Healthy Living and Fitness

Illness Care: Depression

Causes

There are certain factors that often trigger depression and all, or some may be present at any one time. These differ from person to person but the main ones are;

• Physical illness:It is more common in people who are physically unwell and this need not necessarily be a severe illness such as cancer. Chronically painful illnesses such as arthritis can cause it, or even viral illnesses such as severe 'flu, especially in younger people.
• Personality:Some people have a personality type that predisposes them to becoming depressed. This may link in with a strong family history of depression as it is now thought that a relative of a clinically depressed person has a slightly increased risk of himself or herself suffering from the same condition.
• Gender:Women are more at risk than men are although the exact reason for this is unclear. It may be that they are more likely to admit to feeling depressed than men, who may instead bottle up their emotions or turn to factors such as alcohol to try to ease their symptoms.
• Support:People who live alone, who have few friends or feel unable to talk about their problems (especially if they have more than one) are more likely to become depressed than those with a good support network of family and friends.
• A distressing event:Feeling low after a stressful life event is normal, but such feelings usually lift with time. Occasionally however such symptoms continue to worsen, leading to a persistent and serious depression.

These are probably only some of the factors involved in playing a part in depression. It remains an extremely complex subject, and every sufferer has a slightly different set of causes and symptoms - it is unique to each individual.

 

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