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Leah Urena
Mr. Macmillan
Advanced Biology - 2
16 May 2015
Mental Health: Depression
Many things can cause depression but some more than others. These causes are: medical
conditions, daylight, genes, life events, etc. Depression starts in the brain due to thoughts and
how the person can handle their current state.
Medical conditions is a huge part of depression because most depression comes from
people with diseases such as cancer, HIV, diabetes, and many more that can be deadly. Diseases
can cause this mental issue because its flat out negative. For example, cancer is one of the main
causes of depression because only an amount of people can survive it and it is known to be
deadly. Hormone changes or the balance of hormones can lead to depression because they
connect and create an individuals mood. Sometimes people, mostly teenagers, dont have enough
of some hormones which can lead to negative thoughts or mood swings.
Daylight may seem crazy to be a factor of depression but surprisingly it is. Our brains
creates melatonin and serotonin (neurotransmitters) that are only produced with daylight. When
there is daylight, our brain produces more serotonin, and when there is less daylight it produces
more melatonin. That it why in the fall and winter some people seem more down because of the
lack of melatonin in the brain. The seasonal/daylight cause of depression is called Seasonal
Affective Disorder (SAD) which can be treated with medicine quite easily. Doctors who are
aware of this disorder in someone usually prescribe medicine that makes the brain produce more
melatonin and this changes the mood and energy in someone.

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Depression genes may run in the family and can cause relatives to have depression if the
gene is active. For example, my mom doesnt have any symptoms of depression but many of her
relatives take medication for a type of depression. This observation shows that just because it is
genetic in the family doesnt mean that all of the family has depression, it just means that there is
a greater chance for those people to get depression due to an active gene.
Life events are one of the biggest cause of depression along with diseases. The loss of
someone either from death, friendship, divorce etc can trigger a depression response. This type of
reasoning for depression is mostly emotional and numbing and affects people differently. For
example, a young female loses her boyfriend in a car accident, she is most likely to respond in an
emotional state of depression that may last for months and even up to a year. Though this type of
depression seems never ending, there is counseling and therapists that can help forget or cope
with the problem.
There are many more causes and reasoning to depression, but it can be mentally healed
with medication, treatment, or simple communication.