Despite the high incidence of depression and the increased risk of death in depressed individuals, our understanding of the causes of depression is incomplete, limiting the efficacy of available treatments.
Specifically, although we assessed a broad range of depressive disorders, it is difficult to ascertain the specific causes of depression within the sample.
A well-trained psychiatrist will rule out medical and drug-induced causes of depression.
Social isolation and loneliness are well known as causes of depression, mental health problems and physical illness.
"Such a finding and a test to back it up would be critical to advancing our understanding of the biological causes of depression.
A lot of research into the scientific causes of depression has focused on chemicals such as dopamine and, more often, serotonin.
PET has revealed marked changes in the depressed brain, and knowing the location of these changes helps researchers understand the causes of depression and monitor the effectiveness of specific treatments.
Within a decade of Prozac's approval by the F.D.A. in 1987, scientists had concluded that serotonin was only a finger pointing at one's mood — that the causes of depression and the effects of the drugs were far more complex than the chemical-imbalance theory implied.
The advantage of an evaluation by a well-trained psychiatrist is that the medical and drug-induced causes of depression can be better ruled out, and a judgment can be made whether the condition is of significant severity where the benefits of the addition of medication outweigh the risks.
In other words, then, it is nature with nurture that is the key, and not nature versus nurture.Now Dr Moffitt and Dr Caspi are back, in a paper in this week's Science, with a similar conclusion for those who are trying to understand the causes of depression.
To examine if diabetes and duration of diabetes are direct or indirect causes of depression in later life.
