The Endocrine System: A Case Study

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines depression as, “a psychoneurotic or psychotic disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal tendencies” (Merriam-webster.com, 2015)

There is a misconception that depression is nothing but a thought up condition which the people put themselves into, they do not see depression as a medical condition, many people go as far as saying that depression shows ungratefulness. In this essay, I have concentrated on showing depression is actually a medical illness and not just something thought up, for this I look into biological, social,

A positive correlation is seen between the levels of neurotransmitters; serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine specifically. It is not known whether the change in the levels of neurotransmitters causes depression or is it the other way round. But the correlation is seen in experiments conducted with

The secretions of these glands are directly released in the bloodstream. The endocrine system generally functions to regulate the hormone levels. It is a part of the brain system, for example, hypothalamus controls the secretions of pituitary glands and the hormones have seen to affect depression. A study has shown that people with clinical depression have shown high levels of cortisol in their blood.

Here, I would like to point out that the functioning of the body is a combination of effective functioning of all the systems. The efficiency and health of our body depends on the effective functioning of all symptoms.

2. Environmental: Depression has been seen to have environmental causes. Environmental could be generally referred to as something out of the body, so, the social factors are included within this. Social factors like peer pressure, academic pressure, or in general chase for ‘perfection’ has seen to lead to depression. Apart from that stress and traumatic events also lead to depression.

3. Genetic: The nature vs nature debate is rampant even in Psychology, the researchers have investigated the genetic causation of depression through twin studies. The fact that clinical depression or mental illnesses run in families also supports the theory of genetic influences on developing