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Depression

Depression. Symptoms of a Major Depressive Disorder. Affective: guilt and sadness, lack of enjoyment or pleasure in familiar activities or company. Behavioural : passivity

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Depression

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  1. Depression

  2. Symptoms of a Major Depressive Disorder • Affective: guilt and sadness, lack of enjoyment or pleasure in familiar activities or company. • Behavioural: passivity • Cognitive: negative thoughts, faulty attribution of blame, low self esteem, irrational hopelessness, difficulty concentrating, indecisiveness • Somatic: lack of energy, insomnia or hypersomnia, weight loss/gain, diminished libido.

  3. Diagnosis of Depression • When someone experiences two weeks of depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure. • Diagnosis requires at least 4 additional symptoms (such as insomnia, suicidal thoughts, passivity, or difficulty concentrating).

  4. Facts about Depression • Depression affects 15% of people at some time in their life (Charney and Weismann 1988). • Depression tends to be a recurrent disorder with about 80% experiencing a subsequent episode. • Depression is 2-3 times more common in women than in men. • It occurs frequently among members of lower socio-economic groups. • Levav (1997) found the prevalence rate to be above average in Jewish males suggesting that some groups are more prone to depression.

  5. Serotonin & Depression • Prozac: blocks the reuptake of serotonin thereby leaving more serotonin in the synaptic gap/cleft. • Serotonin is known to affect mood, emotions, aggression, sleep and anxiety.

  6. Noradrenaline & Depression • Another neurotransmitter called noradrenaline is found to be correlated with depression. • Janowsky et al. (1972) • Participants were given a drug called physostigmine (which lowers noradrenaline but increases acetylcholine). • They experienced feelings of self-hate and suicidal wishes within minutes.

  7. Cocktail of Neurotransmitters? • Rampello et al. (2000) found depressed patients to have an imbalance of noradrenaline, serotonin, dopamine (pleasure), acetylcholine (memory). • Skeptics say that pinning depression to just neurotransmitters is too simple and reductionist (reducing complex behavior to a single factor).

  8. Stress & Depression • Cortisol: a hormone that helps us cope with stress. • Cortisol hypothesis: Too much or too little cortisol levels may predispose an individual to depression. • Cushing’s syndrome: a disease which results in excessive production of cortisol. • There is a high prevalence of depression among people with Cushing’s syndrome.

  9. Overproduction of cortisol may decrease the density of serotonin receptors and damage noradrenaline receptors. • However, people develop depression without being stressed and people who have experienced terrible stress do not always develop depression.

  10. Does poverty cause depression? • Fernald and Gunnar (2008) • Surveyed 639 Mexican mothers and their children. Children of depressed mothers living in extreme poverty produced less cortisol. • This indicates a “worn out” stress system that leaves children susceptible to depression.

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