DEPRESSION

Depression: Impacts on the Physical and Psychological Well Being



Depression: Impacts on the Physical and Psychological Well Being

Introduction

Depression is a common disorder primarily characterized by either a low or depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities. Many additional symptoms are often present in the disorder, such as changes in weight, appetite or sleep patterns, fatigue, difficulty with concentration or decision making, moving more slowly than usual or agitation, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and suicidal thinking. To receive a diagnosis of major depression, an individual must have at least five of these symptoms, causing significant impairment in functioning, nearly every day for at least 2 weeks (Abramson, Metalsky and Alloy, 2009). Biological, cognitive, and interpersonal factors have all been shown to play a significant role in the development and treatment of the disorder. This paper discusses depression and its impacts on the individual's physical and psychological well being in a concise and comprehensive way.

Depression: Impacts on the Physical and Psychological Well Being

Harris (2005) mentions that one of the most common features of depression is its impact on an individual's thoughts, and a persistent pattern of negative thoughts plays a prominent role in the disorder. The cognitive theories of depression describe how an individual's pattern of thoughts or interpretations may increase risk for depression as well as being a part of, and helping to maintain, an episode of depression after it has started.

One of the earliest cognitive developments in the study of depression was based on Martin Seligman's work on learned helplessness (Harris, 2005). This research proposes that an individual's interpretations, or attributions, about the causes of events can lead to a feeling of helplessness, which can lead to depression. Individuals who tend to make internal (i.e., the event was caused by something about the self), stable (the causes of the event are unlikely to change over time), and global (the causes of the event also have a negative impact on other areas of the individual's life) are said to have a negative attributional style, which is associated with depression. The more recent hopelessness theory of depression proposes a process by which an individual's attributional style may lead to the development of depression in some individuals. A negative attributional style places an individual at risk for depression, and in these people, the occurrence of negative life events can lead to attributions causing hopelessness, which then leads to depression (Miller, 2004).

Another cognitive theory of depression was developed by Aaron Beck. Beck's cognitive theory of depression focuses on the persistent negative thoughts of depressed individuals. In this theory, individuals who have, or are at risk for, depression have negative mental schemas, or automatic patterns of viewing themselves and the world (Abramson, Metalsky and Alloy, 2009). Their experiences are filtered through these schemas, leading to certain automatic negative thoughts. These distorted thoughts about the self, world, and future are automatic in a variety of situations, and the depressed person has difficulty coming up with more positive, adaptive thoughts which ...