How Does Depression Affect the Brain and Body?

Being depressed isn’t just having a bad day or being a little sad, it is an actual mental condition so it does have an effect on how your brain works and how you function. People with depression may have less receptors in the brain that cause happiness and the fewer the person has, the more severe their depression may be. (Brains)

Scans have shown that people who have not been treated and suffer from depression have lower serotonin and opioid levels in the brain. The reason being is because they do not have as many receptors for that compared to someone without depression. Not all depressed people are like this, some people may not be so severely depressed that it affects them very much. (Brains)

Depression is not just a feeling, it is an illness and because of that, it does have some effects on how you function. (Trivedi)

Effects that depression has on your body: (Depression)

• Fatigue [tiredness]
• Loss of appetite [not hungry]
• Back pain, limb pain, and joint pain [physical hurting]
• Headaches
• Sleeping problems [having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep]
• Dizziness [lightheaded]
• Overwhelming sadness
• Emptiness [hopelessness]
• Cognitive changes [how you think]
• Clinginess [always wanting to be around someone]
• Weight problems [weight gain or loss]
• Weakened immune system [harder to fight of disease]

All of these are things that can happen to someone with depression. It may not happen to all people, but it does happen to some. (The Effects)

Works Cited

“The Effects of Depression on the Body.” Healthline. Healthline, 30 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/effects-on-body&gt;.

“Depression: Recognizing the Physical Symptoms.” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <http://www.webmd.com/depression/physical-symptoms&gt;.

Trivedi, Madhukar H. “The Link Between Depression and Physical Symptoms.” Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., 2004. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC486942/&gt;.

“Brains of People with Depression Different.” Psych Central News. Psych Central, 8 May 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/08/brains-of-people-with-depression-different/2253.html&gt;.

What Exactly is Depression?

When you think of depression you probably think of sad or “depressing”, but depression is much more than being just sad. Depression is when someone has feelings of severe despondency and dejection. In other words, it’s a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Depression Is being sad, but on another level. It makes people extremely sad to the point of not leaving their room or not eating and other extreme things like that (what).

Depression feels like you’re lost–inside your thoughts and feelings almost. Like you have nowhere to run and hide if you need to. It feels like you’re drowning and trying to breathe but you can’t no matter how hard you try. You feel numb, mentally and physically. Normal, everyday tasks become hard to accomplish. You’re always tired and just don’t want to deal with anything or anyone (what).

Different types of depression:

• major depressive disorder – keeps people from doing normal everyday tasks such as eating, working, sleeping, and enjoying things that normally they would enjoy.
• dysthymic disorder – people with this appear to be mildly depressed but where it seems like it is a part of their personality.
• bipolar disorder – when someone’s mood alternates from extreme depression to mania(extreme happiness).
• cyclothymic disorder – a less severe version of bipolar disorder.
• mood disorder due to a general medical condition – depression that can be caused by a physical medical condition.
• substance induced mood disorder – depression that can be caused by the use of drugs, alcohol, medicines, or toxins.
• seasonal affective disorder – when the season affects a person’s mood.
• postpartum depression – a form of depression in women that occurs after giving birth (all).

People can become depressed for many different reasons. Some people become depressed for no real reason in general, because it is a mental thing. Some people might have the best life you could possibly imagine and have nothing wrong with their family, friends or just life in general. They could still have depression. you don’t need something bad to happen to you are just have a bad life to be depressed. Some people just are, because it is a mental thing (depression).

On the other hand, people can get depressed for a certain reason. Maybe someone close to them died or something similar. You can be depressed from something bad happening in your life, but that doesn’t mean that something bad has to happen in order for you to have depression (what).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0OoHOGJWBs

Works Cited

“All About Depression: Overview.” All About Depression: Overview. All about Self Help, 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2015. <http://www.allaboutdepression.com/gen_01.html&gt;.

“Depression.” NIMH RSS. NIMH, n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2015. <https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml&gt;.

“What Does Depression Feel Like?” Wing of Madness. N.p., 1 July 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2015. <http://www.wingofmadness.com/what-does-depression-feel-like/&gt;.