Elderly Care - Aged and Elderly Depression

Elderly Care - Aged and Elderly Depression

Very often depression in the aged is not reported and treated due to the social stigma attached with this condition or due to plain ignorance on part of the family of the elderly person. This not only doesn't help them, but can worsen their condition and make them susceptible to other ailments... including sometimes suicide. Also, elderly depression can occur due to the death of a spouse...which increases lonliness. Also, side-effects from certain medicines or due to certain long-term illnesses like diabetes and arthritis can have a profound effect on depression. The depression must be treated as soon as possible.

Adult Depression and Childhood Abuse

Adult Depression and Childhood Abuse

Depression runs in families. So does abuse. "Studies show that one in four girls and one in eight boys are sexually abused before the age of 18, and one in twenty children are physically abused each year." But sexual and emotional abuse, in particular, is woefully under reported. Most abused children grow up in an atmosphere of denial - denial by the adults around them and, for the most part, denial within themselves as a means of survival. Ultimately it is the secrecy around the abuse that helps to foster the depression. Additionally, neurobiology has expanded our understanding of how emotions affect brain chemistry. Traumatic events - such as any form of childhood abuse (sexual, emotional, physical) or neglect, changes the chemistry of the brain. These events can reshape wiring patterns and reset responses to them so that even a small degree of stress can produce an overabundance of stress hormones that in turn create anxiety and depression.

Common Symptoms Of Adolescent Depression

Common Symptoms Of Adolescent Depression

There are a number of signs that point in the direction of an adolescent having adolescent depression. These symptoms include changes in appetite, changes in sleep pattern, loss of involvement in normally popular activities, irritableness and sometimes unreasonable reaction to frustration and last but most certainly not least, statements of despair.
Changes in appetite or in eating pattern are a common and pretty strong sign of adolescent depression. In fact, it's among the key symptoms. More specific, the symptoms may be eating too much, eating too little, or even not eating altogether for a prolonged period of time. These signs of adolescent depression should not be mistaken for an eating disorder. However, sometimes these key symptoms could evolve into more neurotic behaviors, particularly whenever the patient starts to feel better after a change in diet.
Much like changes in appetite or in eating pattern, changes in sleep and in sleep pattern are also characteristics of adolescent depression though the behavior varies from person to person. Nevertheless, a drastic change in sleep behavior without any rational reason whatsoever should be considered to be a pretty strong and not to be neglected pointer.
There are a number of signs that point in the direction of an adolescent having adolescent depression. These symptoms include changes in appetite, changes in sleep pattern, loss of involvement in normally popular activities, irritableness and sometimes unreasonable reaction to frustration and last but most certainly not least, statements of despair.
Changes in appetite or in eating pattern are a common and pretty strong sign of adolescent depression. In fact, it's among the key symptoms. More specific, the symptoms may be eating too much, eating too little, or even not eating altogether for a prolonged period of time. These signs of adolescent depression should not be mistaken for an eating disorder. However, sometimes these key symptoms could evolve into more neurotic behaviors, particularly whenever the patient starts to feel better after a change in diet.
Much like changes in appetite or in eating pattern, changes in sleep and in sleep pattern are also characteristics of adolescent depression though the behavior varies from person to person. Nevertheless, a drastic change in sleep behavior without any rational reason whatsoever should be considered to be a pretty strong and not to be neglected pointer.

Depression and Genetic Predisposition

Depression and Genetic Predisposition

Depression and Genetic Predisposition: Can depression be genetic? I find the articles of most interest to be those that seem to be making a lot of progress in the study of genetics and mental illness including a genetic link to ADHD. Even though these studies are in the very early stages, they shed some new light on mental illness and "maybe" some promise of a break through down the road. Depression and genetic predisposition is in the forefront of many studies today. Can depression be genetic or is depression genetically inherited are questions that are often asked of me. Is there a suicide gene? Certain studies have claimed to isolate parts of the brain and genes that may be responsible for depression; and other articles claim that the environment can alter the genes which would give someone a predisposition to depression or other mental illnesses. Still other research has claimed that toxins or deficiencies or a plethora of vitamins in early development can also lead to mental illness.
To say that the cause of an illness of any sort is genetic is somewhat of a vacuous answer. We can then ask what was the cause of the illness in the ancestor that passed this gene along; and on and on we go. Somewhere in the family of origin, somebody had to be the "prime cause" or "first cause" that introduced this illness to the family gene pool. Now the question of whether the prime cause was a gene mutation or environmental issue cannot be avoided. This also entails another issue viz. if mental illness is initially introduced to a particular gene pool by means other than DNA, then of logical necessity-mental illness can still be caused by factors other than DNA. The question then becomes, what are some of the possible causes of mental illness, are they biological, genetic mutations, environmental stressors, toxins...