Psychology and Depression Essay

The cerebral cortex directs functions like speech, behavior, reactions, movement, thinking, and learning. In fact, some research suggests that bipolar disorder originates with problems with the thalamus, which links sensory input to good and bad feelings. The hippocampus also affects depression. It, like the amygdala, is part of the limbic system. It is vital in processing long-term memory. This section of the brain registers recurring fear. In people with clinical depression, the hippocampus is much smaller. Research suggests, even, that ongoing exposure to stress impairs the growth of nerve cells in this part of the brain. One of the most important jobs of the brain is to process senses, through neurons. Neurotransmitters are specific substances that help relay information to the brain. Scientists have identified many neurotransmitters that affect depression. A lack or excess of the neurotransmitters acetylcholine, serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, glutamate, lithium carbonate and gamma-aminobutyric acid are thought to contribute to depression. Acetylcholine is involved in learning and enhances memory. Serotonin helps regulate sleep, appetite, and mood, and inhibits pain. Research shows the idea that many depressed people have reduced levels of serotonin. Low levels of a byproduct of serotonin have been linked to a high risk for suicide. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter which constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure. An excess in

“Recent data estimate the overall prevalence of depression at about 11.1% of the American population, or nearly 35 million individuals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). A predictive models suggest that up to 50% of the population will experience at least one episode of depression during their lives” (Life Extension, 2014). Depression has negatively affected the lives of many individuals throughout the world. Look around you there may even be someone close to you that is demonstrating signs of its stifling affects. Depression does not discriminate with its suffocating

The mother-infant bond is the familiarity and attachment a mother forms with her offspring. These helpless babies are reliant on their mother’s nurture for survival. This dependence reaches farther than a physiological need. Infants rely on their mothers for a wide variety of demands. The mother-infant bond is critical to maximizing the fitness of each individual, as well as the growth of the species.

Many people assume that infants are naturally attached to their mothers or both parents. This notion is not entirely true. Research has shown that this is a two-way

For awhile Depression was found to be diagnosed in a lot of people.From modern day diagnosis there is a fine line between

Mothers and babies have a physiological need to be together at the moment of birth and during the

Brain chemistry. Change in the balance of neurotransmitters are likely play a role in depression.

During the second half of an infant’s first year at life, a bond is formed between the parent and their newborn. The parent comforts the infant and responds to all of their needs which allows the relationship to strengthen between the two of them. Babies acknowledge these special people differently than they would a stranger. For example, when a baby is wanting to be held he may reject someone that is unrecognizable or someone other than their parent. The bond a mother and infant share reflects on the future relationship they will possess. The mother and baby’s emotional bond begins when the baby’s hunger is satisfied. As the mother feeds the baby, she provides tension relief and becomes valuable to the baby and he begins to prefer the mother’s

Spending a few days with the newborn, doesn’t give adequate time for the mother to structure any type of connection with the child. The first months of the baby’s life are essential for its progress. In the later years when it’s time for the mother to come home, she and the child are strangers. Not having developed that bond at an early age causes the child to be unfamiliar with its own mother, which leads to long term sentimental and conduct issues.

Depression in mothers can have detrimental consequences on the relationship that a mother has with their child and the child’s future health. One of the greatest risk factors for depression in children

feelings can linger for years. Depression is a social disorder characterized by a depressed mood

Hormonal abnormalities may also characterize the depressed brain. The most pervasive irregularity lies in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the system that manages the body's response to stress. When a threat to physical or psychological well-being is detected, the hypothalamus increases production of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), which, in turn, induces the pituitary to secrete adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH then instructs the adrenal glands to release cortisol. Chronic activation of the HPA axis may result in illness and depression. In fact, hyperactivity in the HPA axis is the most replicated finding in all of biological psychiatry (1).

Depression has numerous causes and effects which affect not only the person but the people around them. Depression doesn’t have a specific cause; in most cases it’s different for everyone. It is a common, treatable mental illness that can be experienced at any time in life. It is often described with feeling sad, unhappy, miserable, or “down in the dumps”. Most people have these feelings on occasion. There are several types of depression. These different types of depression describe slight, but often important, diagnostic differences. True clinical depression interferes with mood disorder in everyday life for weeks, months, or even years. Most people think depression affects only one

report that, “Problems begin early, as the infants of depressed mothers cry more than other

Depression is a serious mental illness that affects every one of different ages, races and social classes. There are many people that have something in their lives to lead them to depression, but that is not always the case because there are children that are as young as three that are depressed. Most of these young children that suffer from depression is not due to having something affect their life, they were just born that way. Childs Mind Institute says that “Half of all psychiatric illness occurs before age of 14, and 75 percent by the age of 24.” Depression is a mental illness, so children can be incredibly young with depression and not many people are informed that it is possible for the child to be depressed.