Essay Depression: Bipolar Disorder and Depression Episodes

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Depression
Amy
Psych270
02/09/14

Depression
There are two types of mood disorders I will be discussing, unipolar depression and bipolar. With each mood disorder there are very specific symptoms that can distinguish which disorder a person may be diagnosed with. After diagnosing the disorder, there are several types of treatments that can help a person live a more functional life. Understanding the symptoms to a disorder will be the key to getting help.
There are different symptoms of unipolar depression such as emotional, motivational, behavioral, cognitive, and physical symptoms. Emotional symptoms may include sadness, emptiness, and a loss of pleasure, anxiety, anger, as well as crying episodes. Motivational symptoms can include not wanting to do what usually makes you happy, no drive, lack of spontaneity, and just a feeling of withdrawal. Some of the behavioral symptoms can be lying in bed more than usual, wanting to be alone, sometimes a persons talking and movement is slower than normal. (ulifeline 2014) Cognitive symptoms can be lots of negativity especially against themselves, and belief they are the cause for most problems in their life, they rarely or never give themselves praise for the good that they bring, hopelessness is another symptom and this is the one that makes suicide a higher risk. Some physical symptoms can include lots of ailments, such as headaches, stomach aches, also sleeping too much or too little. A person does not have to have symptoms in all areas, however in order to diagnose with severe unipolar depression a person must have at least five symptoms for at least 2 weeks. Sometimes the depression can cause hallucinations, but these are usually very extreme cases. There can be many factors for why a person develops depression. (Comer 2011)
Stress can definitely be a factor in depression, a person that experiences lots of stress in their life, especially over short periods of time, tend to get unipolar depression more often. There can be a reactive depression that is from a known stressful event, or there is an endogenous depression from internal reasons. It is important that Dr. look at both situational and internal events. In either case it is important to figure out which type of depression it may be. There can be other reasons a person gets depression as well. (Comer 2011)
There may be some genetic factors in depression. There are studies and it has been shown that 20% of family members may get depression if another family member already has it. There are biochemical reasons that may account for depression in some individuals. It could be from taking medication, because it may lower the chemical norepinephrine or serotonin in the brain. The endocrine system may also be a reason for unipolar depression. The glands from the endocrine release hormones and a person with high cortisol levels tend to be found to have unipolar depression. Melatonin is another hormone that is released and may have a tie to depression. It is still being researched whether it is the neurons, or the chemicals. The brain circuit may be a reason for depression. It is a structure of the brain that works together, and research is starting to make a correlation of the brain circuit and the diagnoses of unipolar depression. The front of the brain may have lower activity if a person is depressed. There are treatments available to help with unipolar depression. (comer 2011)
There are different treatments for unipolar depression they include; Antidepressants, electroconvulsive treatments, brain stimulation, and therapy. The antidepressants most commonly used are MAO inhibitors, SSRI’s and tricyclics. All of these medications help with chemical balance in the brain. Electroconvulsive treatment works by attaching electrodes to the head, and shocking the brain. It causes the brain to have a seizure, and is done about 6 to 12 times over a period of time. It is actually unsure why this works. Transcranial
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