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How manic depression is environmentally caused? Depression is the most widespread disease of XX century. During all the past and in present century depression was considered as a normal condition of artistic, creative people. We heard more than once: I am in depression, live me along ." Actually, depression is a dangerous disease, which causes unfeigned suffering.
Now it is already proved that the risk of falling sick with depression depends on the conditions the person lives in. Nice psychological conditions, calm life atmosphere are the pledge of psychological health of the people. On the contrary, bad, tense psychological atmosphere may cause serious illness. Manic depression is one of the diseases that can be environmentally caused. Depressions can be caused differently: by internal factors and by the external environment. That was researched by the scientists in the following scientific works: Martha G.
Loeb "Psychology", 2000, Henry J. Black "Psychology" 2003, G. N. Stewart, "Nature of depression", 2002 "Brain, Mind, and Behavior", Floyd E. Bloom and Arlyne Lazerson, 1988. Martha Loeb is an expert.
In her work, she provides her own investigations, help with the depressed patients. George Stewart is a scholarly, who explained in detail the nature of exogenous and endogenous depression. Floyd E. Bloom and Arlyne Lazerson are scholars; the orientation of their book is related to brain's cellular structure and psychological state of the person connected to it. Henry Black is a professional psychiatrist, expert, who provided the detailed investigation of the reasons, types and methods of treatment of depression. The authors of the given literature discuss and describe the reasons, representations and treatment of the depression caused by the external environment factors.
They proved that not only physical state of the organism but the conditions of our life can be the reasons of depression (Loeb 37). Every person can appear in state of depression and the depression of each of him or her is running differently. It is necessary to cure it when the grief, melancholy, depression are brightly expressed and do not correspond to that situation which was reason of them. That state is caused by something else, not the present situation. Generally, depression is a lowering of mood, which is observed every day and proceeding not less than two weeks.
Thus, clear lowering of interests and pleasures from the activity connected to positive emotions as well as low energy and undue fatigability is observed. Lowering of the ability of concentration, attention, self-estimation, feeling of uncertainty, pessimism, infringements of dream and appetite accompany the depressive person. All these displays may have different depth and force. In this connection, scientists distinguish easy, average and heavy depressions. Besides, they distinguish endogenous and exogenous, constant and cyclic depression.
Already at a dawn of psychiatry, doctors defined two main kinds of depressions. The first are caused by the factors of the external environment, the second - by the internal factors. Manic Depression is one the diseases that can be caused namely by the external environment. The right diagnosis of the kind of depression is very important.
Martha G. Loeb, in her book "Psychology" talks about the importance of the right diagnostics of depression. The right diagnostic of depression and its kind is a guarantee of the right treatment. Presentations of depression: increased or decreased activity of a person, inability to fall asleep or, on the contrary, excessive drowsiness; memory impairment and concentration of attention; the long periods of physical over activity or inertness - indifference to himself or to others; feeling of inferiority, uselessness, fault; loss of ability to enjoy life; lowering of libido, repeating ideas about death; loss or, on the contrary, increase of weight, inexplicable physical weakness, constant feeling of weariness and lack of energy; lowering of appetite or constant feeling of hunger. The diagnosis of the kind of depression is not very easy task. The picture of the basic symptoms "is "decorated" with a variety of additional: difficulty to concentrate on any business, the attention "is floating." A known phenomenon "the lights are on but nobody's home" is from this area - it is necessary to re-read the same for thirty times to catch sense at last.
It is difficult to select word while communicating with other people, the string of conversation is constantly lost; there is a strange indecision, constant doubts even at performance of the most usual tasks. The self-confidence vanishes, it seems, that all the tasks are done wrong; the global feeling of fault may arise before relatives and friends, the person feels like a burden in the family, unnecessary, superfluous at work. His internal monologue sound approximately so: "I am a loser. I have achieved nothing and now full professional bankruptcy is waiting for me; both the past and the future are imagined gloomy and pessimistic.
The person collects the most unattractive facts of the biography, completely ignoring those moments when he was happy, achieved success. From time to time there is an idea that, perhaps, the simplest way is to leave the life; there is diversified disorder of dream: it is difficult to fall asleep in the evening, general duration is reduced because of often awakenings, and as a result the wakes up at 4 - 5 o'clock in the morning. There is also a constant drowsiness; the person is ready to fall asleep at any time; appetite is falling - feeling of hunger practically does not arise, there may even be disgust to the taste of food. As a rule, psychologists and psychiatrists speak about light depressive disorder already at the presence of two typical symptoms and at least two additional symptoms: if there are all three typical symptoms and more than four additional, that state is already called heavy depressive disorder (Loeb 42). To determine the fact of depression is only the half of the task Psychologists defined two main kinds of depression and their symptoms are the same. Floyd E.
Bloom, Arlyne Lazerson and G. N. Stewart in their works defined and described these two kinds of depression, which called endogenous and exogenous. It is very essential to define if the depression was caused environmentally or by the internal factors. Though the concepts of endogenous (caused by the internal reasons) and exogenous (arising under influence of external conditions) depressions are traditional enough, it is necessary to consider them more in detail: sometimes it is very important for person to understand, why depression may arise contrary to his desire and will power. Besides at the administration of treatment it is necessary to know, whether the problem endogenous or exogenous by its character.
The psychotherapy held within several years, may not give effect in a case of endogenous depression, as well as the most strong medicines are powerless at exogenous ("Brain, Mind, and Behavior", Floyd E. Bloom and Arlyne Lazerson, 1988). The reasons of endogenous depression occurrence are the following: lack of substances which are included in "a cocktail of happiness", such as serotonin and dopamine; surplus of substances which have oppressing influence on the central nervous system; deficiency of those substances which are necessary for development of "cocktail of happiness", such as tryptophan, phenylalanine, vitamin B 6 and lecithin; lack of thyroid hormones and cortisol. Women may have differences of mood because of the fluctuation of oestrogen and progesterone levels; hypoglycemia (a low level of sugar in blood) which is frequently caused by the abundance of refined carbohydrates in food may become the reason of depression; seasonal affective disorder; the postnatal depression caused by fluctuation of female sexual hormone level. The reasons of exogenous depression are the following: depression may grow out of any events in human life, such as loss of work, conflicts with associates, loss of the near person; presence of toxic substances in the organism of a person.
Nicotine and aldehydes which are the products of disintegration of alcohol; some medicines, such as steroids, antibiotics, and also those medications which adversely influence a thyroid and the level of sugar in blood; food allergy; environmental contamination when harmful substances may act in the organism of a person together with air and food; the infections caused in most cases by various viruses as well as mycotic and parasitic infections, lack of physical exercises that results in decrease of development of own endorphins and encephalons by the organism. The right determination of the kind of depression is extremely important. Quite different treatment is used for curing of exogenous and endogenous depression. Endogenous depression is cured with the help of different medicines, which cannot be applied to exogenous depression that needs to be cured with the help of conversation. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to define the right kind of depression. Almost half of a sample of patients with endogenous depression had serious marital distress that happened before the beginning of their depression.
That is why it is very difficult to make distinctions. There are some of researchers who adhere to the point of view that depressions, represent certain continued line, and there is no basic division into exogenous and endogenous depressions. Therefore, such doctors always use antidepressants in complex therapy. However, patients usually badly bear medicines with strong effect. It conducts to the irregularity of their taking and even to its termination. If depression is environmentally caused it cannot be cured by using medicines, it needs special therapy.
As it was mentioned above, depression may have the same symptoms, but not the same reasons. Having studied the reasons of the exogenous depression one cannot but notice that they are interdependent. The most widespread reason is the reason # 1 social conflict of the person, troubles, unpleasant and unhappy events. Henry J.
Black in his book Psychology provides clear explanation and methods of treatment of environmentally caused depression. Exogenous depression mania/ mania of depression is one of the mental disorders caused by severe psychological stress, shock or trauma and should be cured with special therapy. Very often, the reason of occurrence of depression is some event, as a rule - the stress, fixed in the consciousness, carrying negative character and thereof, superseded in not realized area of mentality. All attributes of injuring situation are fixed. It is possible to count as attribute everything that was present at the situation: sounds, smells, emotions, subjects, people, even a season (seasonal, cyclic depressions are connected to it). At the actualization of at least one of these attributes, that is when the person gets in a situation reminding primary event, emotions, which were tested by the person at that moment, are shown as well.
As a situation is often negative, negative emotions are static ized: fear, melancholy, grief, hopelessness. This happens beyond threshold of consciousness, unconsciously. In very hard cases, there is a total protection against the world: the person seems to feel nothing. It may be connected to very heavy injuring situation where the stress bordered on danger to life. The stronger the influence of the stressful factor, the more difficult to reveal the reason of depression, but in psychology there are some techniques, allowing to do that: first step out of depression is an attempt to reveal and realize the traumatic situation, the reason of depression.
You may do that yourself or with the help of the psychologist. Comprehension of the reason is a guaranteed victory over depression. (Black 21). Exogenous depression is a kind of depression that cannot be cured easily. There is a number of simple ways or the emergency outlet from the condition of environmentally caused depression. The most simple is to get rid of a free time. That means to become overloaded with a job, hobby and so forth.
Free time is a provoking factor for depression; to behave in a tone: contrast shower in the mornings after intensive exertion (gymnastics, running); to replace conditions (to stay for a while with friends, to change job, move at last depending on the reason of depression); to increase the inflow of positive emotions (watching comedies, reading easy literature etc. ). All these methods can help if a depressed person cannot or do not want to apply to the doctor (there are many such cases). That is why a lot of literature is written in order to provide necessary assistance to people who have to struggle with exogenous depression themselves, without any help. Of course, that is not right. The treatment of such depression is one of the most difficult. Depressed person needs right and nicely directed conversation with a specialist, a conversation that will help him to struggle with something that prevents him from happy living.
Exogenous depression may not be caused by very hard incidents in the past. It may be caused by simple failures, conflicts, and controversies. Plain failure can develop into the real hard disease. This depression also needs treatment. Let us assume that depression is the result of the social conflict. You have no or very few friends, you lost your job, you lost the game or were ruined.
There are the reasons of the conflict with your own soul... Poverty is one of the reasons of depression. However, poverty does not mean careless unemployed or the vagabond, poverty has another face. The succeeding businessman sells the automobiles, which came from Japan and became a bit poorer after the taxes had risen.
The businessman underwent an ordinary market and legal attack of the competitor and his business started moving downwards. He is much richer than a beggar, but he became poorer than he was. You expected much more from the life, but could not receive. You begin to think that have lost competitive struggle.
However, who thought it out and declared? Who spoke about a lawful state and about a competition in terms of public and economic progress? This competition is a real trouble. Nevertheless, what prevents you from sustaining it and makes lost in this struggle? Really, nothing prevents. The unique way to escape is to change or to refuse this kind of struggle.
What should the person in depression do? How to leave a vicious circle? If you are along in this world how not to fall a victim? If there are already no forces to struggle, it is necessary to surrender.
You think, what your life has no sense? Yes, has no, so reconcile to it. You do not want to do anything because of the total absence of interest. Do not do anything.
The main thing is not the fact that it happened so, it is already impossible to change anything. Everything will change from that moment when you agree with the condition and accept everything as it is. To recognize senselessness is already courage. It means that you can do something and may not consider yourself confused and useless. Certainly, if you have forces to struggle with depression, you should struggle. Undertake new beginnings, get acquainted with new people, change job.
Always there is a chance to return the interest to life. The most "simple" way of struggle is attempts to find yourself in creativity. People, inclined to depression, have more advanced verbal intelligence. So they can express themselves in writing: if you are an impotent, do not write about infinite quantity of sexual partners in detail, write about your impotence. If you are a businessman, write how you started the business and how you got such poor results. If you are a manager, write about the employers, forgetting all decencies, the theme of employers is simply inexhaustible. (Black 97).
Write the story, the novel, you may even write poems. It is necessary to make people read your works. Do not be afraid to recognize that society and you are quite different and do not be ashamed of this conflict. Therefore, it is clear that manic depression not only can be, but in most cases is environmentally caused. It is called exogenous depression and is already learned and cured. Nowadays every second person needs therapy against environmentally caused depression.
Some people consider this kind of depression to be not so serious than biologically caused but it is already proved that it is not so. It was already mentioned above about horrible reasons and awful consequences of this particular disease. Moreover, there are no medicines for it except warm conditions of pleasant environment that exogenously depressed person needs so much. You can buy medicines in the drugstore, but it is so difficult today to find the warmness and kindness or the opportunity to change the conditions of your life to stop the suffering. The psychological health of our people depends on the environment in our country. In Japan, the level of depressive disorders is historically lower, than in the USA and Europe that is, probably, connected to the Japanese approach to education of children and with the doctrine of collectivism in Japanese management.
However, Japanese gradually comes up to the Western World. Now people write much about depression because this phenomenon became extremely widespread in our life. According to statistics, cases of frustration of mood in advanced countries stand on the second place after illnesses of cardiovascular system by the influence on peoples serviceability. However, we were happy to be born in the country where everybody can receive necessary help on time. Bibliography Black Henry J "Psychology, Washington 2003 Bloom Floyd E, Lazerson Arlyne "Brain, Mind, and Behavior", New York, 1988 Loeb Martha G "Psychology, New York, 2000 Stewart G.
N "Nature of depression", New York, 2002
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Research essay sample on How Manic Depression Is Environmentally Caused
