How Stress Contributes to Depression

Depression
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How Stress contributes to Depression.
Stress is a mental condition that brings about tension, anxiety, and unwanted excitement. Despite being a mental condition, it also affects the body physically and emotionally. What many people don't know is that stress can be both positive and negative, depending on the cause. Positive stress can be due to change of a job, relocation to a new house, exam fever, among others. Negative stress comes from pain or injury, divorce, death of a loved one, financial constraints, and loss of a job, among others. The reason why it's at times considered positive is that it at times, becomes a mechanism that keeps one alert and ready for either a certain task like an exam or an interview.
Any mental, physical health condition is hopefully thought to improve after a certain time of medication and therapy. Persistent stress advances into a more complex mental condition, mostly depression. This is due to the aspect that stress causes disinterestedness in things enjoyed before and affects social life. It has always been said that a problem shared is a problem half solved. Once a stress patient begins to isolate themselves, they become more prone to depression since they have no one to share with or are not in a position to share their issues for help.
On the other hand, stress is known to have physical impacts like fatigue, headache, nausea, and weight loss. Physical, mental and emotional fitness are important aspects of n living a healthy life. In the event that any of them is missing, the patient may begin to develop issues like self-pity, low self-esteem, drained hope, energy, and low drive of life which mostly leads to depression commonly in adults. Referring to recent research by the American heart association (2018), depression is reported in an estimated 1 in 10 of Americans ages 18 and older.
Long And Short Term Effects Of Depression On Various Body Systems.
Being mentally ill doesn't stop at the brain only. It goes an extra mile to affect different body systems. Among them is the endocrine system that handles various hormones. Some of its short-term effects involve low-stress response due to failed hormones, which are a mode of communication when it comes to the production of hormones to fight stress. The hormones work hand in hand with the central functioning unit of the brain, which controls the person's behaviour and reactions. Long term effects include failed metabolism, hormonal imbalance, low immunity, and early menopause due to low sex drive.
The nervous system isn't spared either when it comes to depression. The patient becomes over-anxious, nervous, and excited, a condition that becomes difficult to m...