Biological depression meaning

Biological Causes of Depression Biological causes of clinical depression continue to be studied extensively. Great progress has been made in the understanding of brain function, the influence of neurotransmitters and hormones, and other biological processes, as well as how they may relate to the development of depression. Biochemical Explanations of Depression. Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest.

Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. People who suffer from depression have an imbalance in neurotransmitters, chemicals that brain cells use to communicate, which prevents the brain from functioning effectively.

Having depression that is biological means that your brain isn’t going to work right no matter what you do in the external world. It doesn’t matter if you are jumping out of a plane if you’re deficient in amino acids and b vitamins , your brain won’t even be able to produce the neurotransmitters to feel any pleasure at all. Biology of Depressive Disorders You may have heard that depression is the result of a simple imbalance of brain chemicals.

Although brain chemicals are certainly part of the cause, this explanation is too simple. Even just considering the biological dimension of depression, the brain has multiple layers of issues that are involved. MD also known as clinical depression, is a mood disorder characterized by persistent and intense feelings of sadness for extended periods of time.

These feelings have a negative impact on mood and behavior as well as various physical functions, including sleep and appetite. Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Fortunately, it is also treatable.

It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working. To be diagnosed with depression , the symptoms must be present for at least two weeks. There are several biological explanations of depression but today we will discuss in particular.

But before we dive into the explanations, what exactly is meant by biological explanation of depression ? Sometimes people say they think they were born with depression or have always felt sad since they were young. Biological disorders that are typically brought about by outside factors include insomnia or depression brought on by stress, and delirium due to drug overdose. Other biological disorders are commonly associated with genetic disposition, meaning that a person has a natural predisposition at birth. One of the goals of this book is to help you remove the word depression from your vocabulary an as a result, from your life.

A biological explanation for depression is the monoamine hypothesis. An abstract is unavailable. This article is available as a PDF only. Sadness or grief from the death or loss of a loved one, though natural, may increase the risk of depression.

A family history of depression may increase the risk. Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known simply as depression , is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of low mood that is present across most situations. It is often accompanied by low self-esteem, loss of interest in normally enjoyable activities, low energy, and pain without a clear cause. It is often identified with a specific symptom complex—psychomotor retardation, early morning awakening, weight loss, excessive guilt, and lack of reactivity to the environment—that is roughly equivalent to the symptoms of major depressive disorder. The concept of biological or endogenous depression is important to psychiatry for two reasons.

First, it is the most common supposed mental illness. One explanation suggests that some people are simply more genetically inclined to develop depression , as Hecimovic suggested that it was caused by a mutation in the 5-HTT gene, which was responsible for coding for serotonin production, and that this mutation is inherited.

For example, a very specific reason could be that there are low levels of serotonin in the brain. The biological perspective can explain depression because of chemical imbalances in the brain. Depression and obesity are common conditions with major public health implications that tend to co-occur within individuals. The relationship between these conditions is bidirectional: the presence of one increases the risk for developing the other. It is one of the major perspectives in psychology and involves such things as studying the brain, immune system, nervous system, and genetics.

It can occur at any age from childhood to late life and is a tremendous cost to society as this disorder causes severe distress and disruption of life an if left untreate can be fatal. Depression definition is - an act of depressing or a state of being depressed: such as. How to use depression in a sentence.