Biological and Psychological Explanation of Major Depression - Essay Example

? Similarities and Differences between Biological and Psychological Explanation of Major Depression Depression is an illness that is characterized by an intense and persistent feelings of sadness, worthlessness and hopelessness, and those who are depressed are often seen as miserable, hopeless or worthless (Barnes, 2012). Generally, symptoms of depression include agitation, lack of energy, loss of appetite, feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, thought of committing suicide, loss of interest in performing daily activities, change of sleeping patterns, hallucinations or delusions (Davey, 2011; Barnes, 2012). This paper focuses on the similarities and differences between biological and psychological explanations of depression based on the genetic factors, biochemical factors, psychodynamic explanations, as well as cognitive explanations. Specifically, features of major or uni-polar depression include sleep disturbance, weight loss or gain, feeling of hopelessness among others (Barnes, 2012); moreover, uni-polar depression has a ‘rapid onset and involves intense feeling’ (Barnes 2012, p.316). Both biological and psychological explanations have been significant in exploring and characterization of depression. However, biological factors have been perceived as the reason for depression development while psychological factors have been seen as the factors that maintaining this disorder. Generally, biological explanations states that when there is chemical imbalance of neurotransmitters there will be inability of brain chemicals to function as required and this triggers the onset of major depression. However, psychologically, major depression is mainly caused by anger turned inward (Sinn & Sinn, 2009). Primarily, one psychological account for depression is based on the cognitive theory; therefore, Cognitive explanation proposes that people get depressed because their thoughts are based on the negative perception of the world. Cognitive explanation suggests that there is a link between depression and negative attitude towards self, the world, and the future. This situation is caused by a negative schema of childhood experiences like abuse, bullying or loss of parents, and this happens when they repeatedly encounter these situations. These negative schemas are what causes negative perception and thinking of an individual, and this makes people to develop a very negative attitude towards self, the world as a whole and have negative expectations of the future. Therefore, it is clear that some physical illnesses and traumatic life events expose individuals to depression. However, cognitive therapies have been proved effective in alleviating symptoms of depression. On the other hand, one major biological explanation of depression is that the biochemical factors cause depression. Major depression is caused by the deficiency of three neurotransmitters in the brain, that is, the norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine (Thomas & Hersen, 2010). Studies show that the level of norepinephrine in the brain is very low in those who are suffering from depression. Accordingly, the link between low synaptic serotonin level and depression is supported by the fact that the cerebrospinal fluid in depressed patients holds a smaller amount of a major serotonin by-product, demonstrating a lower level of serotonin in the brain. In addition, Plante posits that, “low levels of serotonin at the synapse level have been associated with impulsive behavior and depression” (Plante, 2010, p.143). Therefore, biological explanation states that depression is caused by low level of serotonin making the victims to feel helpless and sorry for negative happenings around them. Antidepressants are effective in regulating the production and distribution of the neurotransmitters especially in increasing the availability of the receptor site (Thomas & Hersen, 2010). The use of antidepressants is actually one way of managing depression. For instance, in the United States, there is high rate of antidepressants use in treating major depression disorder (Biegler, 2011). However, this biological explanation other people have refuted arguing that cause and effect cannot be established, as it may be that depression is caused by low levels of norepinephrine, or that low levels of norepinephrine cause depression. One similarity between the two explanations is that, in both treatments, the effects are not immediate, that is, more time is needed before the antidepressants increase the level of serotonin. Similarly, cognitive therapy also takes long before discovering the results despite its popularity as the most effective psychological intervention of depression (Manicavasagar, 2012). Furthermore, people have argued that there are other causes of depression, for instance, following the biochemical account for depression, they have claimed that there is no convincing explanation to clarify why depression is caused by low level of serotonin and norepinephrine but some individuals with the same condition are not depressed. However, those who were successfully treated by cognitive therapy have reduced beliefs about the biological causation of depression (Biegler, 2011). Moreover, these two explanations differ in terms of treatment of the disorder; there are two main treatments of depression, that is, cognitive therapy like counselling and antidepressants medicine (Barnes, 2012). Concerning biological-based depression, prescription of antidepressants is the initial step of treatment (Manicavasagar, 2012). The prescription of antidepressants particularly Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) is recommended to the depressants (Freberg, 2010). Arguably, the antidepressants operate by either changing the sensitivity of the receptors or increasing the availability of neurotransmitters in the brain. The biochemical factors can be treated by antidepressants while the cognitive explanation can be managed by successful cognitive therapies for depression. Cognitive therapy has been proved very successful with very low relapse rate than drug therapy as in biochemical account, and this confirms that truly depression has a cognitive basis. In addition, another psychological explanation of depression is based on Freud’s theory- psychodynamic explanation. Freud proposes that depression is linked to melancholia, according to Freud, when people lose their loved ones, they do mourn but others continue to mourn for long leaving them very depressed. He argues further that people unconsciously develop negative feelings towards their loved ones and when they lose them, these negative feelings are redirected on themselves manifesting as depression. Freud associated loss of loved ones with depression because the symptoms of depression are very similar to the signs of death response such as loss of appetite, sadness among others. Furthermore, depression manifests itself when a person continuously experience self-abuse and self-blame, and Freud argues that depression is actually anger turned against oneself. The depressed have the tendency of developing negative perceptions of themselves and the world and this makes them not to think and make decisions (Davey, 2011). Furthermore, studies show that severe life events without social support are likely to cause major depression (Thomas & Hersen, 2010). However, research shows that chemical imbalance does not lead to self-blame as opposed to psychosocial explanation of depression (Deacon & Baird, 2009). Moreover, studies have revealed that it is true that depressed individuals show anger but there is no clear evidence showing that this anger is redirected inwards. Moreover, genetic explanation forms part of biological explanation, according to this view, people have particular genes that predispose them to depression. Various researches were conducted to provide evidence that depression is truly an inherited illness, twin studies and the family studies were developed to provide evidence of biological accounts. The twin study revealed that the possibility of identical twins getting depressed is very high than the fraternal twins. Additionally, depression can be inherited and with this, relatives can easily develop the disorder, for instance, the family studies noted that depression runs in the family (Grohol, 2013), in that, relatives of those diagnosed with depression are largely affected. Indeed, these provided strong evidence that depression is caused by biological factors. However, critiques of twin study argue that, even though the risk for depression is higher for identical twins, the chances are not 100%; therefore, they claim that genetics is not the only factor in explaining depression. The main difference between the psychological and biological accounts for depression is that the psychological accounts, both Freud’s theory and life events are external like the loss of a loved one whereas, the biological accounts are based on internal factors within an individual that cause depression, such as the genes and the biochemical levels. Therefore, it is possible that biological and genetics cause depression, and the environmental and psychological factors trigger the development of the disorder According to the psychological explanation, genetics and the brain chemicals do not cause depression, but the life events experienced in the world. On the other hand, biological explanation does not agree with the idea that depression is caused by psychological factors but neurotransmitters impairment and genetics. In his explanation, Freud focused on the relationship between a person and the loved one but genetic explanation abandons the environmental effect on individuals. Furthermore, when a person develops chemical imbalance within the brain, the moment this chemical imbalance worsens, his ability to control anger is interfered with making him to keep the anger inside (Sinn & Sinn, 2009). Similarly, when he learns to control the anger inside, and manages to suppress it, he will be overwhelmed leading to chemical imbalance (Sinn & Sinn, 2009); therefore, major depression can be caused by both biological and psychological factors. Concisely, both biological and psychological factors in explaining the cause and development of depression are necessary because both accounts are related to successful therapies of dealing with depression. Both explanations are determinist as they propose internal or external factors causing the disorder. However, the two explanations differ when it comes to the treatment of depression; there is use of antidepressants in biological explanation whereas the use of cognitive therapy in psychological explanation. References Barnes, J. (2012). Essential Biological Psychology. London: SAGE. Biegler, P. (2011). The Ethical Treatment of Depression: Autonomy Through Psychotherapy. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Davey, G. (2011). Applied Psychology. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley-Blackwell. Deacon, Brett and Baird Grayson. (2009).The Chemical Imbalance Explanation of Depression: Reducing Blame at What Cost? Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 415-435. Freberg, L. (2010). Discovering Biological Psychology. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Grohol, John. (2013). The Causes of Depression. Retrieved from http://Psychcentral.Com/Lib/The-Causes-Of-Depression/000648 Manicavasagar, Vijaya. (2012, February). A Review of Depression Diagnosis and Management. Retrieved from http://Www.Psychology.Org.Au/Publications/Inpsych/2012/February/Manicavasagar/ Plante, Thomas. (2010). Contemporary Clinical Psychology. John Wiley & Sons. Sinn Ralph D., Ralph D Sinn M D. (2009). Put Your Potatoes on the Desktop - Standard Version: A Practical Approach to Emotion Intelligence. iUniverse. Thomas, J. C., & Hersen, M. (2010). Handbook of Clinical Psychology Competencies. New York: Springer. Read More