Many people suffer from depression at one point in their life. It is
inevitable, the feeling of hopelessness, sorrow, or being alone. These
are all common emotions associated with depression. For a select few,
depression can be hard to overcome, and this is where depression becomes
a disorder that requires active treatment. Those 'selected few'
account for over 100 million people worldwide and result in 75% of all
psychiatric hospitalizations (Gotlib & Hammen, 1992). Yet the
question remains, why did these people become depressed? How did they
become depressed? One of the answers that lead to the cause of
depression would be a person's interpersonal relationship with their
surroundings and the people around them. There are many interpersonal
instances that can have the ability to lead to the onset of depression,
such as the family environment, the socialization setting, and the
discrimination against gender in certain cultures and instances.
Family
One could argue that out of all the interpersonal cases that can
contribute on the onset of a depressive disorder, the ambiance of a
family has the most weight and impact on a depressed individual. In the
case of spouses, the well being of one spouse will have a notable
impact on the other spouse and on the welfare of their marriage. For
example, in 30% of all marriage problems, there is one spouse that can
be described as clinically depressed. The reason why a spouse might
have a unipolar mood disorder could be due to their relationship being
"characterized by friction, hostility, and a lack of affection" (Gotlib
& Hammen, 1992).
Martial distress can also be caused by the impact of having a child.
When a woman is pregnant, she can experience a whole range of emotions
due to the changing of interpersonal relationship with husband and the
building of a new relationship with the unborn child. For example, the
building of a new interpersonal relationship with the child can be very
tasking and become a major stressful life event that can cause a mood
disorder to develop (O'Hara, Lewis, Schlechte, & Varner, 1991).
Aside from the martial distresses of spouses, the impact of depressed
parents can have an effect on their children as well. In a study on the
relation between depressed adolescences and depressed mothers (Hammen
& Brennan, 2001), they found that the depressed children of
depressed mothers had more negative interpersonal behavior as compared
with depressed children of non-depressed mothers. This is reinforced
when a study (Chen & Rubin, 1995) shows that the parents of
depressed children are less warm and caring and more hostile than
parents of non-depressed children. Because of this negative
interpersonal relation between kids and their parents, children can
develop a negative view of their family. This negative view can lead to
the feeling of lack of control and having a high risk of conflict,
rejection, and low self-esteem (Asarnow, Carlson, & Guthrie, 1987).
Cummings (1995) stated that any changes in a family environment due to
parental depression increase the risk of developing a mood disorder in
children. The result of this can be found as early as preschoolers and
infants, due to the insecure attachment they develop with their parents.
The emotional distress of children can also have an effect on their
parents, causing depression that in turn will also affect the children,
theoretically creating a never-ending cycle unless they seek treatment.
Sometimes It is not the depressed parents that lead to the onset of
depression in their children, but rather it is the change in the family
environment that stems from the parents' depression that causes the
children to become depressed. Some studies suggest that martial troubles
are a better predicator for the onset of depression than the depression
of the parents or the children themselves (Cummings, 1995).
Experiencing depression while as a child or an adolescent can also lead
to reoccurring slips as an adult. Depressed persons often perform
poorly in marriage and relationship with family members and they also
might respond negatively to others, which have the ability to create
stressful life events, which as a result might drive the person further
into depression. Depressed people are dependant on other people and
constantly seek reassurance in such a way that drives people away.
Hammen and Brennan (2001) found that 13% of the sons and 23.6 % of the
daughters who were depressed had depressed mothers as compared to 3.9%
of the sons and 15.9% of the daughters who were depressed lacked a
depressed mother.
Many people believe that children and parents suffer differently from
depression, but not so. Depressed children can be like depressed
parents, expressing sadness, anger, shame, and self-directed hostility
(Brown & Siegel, 1988). Just like adults, depressed children tend to
blame themselves for bad events and accredit the environment for good
events--they do not give themselves credit when due (Blumberg &
Izard, 1985). This is why oftentimes, children will feel guilty if their
parents get divorced and they believe that they were at fault but
realistically, it was the parents' martial distress that was the cause
of the divorce, not the children's depressive mood disorder.
Socialization
As in the family environment, socialization is key to maintaining
healthy relationship and feeling well deserved and part of someone's
life. Depression can have an adverse effect on the social capacity of
depressed persons, affecting their social functioning and ability to
react and deal with stressful situations. Gotlib and Hammen (1992)
discussed the social functioning of people with depressive disorders and
found that people with the symptoms of depression are found to test low
in social activities, close relationships, quality close relationships,
family actives, and network contact, yet they test high in family
arguments.
One major part in the development of mood disorders in a social setting
would be how well one could deal with stressful events. Normally, this
is called coping strategies and it allows a person to manage their
troubles and not be overwhelmed. Oftentimes, people can become depressed
when unable to deal with "drama" from their friends-especially in
children. Depressed children reported significantly higher level of
hopelessness, lower general self-esteem, and lower coping skills than
non-depressed children. Their ability to be unable to cope with stress
can lead to fewer and less adaptive coping techniques (Asarnow, Carlson,
& Guthrie, 1987).
Social settings can also include one-on-one interactions and the
rejection that occurs. In a study performed by Joiner, Alfano, and
Metalsky (1992), they tested whether a depressed individual would have
an affect on other people in one-on-one interactions and they found that
affected people did have such an influence on other people. This
influence could be described as responding negatively to their constant
searching of reassurance and rejecting them, which in turn will
"confirm" the affected person's belief that he or she is unworthy as a
person.
A depressed individual can impact their social settings by exhibiting a
lack of self-esteem, becoming more sensitive to the opinions of others,
and more importantly (and interestly), become less physically active
(Lewinsohn, Gotlib, & Seeley, 1997). This means that they will not
want to go out, that they do not want to exert themselves. A prime
example of this would be an athletic in school that becomes depressed.
He does not want to participate in athletic activities because he is
depressed, but his coach forces him to. As a result, he performs poorly,
and his teammates heckle him for his poor performance. As an affected
person, the athletic becomes overly sensitive to his teammates' heckling
and his self-esteem plummets and he drops out of sports and begins to
withdraw and fight with everybody he knows.
The social class can also have a subtle effect on depression. Brown and
Harris (1978) reported that the females with children in the working
class were more prone to depression than females with children in the
middle class. This can be attributed to the working class mother having
to leave home to work, having to leave her child alone. This
interpersonal relation can cause excessive worry and guilt that the
women is not being a good mother as compared to the middle class mom,
who can afford to stay at home and take care of the children/her family.
Okazaki (1997) found that Asian Americans are more depressed in a
social and academic setting because they have to face more pressure than
their white American peers due to the fact that they are part of a
visible minority that has different culture values than others. This
interpersonal relationship between the two "cultures" can be defined as
competitive and stressful due to the fact that in America, white people
"have it made" while as other ethnic groups have to work twice as hard
to get their foot in the door. This extreme indicator of stress can lead
to the dejection of many ethnic groups because they might have failed
at succeeding in a competitive environment.
Gender
There are a lot of interpersonal relations when it comes to gender,
such as the discrimination against gender in an academic setting. This
is very prominent in females, where girls can face increased
expectations to conform to the standards set forth by society, to pursue
feminine type activities and occupations. It appears that parents tend
to have "lower expectations" for girls when it comes to school. As a
result of that lowered expectations, parents tend to not push their
daughters toward a high-profile job, instead attempting to make their
daughter conform to the stereotype of society, like become a teacher or a
nurse. In fact, in 1986-1987, women only garnered 15% of the bachelor's
degrees awarded in engineering as compared to 76% and 84% for education
and nursing, respectively (Nolen-Hoeksema, & Girgus, 1994).
Breaking the social norm can also lead to depression (Nolen-Hoeksema,
1991); the more intelligent a girl is, the more likely she is to become
depressed. This positive correlation could be attributed to the more
intelligent girls being able to out-perform the boys yet get punished
for doing so.
Being depressed as a female adolescent can have consequences in the long
run in terms of social functioning, career, and enjoyment of life.
Theoretically, if one were to be depressed in high school, then their
grades would suffer. If their grades were to suffer, then their chances
of entering a good college would dwindle. If they cannot enter a
top-notch college, then they might not be able to get the career they
want, and with that they would not be able to enjoy their job and feel
like they have missed out on life.
The different experiences of each gender can also be the cause of a mood
disorder. The experience can vary by the age of the children,
adolescences, or adults. For example, after the age of 15, females are
twice as likely to become depressed as compared with men and in another
study of 11-year olds, only 2.5% males met the criteria for major
depression while only 0.5% females met the criteria, however in a study
of 14-16 year olds, 13% of the females met the criteria while 3% of the
boys did (Nolen-Hoeksema, & Girgus, 1994). This abrupt rise of
depressive disorders in females during the mid-to-late adolescence years
can be attributed to the more concerns a girl has as compared to boys.
These concerns and worries can range from their achievements or lack of,
body dissatisfaction, sexual abuse, and low self-esteem (Lewinsohn,
Gotlib, & Seeley, 1997).
This is reinforced when another study found that between the ages of
15-18, the prevalence of depression in girls will increase to twice the
prevalence of boys (20.69 to 9.58) but will taper off during 18-21 years
of age for both genders (15.05 and 6.58) (Hankin, Abramson, Moffitt,
Silva, Mcgee, & Angell, 1998).
Do not be mistaken that females are the only gender that that can become
depressed; a good number of males can develop a unipolar mood disorder.
In the average lifetime, 49% of all males will experience a depressive
episode (as compared with 63% of all females). Males will become sad and
dejected for different reasons, such as intimate relationships. When an
intimate relationship ends, males are more likely to become depressed
at the loss than females (Hankin et al., 1998). This could be attributed
to the male's primal desire to have a mate so he will be able to
continue his family name.
Depression has been around for a long time, spanning over thousands of
years, dating back to the time of Saul I (Eaton, 2001), yet even though
Depression is a disorder that is hard to understand. Even with all the
studies conducted, there is still not much to regarding the causes of
depression. There are so many ways one would be able to become
depressed, but the most common and most prevalent way thus far would be
the interpersonal relationships of a person and their family, social
lives, and the relationship between their gender and the discrimination
they suffer at the hands of others. Perhaps a better understanding of
those relationships can open up new avenues where new options for
treatment can be conceived and new ways of interacting to people to
create a equality amongst people where they will not feel depressed.
Source: http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/beattie.html
