Depression Biological Causes

842 Words4 Pages
Biological Causes of Depression In addition to environmental causes of depression, biological factors also play a part in the triggering of depression. Scientists have been making great progress in understanding the brain, as well as the hormones and neurotransmitters, and how they relate to the cause of depression. The limbic system is what controls emotion, physical and sexual drives, and how people react to stress (All about Depression: Biological Causes). The hypothalamus controls “body temperature, sleep, appetite, sexual drive, stress reaction, and the regulation of other activities”. It controls the pituitary gland. The amygdala and hippocampus are in charge of emotional reaction. Neurotransmitters help send signals from one nerve cell…show more content…
Serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine have been proven to be neurotransmitters that researchers suggest have an input in the onset of clinical depression. The hormones regulate emotions, stress reactions, sleep, appetite, and sexuality. Although we know that neurotransmitters are related to depression in some way, we don’t know exactly how, since they are hard to study and keep track of. This is the case because neurotransmitters show in small amounts, they are only found in particular places in the brain, and they vanish rapidly once used. It is difficult to tell whether the changes in amounts of neurotransmitters cause depression or if depression causes variations in neurotransmitters. Researchers think that both behavior and brain chemistry can cause deviations within each other. Hormones released into the body by the glands keep track of stress and sexual development too (All about Depression: Biological Causes). Hormonal problems may cause a few depressive symptoms like issues with appetite and sleeping. People with certain endocrine disorders can get depression, and reciprocally people who are depressed can suffer endocrine problems even if…show more content…
His situations worsened as patient felt uninterested when he was 19 years old and tired when he was 26 (Psychiatry). Many tests including the MRI of the brain, neuropsychological testing, EEG, and sleep studies were done . At first, he was told that the symptoms had to do with brain related difficulties of Lyme disease. Histological tests showed a little nonspecific inflammation but no lymphocytic infiltration, with a little perivascular macrophage histiocytic infiltration and some subcortical astrogliosis (Psychiatry). Ultrastructural analysis showed lipofuscin granule accumulation completely in the neurovascular area, suggesting that oxidative stress was the primary factor in the blood-brain barrier dysfunction. While the medical literature had previously documented increased central nervous system oxidative stress in MDD, this was the first demonstrated evidence of oxidative injury of the neurovascular endothelium (Psychiatry). During the neuropsychiatric review 13 months after beginning intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) pulse therapy, the patient said that his moods were a little more controlled and his anxiety was simmering down. The depression seemed to have been caused by inflammation in brain. This is said to be rare though
Open Document