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 * Many cases of depression reflect complex interactions between several biological and psychological factors.
 * Evidence that changes in neurotransmitters and hormones can precipitate a depressive episode
 * Also likely where there are negative events in a person's life
 * Risk of becoming depressed depends on factors:
 * Genetic predisposition
 * Personality and early history
 * Cognitive style
 * Coping skills
 * Level of social support available
 * Biological level of analysis: genetic and biochemical factors in depression
 * Nurnberger and Geshon (1982)
 * Reviewed results for twin studies
 * Found that the concordance rate for major depressive disorder was consistently higher for MZ twins than for DZ twins
 * Indicates that genetic factors might predispose people to depression.
 * Avg. concordance rate of 65% for MZ twins, 14% for DZ twins.
 * Only 65% concordance rate, implies other factors.
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Duenald (2003)
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Found that people with a short varient of the 5-HTT gene may be associated with a higher risk of depression. Gene affects serotonin pathways
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Findings of possible correlations between gene and depression does not indicate a cause because data is correlational, not factual.
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">The catecholamine hypothesis
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Suggested by Joseph Schildkraut in 1965
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">According to the theory, depression is associated with low levels of noradrenaline, developing into the theory that serotonin is the neurotransmitter responsible.
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Janowsky et al. (1972)
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Patients given a drug called physostigmine
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Patients became profoundly depressed and suicidal within minutes of taking the drug
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Cortisol hypothesis
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Major stress hormone
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Patients with major depressive disorder have high levels of this hormone
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Suggests link between long-term stress and depression
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Stress hormones affect behaviour by regulating the efficiency of certain neural patheways, such as those relating to serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine. Long term depression may result in structural changes in the brain such as in the hippocampus which loses neurons if depression persists.
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">High prevalence of depression among people with Cushing's syndrome- a disease which results in excessive production of cortisol. When given a drug to normalize cortisol levels, these people's depression disappears.
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Cognitive factors in depression
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Beck (1976)
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Suggested a theory of depression based on cognitive distortions and biases in information processing.
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Based on schema processing
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Noticed that depressive patients exhibited a negative cognitive triad characterized by:
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Overgeneralization, based on negative events
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Non-logical inference, about the self
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Dichotomous thinking, that is black and white thinking and selective recall of negative consequences.
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Different ways of thinking affects chances of getting depression
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Frude (1998) and Blackburn (1988)
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Prospective study
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">A study where participants are chosen on a basis of a variable then followed to see what happens long term. Alloy et al (1999) young students, positive/negative thinking, 1%/14% depression development rates
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Sociocultural level of analysis: social and cultural factors in depression
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Brown and Harris (1978)
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Carried out study concerning social origins of depression in women
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">29/32 women who became depressed had experienced a severely negative life event
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">78% of those who did experience a severe life event did not become depressed.
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Life events resembling prior experiences were most likely to lead to depression
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Vulnerability model of depression, based on a number of factors that could increase the likelihood of depression
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Such as:
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Lacking employment away from home
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Absence of social support
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Having several young children at home
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Loss of mother at an early age
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">History of childhood abuse
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2902in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">According to statistical evidence (Williams and Hargreaves 1995) women are 2 or 3 times more likely to become clinically depressed than men.