Depression Research Paper Example

Worldwide, 3.8% of the entire population has a common illness called depression. That’s approximately 280 million people. Many scientists, therapists, and philosophers have tried their hand at studies/theories to find reasons and/or cures for depression. Lots of authors have tried conveying life with depression and have attempted to illustrate the importance; but when no one cares, the studies and implications of depression are nonexistent. Depression deserves to be explored further and to be told again and again. It should be a serious matter. So, instead of making jokes about depression, learn about it, take it thoughtfully and have awareness. My ambition for this essay is to educate and enlighten the reader about this irrational, self-defeating mental cold. I can only hope to strike a thought as you read about the symptoms/effects, the science and the treatments. 

Depression is a differentiating event for everyone who has it. There are numerous forms: major depression, dysthymic depression, psychotic depression, postpartum depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), etc. The main symptoms of these, listed by The National Institute of Mental Health, are persistent sadness, anxious or “empty” feelings, feelings of hopelessness and/or pessimism, guilt, worthlessness, restlessness, loss of interest, fatigue, insomnia, overeating or loss of appetite, suicidal thoughts, and aches or pains such as headaches. Other contributing elements are complex interactions of social, psychological, and biological factors. Some medications and medical conditions can reflect the symptoms of depression or other mental illnesses, so the best way to know if you are suffering from depression is to visit a doctor. It should be noted that depression is different in everyone; one might have depression and express it in anxiety and crankiness, while another could be experiencing it in sadness or grief. Some people even have two co-existing mental illnesses, which could show completely unrelated signs compared to an individual with depression. So never homogenize two people's depression as the same. They are undergoing their own separate experiences.

Depression, the word, derives from the Latin root deprimere, which translates to press down. “Depression operates like a French press, but instead of getting coffee out of the smashed-down grounds, you get a depleted and wrung-out human being,” says Faith G. Harper, author of the hand-book “This is Your Brain on Depression” (1, 12). Depression, the clinical definition, is “a biochemical learned helplessness response to stress” (Harper 1, 10). Now, we know what depression is, but what triggers it? Well, no one actually knows. Researchers and scientists have been working on their theories for years, but nothing seems to be the sole reason. It is likely a cause of a “combination of genetic, biochemical, environmental, and psychological factors”, as the WHO puts it. MRIs have shown that people with depression have a brain that looks different from those without. And we also know that there’s an unbalanced amount of neurotransmitters in the depressed. But neither of these explains why the depression occurred. A great number of people believe that serotonin and other neurotransmitters (mainly norepinephrine and dopamine: mood regulators) are the key factors of depression. This is a big theory because most antidepressants work by inhibiting the depletion of neurotransmitters, which keeps the chemicals in the synapse: the small space between two nerve cells. The receptors on the dendrite of the receiving cell continue to read the neurotransmitters and produce the corresponding response. Which, in turn, keeps the moods and feelings of happiness, for example, for longer. The theory is not fully functional, nor has it been proven. Plus, antidepressants normally take a week or two to start working (the depression gets worse, then better), showing that it might not be the neurotransmitters that are the problem. Also, the fact that some people don’t get better and/or don’t react to antidepressants at all. Meaning that the neurotransmitters aren’t the problem or are just a portion of the problem, or the antidepressants do something else to help some people. Either way, we do know that depression is an “inner hell”, as stated by David D. Burns, author of Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (83, 5). Depression “paralyzes your willpower”, so you have no motivation to even get up, and no motivation to get better (Burns 81, 5).

Treating the blue mood is a bittersweet relationship. It can linger for years before people find a helping path. Or, they could find a working treatment in just a few days. That’s the most confusing part: “depression hits different people in different ways: some are predisposed to resist or battle through it, while others are helpless in its grip,” said Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression (23,1). This makes the process of theorizing and solving an ambiguous, difficult problem. A great theory could go tremendously well until it gets stuck with a negative. One of the first theories was called “black bile” (Solomon 286, 8). The bile was supposed to be a bodily fluid that triggered depression when there was an imbalance of body chemistry. Hippocrates was the owner of this theory. He proposed changes in diet and gave people mandrake, hellebores, cathartic, and emetic herbs that he thought would rid the excess black bile. The theories continued through Philotimus putting lead helmets on the depressed, Chrysippus giving people cauliflower, Philagrius thinking it was because of the loss of “sperm in wet dreams”, Menodotus in the first century A.D. who told the depressed to go travel more, and to Rufus who proposed bloodletting (Solomon 288, 8). It went on to the Stoic philosophers who thought that the only way to get better was to pray to the Lord and study the Bible, and in the Middle Ages the Renaissance “glamorized it” thinking that “depression indicated profundity” (Solomon 295, 8). It goes on from there, from good to bad, religion to medical. Then finally, in the twentieth century, people stuck with the scientific side. Psychiatrists, neurologists and other scientists starting working on what we use today: antidepressants and therapy. Most people believe that depression is battled with only antidepressants, drugs. But actually therapies like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), “talk” therapies, and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) work just as well. Data suggests that a “combination of drugs and therapy works better than either one alone” (Solomon 104, 3). To answer the question of what’s the best treatment is the treatment that works best for you. Sadly, lots of people think lowly of taking drugs or going to therapy for any medical conditions. But it’s not weak to take medication. It shows you're trying, and that you want to get better. 

Depression, like other mental illnesses, is “unimaginable to anyone who has not known it” (Solomon 29, 1). And a fact: “most people are appalled by depression” (Solomon 411, 11). People need to stop generalizing mental illnesses as bad and humiliating. It only makes things worse when you say something like that. It makes them (the depressed and others) feel bad for trying to get better. It’s disappointing that people have that behavior; that they look down on others that want to get treated. The best thing to do is to be supportive. Whether it’s a friend or family member or yourself, learn about it and find ways to help. And even if you can’t do anything about it now, at least be aware of it. 

“Depression is one of the leading causes of disability” (WHO). “Depression is considered the common cold of psychiatric disturbances” (Burns 9, 1). “Depression may be the biggest killer on earth” (Solomon 25, 1). “Depression is the thief of all the wonderful things that make human-ing worth it” (Harper 11, 1). Depression is an actual problem, not a joke.