Is depression a physical condition?

Is depression a physical condition?

Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed.

Does depression have to be caused by something?

There’s no single cause of depression. It can occur for a variety of reasons and it has many different triggers. For some people, an upsetting or stressful life event, such as bereavement, divorce, illness, redundancy and job or money worries, can be the cause. Different causes can often combine to trigger depression.

Is depression physiological or psychological?

Yet this misleadingly suggests that major chronic depression is exclusively a psychological disorder. It oversimplifies the nature of the disorder by ignoring the physiologic and environmental factors with which the mind interacts.

What are physical causes of depression?

Research suggests that depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, medications, and medical problems.

What causes physical illness?

Risk factors Being at risk of developing a medical condition, such as having a strong family history of a disease. Experiencing stressful life events, trauma or violence. Having experienced past trauma, such as childhood sexual abuse. Having a lower level of education and socio-economic status.

What is physical illness?

Physical illness, including but not limited to, deterioration through the aging process, or loss of motor skill, mental illness, or disability that results in the inability to practice the profession with reasonable judgment, skill, or safety. Physical illness includes pregnancy and complications of pregnancy.

What is physical and mental illness?

Physical health problems significantly increase our risk of developing mental health problems, and vice versa. Nearly one in three people with a long-term physical health condition also has a mental health problem, most often depression or anxiety.

What happens to brain during depression?

Depression causes the hippocampus to raise its cortisol levels, impeding the development of neurons in your brain. The shrinkage of brain circuits is closely connected to the reduction of the affected part’s function. While other cerebral areas shrink due to high levels of cortisol, the amygdala enlarges.

Is mental illness physical?

Unlike other general physical illnesses, mental illnesses are related to problems that start in the brain. The brain is an organ. Just like any other organs in our body, it can experience changes (healing or injury) based on life experiences like stress, trauma, lack of sleep, and nutrition.

Why does Depression hurt physically?

Depression seems to be related to improper functioning of nerve cell networks or pathways that connect the brain areas that process emotional information. Some of these networks also process information for sensing physical pain. So many experts think that depression can make you feel pain differently than other people.

Can depression manifest itself primarily in physical symptoms?

Depression is a mood disorder diagnosed by tell-tale symptoms such as fatigue, lethargy, or poor sleep. But depression may manifest itself in physical aches and pains that offer no obvious cause, such as unexplained chest pain, muscle ache, trembling, or hot flashes.

What mental illnesses are caused by depression?

Depression can be triggered by other mental illnesses, but it can also lead to certain mental illnesses. These include anxiety disorders , schizophrenia, eating disorders and substance abuse.

Can depression manifest as physical pain?

Depression hurts. And while we often pair this mental illness with emotional pain like sadness, crying, and feelings of hopelessness, research shows that depression can manifest as physical pain, too.