http://www.allaboutdepression.com/cau_02.html
- Brain Function
- Limbic System
- Affects your mood and behavior
- (body temperature, sleep, appetite, sexual drive, stress reaction, etc.)
- Neurotransmitters and Nuerons
- Affect the moods.
- Can be regulated by antidepressants increasing the amount of norepinephrine but people with depression may also have high levels of norepinephrine already.
- Hormones and Endocrine System
- Endocrine system keeps hormones from becoming too much by feedback.
- Depression makes it so that the feedback is not as productive as it should be.
- Hormone Irregularities associate with depression like sleeping or eating habits that undergo change.
- May be a symptom of disorgers in organs that produce hormones; thyroid disorders, Cushing's syndrome, and Addison's disease.
- Cortisol is the excess hormone in the blood that appears in depressed patients.
- The hypothalamus influences the pituitary to produce corticotrophic-releasing hormone, disregarding the amount of cortisol, (to depressed patients)
Environmental Causes of Depression
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5435189_environmental-causes-depression.html
- Stress Buildup
- Work, School, Bills
- Traumas
- The death of a loved one, criminal actions towards the one who is depressed.
- Childhood Abuse
- Sexual or Physical abuse
- Lack of coping skills
- Separation
http://www.md-phc.com/puntil/ccausesof.htm
- Information is processed negatively:
- Arbitrary inference: Conclusion drawn from evidence that is irrational.
- Selective Abstraction: Focusin on the negative aspect of a situation.
- Overgeneralization: Carry rules based on experiences
- Magnification and minimization: Focus on undesirable events and disregard the desirable.
- Personalization: External events are related to oneself without evidence.
- All-or-Nothing Thinking: Black and White. No Gray.
Cognitive Triad
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=564306
- Negative Triad
- Achieved through early experience.
World viewed negativity- "Everyone's against me"
Future viewed negativity- Unaccomplished person
