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Bargmann 1
Erica S. Bargmann12 May 2009Mr. SchlueterResearch PaperDepression OutlineIntro-
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Attention Getter:
Most people have felt sad or depressed at times. Feeling depressed can be anormal reaction to loss, life's struggles, or an injured self-esteem. But whenfeelings of intense sadness -- including feeling helpless, hopeless, andworthless -- last for days to weeks and keep you from functioning normally,your depression may be something more than sadness. It may very well be clinical depression -- a treatable medical condition.
According to the website of the National Institute of Mental Health,depression is the leading cause of disability among Americans between theages of 15 and 44. Further statistics show that 6.7 % of the U.S. populations(14.8 million adults) are affected by Major Depression in any particular calendar year. And at least in the U.S., more women are diagnosed withdepression than men, with the median age of onset being 32 for both genders.
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Thesis:
1.Most people when asked what depression is think that it’s when someone is so sadthat they feel worthless and constantly think about taking their own lives. Whatthey don’t know is that it’s much more than that. The definition of depression is amental state characterized by a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondentlack of activity (http://wordnet.princeton.edu) which reflects a sad and/or irritablemood exceeding normal sadness or grief. The signs and symptoms are not onlycharacterized by negative thoughts, moods, and behaviors but also specificchanges in bodily functions (for example: crying spells, body aches and pains,low energy, as well as problems with eating, weight, and sleeping.) In spite of clear research evidence and clinical guidelines regarding therapy, depression isoften undertreated and misunderstood. Hopefully, this situation can change for the better. If this illness is not treated correctly, it can cause severe damage towards a person and their families and friends. This research paper will go in depth on thethings that cause depression, the effects it has on patients, their families, andfriends, as well as the solution to treating this illness.
First Body Paragraph- Causes
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Family History and Physical Conditions
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Depression runs in families for generations but researchers have not yet located asingle, defective gene responsible for the condition. When a family member hasdepression, spouses, siblings, or children are inevitably affected emotionally by
 
Bargmann 2the illness and while depressed parents don’t pass on depression per se tochildren, the way they pass on hair or eye color, they can pass on a vulnerabilityto depression. Whether inherited or not, depression is often associated withchanges in brain structure or brain function.2.Serious medical conditions like heart disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS cancontribute to depression, partly because of the physical weakness and stress they bring on. Depression can make medical conditions worse, since it weakens theimmune system and can make pain harder to bear. In some cases, depression can be caused by medication used to treat medical conditions. Depression also canincrease the risk for subsequent physical illness, disability, and premature death.The symptoms of depression can also be caused by undiagnosed medicalconditions, including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Huntington’s disease,Parkinson’s disease, hyperthyroidism, Lyme disease, and pancreatic cancer.
Heart Disease- For people with heart disease, depression increases the risk for an adverse cardiac event such as a heart attack or blood clots. For people whodo not have heart disease, depression increases the risk of heart attack andcoronary disease. During recovery from cardiac surgery, depression canintensify pain, cause worsened fatigue and sluggishness, or cause a person towithdraw into social isolation. Patients who have had coronary artery bypassgraft (CABG) surgery and have untreated depression after surgery also havean increased morbidity and mortality rate.
Cancer- People diagnosed with cancer may face an increased risk of depression that persists for years, according to research published online Feb.17 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and up to 1 in 4 people with cancer have clinical depression which causes great distress, impaired functioning,and may even make the person with cancer less able to follow their cancer treatment plan. When someone is diagnosed with cancer, their “normalreaction” is depression, which means that it doesn’t require any specialtreatment-the prevalence of depression among cancer patients ranges from 23 percent to 60 percent. While doctors today are better than ever at fighting thedisease, a new study by the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., findsthat the anxiety, fear and depression associated with cancer often go untreated.Of the country’s top 20 cancer care centers, eight reported screening for emotional stress in only some of their patients. "It's becoming a chronicillness, so now we have to take a wider view and treat the whole patient andtake care of all their needs, including their cancer," said Dr. Lee Schwartzberg,co-author of the study and the medical director of the West Clinic inMemphis, Tenn.
Huntington’s Disease- a disorder passed down through families in whichnerve cells in the brain waste away, or degenerate. American doctor GeorgeHuntington, who traveled over the bleak countryside five miles to the larger town of Middleport, Ohio, first described the disorder in 1872 to the local
 
Bargmann 3medical society, composed of physicians of sparsely populated Meigs andMason Counties. His brief, uniformly anecdotal and entirely unreferrencedaddress, not suffering publication delay, was put eight weeks later in theMedical and Surgical Reporter of Philadelphia (v 26, no. 15, April 13, 1872).This has become one of the classical descriptions of neurological disease.People with Huntington’s disease have progressive motor problems, cognitivedeficits (dementia) and psychiatric symptoms (the most common isdepression) that usually start to appear in mid-life. There is no cure and deathusually results within 10 to 20 years of symptom onset, or faster in thechildhood-onset form of the disease. The disease is caused by a mutation in asingle gene and when this defective gene is passed from parent to child, 50 percent of the offspring inherit the disorder, which can be detected by genetictesting.
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Trauma and Stress
1.When dealing with trauma, most people who become depressed can recall asingle traumatic event that happened just prior to their becoming depressed.Painful experiences such as the death of a loved one, divorce, a medicalillness, or losing everything in a natural disaster may be so impactful as totrigger depression. Events like these take away a sense of control and causegreat emotional upheaval. A person’s recovery from depression may also beaffected by traumatic events. The more trauma and difficulty a personexperiences, the longer a recovery from depression may take. If a person isrun down psychologically, suffers from anxiety or depression or has endured previous traumatic experiences; it’s more difficult to handle another setback.As a result, additional grief symptoms can be unbearable. In order to cope, thetraumatized individual may attempt to avoid grieving altogether.2.It is clear that some people develop depression after a stressful event in their lives such as the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or the end of arelationship are often negative and traumatic and cause great stress for many people. It is not certain why stress may lead to depression in this way.However, researchers have theorized an explanation called the "kindlingeffect," or "kindling-sensitization hypothesis." This theory surmises that initialdepressive episodes spark changes in the brain's chemistry and limbic systemthat make it more prone to developing future episodes of depression. This may be compared to the use of kindling wood to spark the flames of a campfire.Since early episodes of depression make a person more sensitive todeveloping depression, even small stressors can lead to later depressiveepisodes. It is not certain why stress may lead to depression in this way.However, researchers have theorized an explanation called the "kindlingeffect," or "kindling-sensitization hypothesis." This theory surmises that initialdepressive episodes spark changes in the brain's chemistry and limbic systemthat make it more prone to developing future episodes of depression. This may be compared to the use of kindling wood to spark the flames of a campfire.Since early episodes of depression make a person more sensitive to
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