Diagnosing and treating depression is very important, but before you can do either, it’s important to know what can bring on depression and make it worse. As the saying goes, knowing is half the battle, and knowledge is your best weapon for tackling and taking down depression. Here’s a quick breakdown of the four main causes and risk factors of depression. Learn to recognize these signs and situations in yourself and others in order to get the help they (or you) need.
Heredity
One cause of depression is simply a matter of being born into it. Depression can run in families owing to genetic factors that can cause the disease. But the reasons for this aren’t yet clear, and more research must be conducted. As it stands, though, if depression occurs in a parent, they’re likely to pass it down to their children. You can still treat genetic depression, and your doctor or neurologist should make a note of any depression in the family.
Major Events
Some situations will make it obvious why a person is suffering from depression. Huge, emotionally challenging life events such as losing a job, a divorce, the death of a loved one, severe illness, or abuse can take their toll on a person. Before someone even expresses any sense of depression, it’s worth asking about and getting a jump on the help the person needs.
Brain Chemistry
Another potential cause of depression is a chemical imbalance in the subject’s brain. Some doctors suspect that neurotransmitters’ inability to deliver signals to one another can bring on depression. This can cause not only depression but also a bevy of other physical and psychological symptoms. In this case, one can sometimes address the disease through medication or therapies such as TMS treatment for depression.
Substance Abuse
The last of our four main causes and risk factors of depression is substance abuse. Drug abuse can wear down the body, making it harder for the body to function normally and leading to difficulty performing tasks, maintaining a job, and so forth. This can then cause a cycle of feelings of failure and hopelessness. Many drugs, especially alcohol, can cause a person to feel worthless, alone, and otherwise abandoned, leading to a steady state of depression as well. By some reckonings, 33 percent of alcoholics also have problems with depression.
In general, depression doesn’t always manifest itself openly, but the disease usually attends the above situations, as well as others. Keep an eye out, and you could save a life.
