Major depressive disorder is a mood disorder characterized by persistent low moods and loss of interest in activities. Common symptoms include feelings of sadness, changes in appetite and sleep, low energy, and difficulty concentrating. Depression is caused by a combination of biological, genetic, and environmental factors. Treatments include antidepressant medication and psychotherapy. The document then provides a fictionalized account of a teenager's experience with depression including losing friends, headaches, quitting activities, thoughts of suicide, and treatment with therapy and medication.

1. MAJOR DEPRESSIVE
DISORDERRachel Vira
This a project for a high school AP Psychology course. This is a fictionalized account of
having a psychological ailment. For questions about this blog project or its content please
email the teacher, Laura Astorian: laura.astorian@cobbk12.org

2. What is Depression?
◦ Depression is a psychological mood disorder
◦ Clinical depression is characterized by prevailing and consistent low moods, low self-esteem, and an overall
loss of interest in enjoyable activities.
◦ This disorder can effect how you feel, act, behave, and even your emotional and physical health

3. Signs and Symptoms
◦ Major Depressive disorder can be diagnosed when the signs of depression have lasted at least two weeks and are
not caused by an alternate medical condition of substance.
◦ People who suffer from depression may suffer from numerous depressive episodes characterized by:
- Feelings of sadness, emptiness, or hopelessness
- Irritability and frustration
- Loss of interest in pleasurable activities
- Abnormal sleep schedule (insomnia or sleeping too much)
- Lack of energy
- Change in appetite
- Anxiety or restlessness
- Feelings of worthlessness/ guilt; fixating on past failures
- Slowed thought and movement
- Frequent suicidal thoughts
- Difficulty remembering things or making decisions
- Unexplained physical problems (headaches, back pains)

4. Causes of Depression
o There are many possible causes of this disorder
◦ Brain chemistry:
- People with major depressive disorder have
decreased levels of neurotransmitters, serotonin and
norepinephrine, in the synapse
◦ Inheritance:
- Mood disorders may be inherited
- A shared rate of depression is 50% in identical
twins and 20% in fraternal twins
◦ Social-cognitive Approach:
- Some psychologists believe that depression arises from
a person’s self-defeating beliefs and this traps them in a
depression cycle
- When a negative and stressful event occurs, the
explanatory style of a depressed person is often stable
and self-deprecating. This prevents them from moving
on
◦ Biological Approach:
- There is a physical difference in the brains of those
with depression
- PET scans have shown decreased brain energy
consumption during depressive episodes

5. Brain Chemistry Biological Approach

6. Depression Cycle

7. Treatments
◦ Treatments include a variety of options
◦ Drugs can be taken to reduce symptoms, such as antidepressants
- The prescribes medicine would inhibit serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake receptors to increase the levels of those
neurotransmitters.
◦ Therapy is also and option.
- Psychotherapy, a Freudian method, can help patients through coping skills and mood-lifting mechanisms
- Electric shock therapy, or ECT, is a brain stimulation technique for when medications do not work
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy can be used to reverse the patient’s negative and dysfunctional thought processes and
beliefs that trap them in the depression cycle

8. Alternate Medications
◦ An alternate medication is one that is not officially recognized by the medical or scientific community,
however may produce desired effect
- Alternate medication often work in the form of a placebo
◦ One common alternate medication for depression is St. John’s wort
- This remedy has been used for centuries and has been recorded to be successful in curing more mild forms of
depression
- Recent research shows that this remedy actually works no better than a placebo

9. Depression Facts and Stats
◦ The disorder effects 14.8 adults every year, that is, 6.7% of the U.S. population age 18 and up
◦ According to the WHO, as of 2002, worldwide each year, 5.8% of males and 9.5% of females report having
depression.
- Overall, depression is 70 % more likely to occur in women
◦ Suicide, the most severe behavioral response to the disorder, is successfully committed about 1 million times
a year
- Males have a higher rate of suicide, their rate increases in late adulthood, and they’re more likely to attempt suicide in
more drastic and irreversible ways

11. Gender Disparity- Women
◦ Women are more susceptible. This may be because of biological, hormonal, and psychosocial factors that
women encounter
◦ Hormonal levels directly effect brain chemistry and therefore is linked to depression
- Women can experience postpartum depression due to bodily hormonal changes from the delivery of a child
- Some women may experience a severe form of PMS called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) which is
associated with hormonal changes
- Women are more susceptible to hormonal changes and therefore, depression, during menopause
- Scientists continue to study how rise and fall of estrogen and other hormones effect depression

12. Gender Disparity- Men
◦ Studies show that men experience depression differently than women
- Women feel more sad, worthless, or guilty, while men feel more irritable, exhausted, and experience a loss of interest in
once-enjoyable activities
◦ Men are also more likely to turn to alcohol and drugs
◦ Because of men’s more extreme methods of attempting suicide, although more women actually attempt to
commit suicide, more men die of suicide

13. Depression in Children and Teens
◦ Younger people with depression often continue to have episodes in adulthood
◦ Children with depression ay fake illness, avoid school, and fear that a parent may die
◦ Teens may sulk, get into trouble at school, be negative and irritable, and feel misunderstood
◦ Before puberty, boys and girls are equally likely to develop the disorder
◦ After the age of 15, girls are up to twice as likely as boys to develop the disorder
◦ Depression in the teen years could be a cause of confusion while forming an identity

14. Depression in Older Adults
◦ Depression in the elderly can easily be overlooked because
they show different and unobvious symptoms
◦ Prolonged grief- for a very long time after a loved one has
passed away- may be a sign of depression
◦ The elderly are also likely to have other medical conditions-
heart problems, strokes, cancers- which can result in
depression symptoms
◦ Similarly, they are more likely to take medications with
depressive-like side effects
◦ The highest rate of suicide in the U.S. is that of older, white
men, age 85 and up, often due to depression

15. MY LIFE WITH
DEPRESSION

16. When I Was Diagnosed
◦ I was diagnosed as a teenager, when I was 17
◦ I’ve always been very antisocial and I would always sit on my bed
◦ I was always stressed. I still am stressed quite often
◦ I get tired very easily and don’t do a lot of activities.
I also used to take a lot of naps

17. My Friends
◦ I’ve always been very self-conscious
◦ As a teenager I had very few friends, about 2-3
◦ As it got closer to when I was 17, we grew distant.
◦ We’d gotten in a fight a bit ago and it was all my fault
◦ They said I was being very negative and irritable
◦ I decided to keep my distance, but with no one to talk to I grew lonelier and sadder

18. •I didn’t realize at the
time but my friends
misunderstood my
depression symptoms as
coming off as hostile
and unfriendly

19. Self-harm
◦ I don’t anymore but, as a teenager, I cut myself a few times, mainly on my thighs
◦ Sometimes, I would feel so bad about myself and so self-deprecating that I wouldn’t let myself eat
◦ I didn’t think I deserved to

20. Headaches
◦ I almost always used to have migraines
◦ I would have to keep a bottle of Advil on me at all times
◦ I kept my room dark and cold to try and make it better
◦ My eyesight got worse because of this and I blamed it on myself
◦ My depression got worse
◦ I still get these headaches but it’s not as often

21. School and Activities
◦ My grades in high school started getting worse. They went from mostly As to mostly Bs
◦ I also used to really love soccer and I was very good at it but I quit during junior year. It just felt like a hassle
to continue playing and thinking about it made me tired
◦ But now I wasn’t able to get any scholarships to colleges like I would have been able to
◦ My future was ruined and it was all my fault
◦ I got more depressed

22. Psychological Treatment
◦ As the cycle continued to get worse, my mom sent me to therapy
◦ I saw a cognitive-behavioral psychologist because they believed my depression was cased by my negative
thought process and beliefs as well as my low self-esteem
◦ I still see the psychologist but not quite as often

23. Medical Treatment
◦ I only recently started taking antidepressants because my mom didn’t want me to take medicines as a teen
◦ The antidepressants work to balance out the chemicals in my brain, mainly to maintain the right amount of
norepinephrine and serotonin
◦ They help to relieve some of the symptoms I have, but they don’t actually cure my depression

24. Suicide
◦ I have never attempted to commit suicide, and I hope that as I continue to get better, the dangers of me
committing suicide continue to diminish
◦ I have though about suicide a few times before though, during especially bad times like when me and my
friends weren’t talking
◦ I also thought about it a bit when my grandma passed away when I’d just turned 18
◦ I would think the the world would just be better off without me

25. •Overall, I end up feeling
lost and alone a lot of
the time. It’s difficult and
unnatural for me to not
blame everything on
myself, but as I continue
to practice a more
positive and less
permanent thinking style,
I can feel myself getting
a bit better everyday!