of Mood, A good overview of depression

http://salmon.psy.plym.ac.uk/year3/psy337DepressionTheory/PSY337DepressionTheory.htm#catheoryofmood

11)The Chemistry of Depression

http://depression.about.com/cs/brainchem101/a/brainchemistry.htm

12) Gilbert, Paul. Overcoming Depression: A Step-by-Step Approach to Gaining Control Over Depression. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

13)Behavior: The Neurobiology of Depression, An interesting article by a psychiatrist at the University of Michigan

http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/articles/behavior/depressn_5/

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