Describe and Evaluate Biological Explanations of Depression

Describe and evaluate biologic explanations of imprint in that location argon many different explanations for drop-off, including biological. Links deplete been effectuate surrounded by biochemical, genetics and hormonal unstablenesss with down in the mouth lot. In the biochemical explanation, a affaire has been found between neurotransmitter imbalances and falloff. Serotonin is associated with pleasure and mood. Mann et al found damage transmission of serotonin in people with stamp. hitherto Julian disagrees with this pedagogy and says depression may be referable to nerve cell damage alternatively than a neurotransmitter reduction.The problem with this approach is that it implies correlation and non causation, on that point may be a link exclusively something else could be causing both depression and crushed serotonin. There is the chicken and glob problem does pocket-sized serotonin cause depression or does depression cause low-toned serotonin? In other areas of psychology low serotonin has been colligate with increased aggression and eating disorders, as puff up as anxiety. someone that has low serotonin does not necessarily plow blue. There is likewise the problem where people are depressed except rescue average serotonin levels.This shows that depression is not in full start to biochemical imbalances still other things as well. It is a very simple and reductionist dumbfound and should only be included as a exposure and not the whole answer to depression. Another explanation is a genetic problem. by dint of many family studies Gershon states on that point is a clear patrimonial component to depression, particularly in bipolar disorder. Weisseman et al supports this by give tongue to that for if a fry has a parent with depression, the risk of the child having depression is increased by three times compared to the general population.This is a besotted finding just as the children take the same environs as their parents, there is a possibility that the child has learnt the behaviour with the well-disposed learning hypothesis of imitating and observing and not through genetics. Kendler et al study over 15000 jibe in Sweden and found that if one twin has depression, there is a 38% chance that the other twin will cause it too. This has strong methodology and is supported by many twin studies who have found alike(p) results. On the other hand the twins share the same environment and so environmental influences may still be possible.The results were nowhere come 100% showing that depression is not fully down to genes, the people may have a genetic vulnerability but it takes something to trigger, perhaps. It is also unclear as to how exactly genes play a role in depression, without knowing the exact genes involved. Another way to regain the significance of genes is through adoption studies. Wender found that a child is septette times more likely to have depression if the biolog ical parents were depressed and the adoption parents were not.They found little evidence of depression being learnt. nevertheless Wender got his information somewhat biological relatives just from hospital records and so there could be wrongful conduct of misdiagnosis or short-term depression only. The knowledge of whether a person has a genetic vulnerability to depression can be useful as the person is able to take preventative measures (change in lifestyle, diet to begin positivity to avoid depression), but it could be fatalistic as they view they are more likely to become depressed leading to depression.Diathesis-stress dumbfound says that depression can be better still as an fundamental interaction between genes and environmental factors. Carroll found that high-pitched levels of the endocrine gland hydrocortisone are found in those hapless from depression and techniques know to suppress cortisol secretion have been found to be flourishing in depressive patients. h owever cortisol is released when stressed and so the high levels could be due to the high levels of stress the person has when they are depressed.As depression is double as customary in women as men, it could be due to the differences in sex hormones. Post-natal depression could be due to the high levels of oestrogen and progesterone that are released during gestation period and then rapidly decrease once the shaver is born which may account for an imbalance of hormones. Cooper disagrees with this statement as there was very little difference in the number of women suffering from depression later childhood and a control group of non-pregnant women at the same age.If imbalance of hormones was the cause then most mothers should hold out this eccentric of illness but it is only a small number that get it. Menopausal depression is where oestrogen levels drop and hormone replacement therapy appears to be affective in treating many (but not all) women who suffer from this type of de pression. withal this could be due to the negative thoughts of getting older rather than the hormonal imbalance. Through the biological approach there are many possibilities. I think it is a mixture of biological vulnerabilities and stressful environments.Describe and evaluate Biological Explanations of DepressionDescribe and evaluate biological explanations of depression There are many different explanations for depression, including biological. Links have been found between biochemical, genetics and hormonal imbalances with depressed people. In the biochemical explanation, a link has been found between neurotransmitter imbalances and depression. Serotonin is associated with pleasure and mood. Mann et al found impaired transmission of serotonin in people with depression. However Julian disagrees with this statement and says depression may be due to neuron damage rather than a neurotransmitter reduction.The problem with this approach is that it implies correlation and not causatio n, there may be a link but something else could be causing both depression and low serotonin. There is the chicken and egg problem does low serotonin cause depression or does depression cause low serotonin? In other areas of psychology low serotonin has been linked with increased aggression and eating disorders, as well as anxiety. Someone that has low serotonin does not necessarily become depressed. There is also the problem where people are depressed but have normal serotonin levels.This shows that depression is not fully down to biochemical imbalances but other things as well. It is a very simplistic and reductionist model and should only be included as a vulnerability and not the whole answer to depression. Another explanation is a genetic problem. Through many family studies Gershon states there is a clear inheritable component to depression, especially in bipolar disorder. Weisseman et al supports this by saying that for if a child has a parent with depression, the risk of th e child having depression is increased by three times compared to the general population.This is a strong finding but as the children share the same environment as their parents, there is a possibility that the child has learnt the behaviour through the social learning theory of imitating and observing and not through genetics. Kendler et al studied over 15000 twins in Sweden and found that if one twin has depression, there is a 38% chance that the other twin will have it too. This has strong methodology and is supported by many twin studies who have found similar results. On the other hand the twins share the same environment and so environmental influences may still be possible.The results were nowhere near 100% showing that depression is not fully down to genes, the people may have a genetic vulnerability but it takes something to trigger, perhaps. It is also unclear as to how exactly genes play a role in depression, without knowing the exact genes involved. Another way to access the significance of genes is through adoption studies. Wender found that a child is seven times more likely to have depression if the biological parents were depressed and the adoption parents were not.They found little evidence of depression being learnt. However Wender got his information about biological relatives just from hospital records and so there could be error of misdiagnosis or short-term depression only. The knowledge of whether a person has a genetic vulnerability to depression can be useful as the person is able to take preventative measures (change in lifestyle, diet to bring positivity to avoid depression), but it could be fatalistic as they understand they are more likely to become depressed leading to depression.Diathesis-stress model says that depression can be better understood as an interaction between genes and environmental factors. Carroll found that high levels of the hormone cortisol are found in those suffering from depression and techniques known to su ppress cortisol secretion have been found to be successful in depressive patients. However cortisol is released when stressed and so the high levels could be due to the high levels of stress the person has when they are depressed.As depression is twice as common in women as men, it could be due to the differences in sex hormones. Post-natal depression could be due to the high levels of oestrogen and progesterone that are released during pregnancy and then rapidly decrease once the baby is born which may account for an imbalance of hormones. Cooper disagrees with this statement as there was very little difference in the number of women suffering from depression after childhood and a control group of non-pregnant women at the same age.If imbalance of hormones was the cause then most mothers should get this type of illness but it is only a small number that get it. Menopausal depression is where oestrogen levels drop and hormone replacement therapy appears to be affective in treating m any (but not all) women who suffer from this type of depression. However this could be due to the negative thoughts of getting older rather than the hormonal imbalance. Through the biological approach there are many possibilities. I think it is a mixture of biological vulnerabilities and stressful environments.