Causes, Symptoms and Solutions of Depression (Research Paper Sample)

Depression
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Depression
The study focuses on depression as a mental disorder from a sociological perspective. The areas discussed include depression as a mental disorder, its causes, effects, symptoms, and solution.
Outline
* Introduction
* Depression is a common mental disorder that ranges from mild to severe.
* Depression affects individuals of all gender, social status, and age groups, from children, youth, and adults.
* Causes of depression
* Family
* Gender
* Socialization
* Loss of a loved one
* Age
C. Symptoms of depression
* Behavior symptoms
* Thoughts
* Feelings
* Physical symptoms
D. Solutions to depression
* Exercises
* Interactions
* Changing negative thinking
* Eating healthy diets
* Changing routines
E. Conclusion
* There is need to develop depression preventative strategies.
Depression
Introduction
Depression is a common mental disorder that ranges from mild to severe. It affects how a person behaves, feels, and acts and results in sadness, loss of interest in things that one used to enjoy, and being less productive in the different workplace or home activities (Bernard, 2018). Hallucinations and illusions are significant symptoms that accompany this mental disorder. When life results in adverse reactions that are repetitive, there is a tendency to develop symptoms of depression. Depression affects individuals of all gender, social status, and age groups, from children, youth, and adults. As time goes by, the problem can be chronic and result in impairment and the victim's failure to handle their everyday activities. When it is at the worst, it can result in suicide, a severe loss that leads to the death of more than 800,000 every year.
From the World Health (WHO) reports, it is evident that about 9% of people in India have severe periods of depression in their lives where a large percentage from this group suffer from Major Depressive Episode (MDE) (Bernard, 2018). People with MDE are likely to feel sad, guilty, lose sleep, and have poor appetite and hopelessness. In China, 12% of the population suffers from major depressive episodes. The average age for depression in India is 31 years, 19 years in China, and 23 years in the United States (Brody et al., 2018). Between men and women, women to be more affected by this mental problem which is among the three leading causes of disability globally. The causes of depression may be inherited, environmental, psychological, and biochemical reasons. There are different effective treatments for different types of depression, including antidepressants, therapies, or both. This study aims to discuss disorder as a mental disorder from a sociological perspective, its social causes, and solutions to patients suffering from depression.
Causes of Depression
Depression can result from several factors, such as interpersonal relationships between people, where they express their reactions and emotions either directly or indirectly. Some of the interpersonal relationships are within the family. There are different cultures and social classes in this social environment and interaction between different genders of other age groups. From these interpersonal relationships, people develop different feelings and emotions which require treatment before they become severe
Family
From different factors that can cause depression, interpersonal cases contribute to this disorder. The family has the greatest weight and impact on a depressed person, for example, the spouses. One partner in a relationship directly impacts the mental wellness of the other partner and the welfare of their union. From 30% of marriage problems, one person suffered from depression (Brody et al., 2018). In circumstances where there are acts of hostility, physical fights, lack of affection, and other misunderstandings, spouses may develop a unipolar mood disorder. Marital distress is a cause of depression, especially when a woman is experiencing body changes due to her interpersonal relationship with her spouse and the new relationship she is building with the child. Relationship building with a child is a complex task resulting in mood disorders among pregnant mothers.
Parents who may suffer from depression also affect their children. From the research conducted by various researchers, it is evident that children who depressed mothers bring up tend to have negative interpersonal relationships than those whose parents are not suffering from depression. One of the supporting factors to these findings is that parents who are depressed are not caring and accommodative, and because of this, their children tend to grow with a negative perception of a family. The perception makes most of them be violet, engage in conflicts and rejection, and develop self-esteem issues. In addition, when parents are suffering from depression, their children develop mood disorders, especially preschoolers, because of the insecurities they have with their parents. Emotional distress among children also negatively affects the parents, which creates a repetitive cycle of depression in the family that never ends.
Parents cause not all situations of depression among children, and in other circumstances, environmental changes may be the causes of depression. Most children who experience depression while young have high chances of depression reoccurrence in their adulthood. Depressed people have poor marriages and relationships with their family members and respond negatively to situations since it leads to stressful life events that cause mental problems. They tend to seek reassurance from the people they rely on, which is a turn-off for them from asking for support. Hammen and Brennan (2001) argue that there is a close relation between depressed parents, especially mothers, and their children who have the disorder. People with a depressive illness do not give themselves credit but blame themselves for any misfortune and praise the environment for suitable events. For example, children are guilty when their parents’ divorce and feel that they cause marital stress. In general, family relationships are a great social cause of depression.
Gender
There are interpersonal relationships on gender, another social cause of depression. When there is discrimination, especially in academics where girls have pressure to conform to societal expectations and pursue feminine activities and occupations, they get depressed (Nolen-Hoeksema & Girgus, 1994). Most parents have a lower expectation set for their girls. They encourage their female children to pursue low profile courses such as teaching and not courses such as engineering and architecture. When these girls break the social norms, this can result in depression since they are viewed as people who have outdone their potential and gotten to a line of specialization that is meant to be dominated. Growing up depressed makes most of these girls have poor interactions in the future, lack of enjoyment, and low productivity in their careers.
Both genders suffer from a mood disorder, but this varies depending on age where at the age of 15, most girls suffer from depression compared to boys, while 2.5% of men aged 11 years and below has a high chance of being depressed while girls at this age are on 0.5% who suffer from depression (Nolen-Hoeksema & Girgus, 1994). The high level of girls being depressed at an early age is also reflected in their adult life, where most women have a depressive disorder. However, this does not mean that only the female gender can be depressed. Men as well suffer from a unipolar mood disorder. In such instances, men feel sad and discouraged for various reasons, especially when in intimate relationships. When these relationships end, men are more affected than women and become more depressed from the loss, especially when the men want to earn the societal respect accorded to families.
Socialization
Maintaining healthy and functioning relationships requires socialization. One of the leading causes of mood disorder is the social setting, the people one interacts with, and their ability to handle stressful events. When depressed and has no coping strategies, they cannot cope with any drama presented to them by those they socialize with. Depressed people directly affect those they interact with and influence them. The influence may be from rejection or seeking reassurance where they feel unworthy. Social class is another cause of depression. Research reports that women with children at the working-class levels have high cases of depression than those with children in schools, especially in middle-class groups (Hammen & Brennan, 2001). This is because working-class mothers leave their children home alone with domestic managers who mistreat the kids. Working mothers also feel like they are not giving the best to their children when they compare themselves with middle-class moms who are always at home taking care of their children.
Loss of a Loved One
When people experience the loss of a loved one, they feel sad and grief which is a natural and normal reaction to loss but is a risk of depression. Losses that result from distress include death, separations, losing jobs, divorce, or any other loss that results in life changes. Anybody can encounter loss and grief, yet not every person will experience clinical depression, which vari...