4 of 9

Write now Article Tools

Feelings of despair hang over you like a dark cloud and the darkness in your soul lingers, leaving you without the spirit and energy you once enjoyed and now consider a distant memory.
Coping with depression is a trial many would consider more debilitating than anything they have ever experienced. If you thought that depression was simply a state of mind, think again. There is clearly more to this illness than even the experts understood. While depression is clearly a malady that affects the mind, there is without doubt, a strong link to a variety of physical causes.

Some years ago, a group of researchers studied the cases of 100 people who had been admitted to a city hospital with psychiatric problems, including depression. Interestingly, it was found that in 46 of these cases, their emotional troubles were directly linked to physical illnesses. With treatment, according to the "American Journal of Psychiatry", 28 of those cases "evidenced dramatic and rapid clearing of their psychiatric symptoms," and 18 were "substantially improved." Although not all cases of depression have evident physical causes, research confirms that there can be a wide variety of physical causes that either trigger or exacerbate feelings of depression. Much of it course relates to illness that naturally can have a demoralizing effect leading to severe despair.

However, the physical causes of depression are not limited to poor health. A case in point relates to a man who faced a severe bout of depression as soon as he started restoring an old house. His family suspected the 200 year-old house was haunted but there was a more earthly explanation.
The man noticed that his symptoms were at their worst whenever he spent periods removing old paint from the interior woodwork. It didn't take a doctor too long to diagnose that his depression was in fact triggered by poisoning from the lead found in the old paint. Depression, like many other maladies, can be mild or severe, affecting people in different ways. This can be a challenge for friends and family of the sufferer as they try to avoid saying the wrong thing. A knowledge of depression, it's forms and it's causes can help all who struggle to cope with it. Whenever one family member suffers from depression in a serious way, this inevitably has a profound effect on the entire family.

For example, a common form of depression is PPD or Postpartum Depression, a condition which affects women following the birth of a child or possibly after a miscarriage.

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Physical causes of depression?
We want to hear your view. Write now!