Depression Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

stamp Research Paper - Essay ExampleAs a mood or affect or emotional state, depression is part of formula human experience. Feelings of sadness and disappointment are within the vicissitudes of the normal human condition. The distinction amongst normal mood and abnormal depression is not always clear, although significant research on diagnostic criteria is underway, and neither psychiatrists nor other clinicians agree on the precise line between normal and psychopathological affective phenomena. Diagnosis is especially difficult for the large number of patients with episodes of mood lurch in which a recent precipitating event appears significant, especially since clinicians tend to credit depressive reactions to such trying events when they are apparent.As a pathological symptom, depression often occurs in association with other psychiatrical and medical illnesses, which makes precise diagnosis even harder. For example, in elderly people the differential diagnosis between earl y senile dementia and depression may be difficult. The term secondary depression has been proposed to wrap up these symptomatic depression states. In clinical psychiatric practice, however, most depressive symptoms are primary, that is, without apparent association with pre-existing or concomitant illness. Each year, between 4 and 8 percent of the population experiences a clinical depressive syndrome, a constellation of symptoms in which the mood disturbance is accompanied by sleep difficulty, change in appetite, retardation of thinking, and attitudes of hopelessness, helplessness, pessimism, and even suicidal tendencies. Moreover, since these symptoms often persist, the diagnostic criteria embodied in the third edition of the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, known as DSM-III, require at least two weeks distance of such symptoms, plus evidence that their intensity and pervasiveness have impaired the individuals usual social role operation and p ersonal activities. (Brett Silverstein, Emily Blumenthal, 1997).THE BIOLOGY OF DEPRESSIONThe human virtuoso is extremely sophisticated indeed, it is far more confused and versatile than even the most powerful modern computer. It contains in excess of 100 billion brain cells, known as neurones, each of which is connected to many other neurones. If you look at them under a microscope, neurones appear as thin wires connecting little blobs of brain tissue. However, even with strong magnification the neurone-to-neurone connections, known as synapses, are not apparent. Synapses can be electrical but the majority are chemical. A omen from one part of the brain travels to another-as a series of electrical impulses-along neurones. Where two neurones meet, the signal is carried across the synapse by the release of a tiny inflate-like packet of neurotransmitter, in which a message-carrying chemical is carefully packaged. Once released into the synapse this balloon immediately ruptures, rel easing its chemical contents, which are then free to quickly migrate across the synapse