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What is Depression?
1. Severe despondency and dejection, accompanied by
feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy.
2. A condition of mental disturbance, typically with lack of
energy and difficulty in maintaining concentration or interest
in life.

Fact
Depression is one of the
most common illnesses found in
human beings.

DEPRESSION VS. SADNESS

Sadness- the feeling of sorrow or unhappiness
Sadness and depression have similar reactions except for
depression lasts longer than sadness
Depression can affect someone's mood, cause them to feel
drained, and cause someone to feel down for weeks/
months.
Sadness doesnt last very long, it can be something that
makes you sad that day and then you eventually get over it.

vs.

WHO IS AFFECTED BY DEPRESSION?

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FACTS ABOUT DEPRESSION

One of the most common illnesses found in human beings

Serious and sometimes can be chronic

Afflicts 20 percent of the population in the United States and

worldwide

Women are two to three times more likely to fall victim to the mood
disorder than men

Depression tends to run in families

Approximately one in five adults in the United States suffer from

depression one time in their lives

Affects more than 17 million Americans each year

Hundreds of thousands of medications are given out each year to

treat depression

FERTILE GROUND THEORY

The belief that depression must have a hereditary or physical

vulnerability to the condition that causes the mood-regulating
system to fail when lifes stresses exceed the persons ability to
cope with them.

Biological imbalances

Ainsworth, P. (2000). Understanding Depression

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BRAIN

Depression may be caused by episodic misfiring of areas of the left

frontal lobe and the left temporal lobe as a result of genetic,
environmental, social, or physiological factors.

That conclusion coincides with clinical observations that stroke

patients are at greater risk for depression if the stroke is on the left
side of the brain, especially in the left frontal lobe.

Ainsworth, P. (2000). Understanding Depression.

DEPRESSION IN THE
BRAIN

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nderstanding Depression

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MOST COMMON SYMPTOMS OF

DEPRESSION
-Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.
-Feeling useless, inadequate, bad.
-Self hatred, constant questioning of thoughts and actions, an overwhelming need for
reassurance.
-Being vulnerable and "over-sensitive".
-Feeling guilty.
-A loss of energy and motivation, that makes even the simplest tasks or decisions seem difficult.
-Self harm.
-Loss or gain in weight.
-Difficulty with getting off to sleep, or (less frequently) an excessive desire to sleep.
-Agitation and restlessness.
-Loss of sex drive.
-Finding it impossible to concentrate for any length of time, forgetfulness.
--A sense of unreality.
-Physical aches and pains, sometimes with the fear that you are seriously ill.
*In severe depression, these feelings may also include:
-Suicidal ideas.
-Failure to eat or drink.
-Delusions and/or hallucinations.

DO YOU HAVE ANY SIGNS OF

DEPRESSION?

MEASURING DEPRESSION
The items below refer to how you have felt and behaved **during the past
week.** For each item, indicate the extent to which it is true, by
circling one of the numbers that follows it. Use the following scale:
0 = Not at all
1 = Just a little
2 = Somewhat
3 = Moderately
4 = Quite a lot
5 = Very much
1. I do things slowly..............................................0 1 2 3 4 5
2. My future seems hopeless...............................0 1 2 3 4 5
3. It is hard for me to concentrate on reading.....0 1 2 3 4 5
4. The pleasure and joy has gone out of my life..0 1 2 3 4 5
5. I have difficulty making decisions...................,0 1 2 3 4 5
6. I have lost interest in aspects of life that
used to be important to me...................................0 1 2 3 4 5
7. I feel sad, blue, and unhappy............................0 1 2 3 4 5
8. I am agitated and keep moving around............0 1 2 3 4 5
9. I feel fatigued.....................................................0 1 2 3 4 5
10. It takes great effort for me to do simple
things......................................................................0 1 2 3 4 5
11. I feel that I am a guilty person who
deserves to be punished........................................0 1 2 3 4 5
12. I feel like a failure...........................................0 1 2 3 4 5
13. I feel lifeless--more dead than alive...............0 1 2 3 4 5
14. My sleep has been disturbed:
too little, too much, or broken sleep.....................0 1 2 3 4 5
15. I spend time thinking about HOW I might
kill myself...............................................................0 1 2 3 4 5
16. I feel trapped or caught...................................0 1 2 3 4 5
17. I feel depressed even when good things
happen to me.........................................................0 1 2 3 4 5
18. Without trying to diet, I have lost,
or gained, weight...................................................0 1 2 3 4 5

DISTRIBUTION OF MUSCARINIC
RECEPTORS IN THE DEPRESSED BRAIN
Muscarini
c
receptors
are G
proteincoupled
acetylcho
line
receptors
found in
the
plasma
membran
es of
certain
neurons
and other
cells.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
*Ainsworth, P. (2000). Understanding Depression. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
There are theories to depression since a main cause has not been verified. The
brain triggers off different moods and sends them to our body to make us react to things
in different ways. Our brains all work differently and heredity may be a cause to our brain
reactions.
Mondimore, F. M. (2006). Depression, The Mood Disease. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press.
Depression is serious and can be treated as a disease. Depression can cause a person to
act a totally different way then they were before.
Reinberg, S. (2012). Depression Hippocampal Volume Loss. HealthDay Reporter, 2.
Depression can become a disorder in the brain. Depression disorders are most likely
in teens from the age of 13-18. The Hippocampus plays a role in the body which it
responds to stress.
*Wayne Katon, E. L. (2008). The Depression Helpbook. Boulder: Bull Publishing Company.
There are plenty of explanations and facts on how depression may come about in
the brain. Medications are given out to help people who are depressed.