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Depression Paper

In: Philosophy and Psychology

Submitted By chochy36
Words 745
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Depression
Chastity Shelton
PSY/270
January 12, 2014
Monica Mauri

Depression
There is a distinct difference between bipolar and unipolar disorder, although both disorders may be due to a chemical imbalance in the brain, head injuries or genetically passed down through the gene pool. These disorders have different characteristics, symptoms, and require different treatments. There are however, some things both of these disorders have in common, which are the fact that they both cause anxieties, abnormal sleep patterns, and depression. Unipolar disorder is also known as a ‘clinical’ depression or ‘major’ depression, while bipolar disorder is known as ‘manic’ depression. The word ‘bipolar’ itself exemplifies the two opposite sides of both extremes or in other words, a person who has a bipolar disorder can be majorly depressed and feel extremely low or down on themselves and their lives or possibly feel happy and on top of the world. The cause of bipolar disorder has yet to be known, but researchers think that it is due to a possible chemical imbalance in the brain. Unipolar disorder’s cause is also unknown; however researchers suspect that this disorder may be related to the gene pool, as well as a chemical balance in the brain. Other factors may include; stress, biochemical factors: high levels of the stress cortisol or a lack of melatonin or lower levels of norepinephrine and serotonin chemicals in the brains of people who suffer with depression.
Unipolar disorder is known to affect more women than men, and appears later in life, whereas bipolar disorder affects women and men equally, and generally shows up by the age 18. Unipolar disorder generally causes insomnia, which is when a person has difficulty sleeping or wakes up frequently during the night, where bipolar disorder generally causes excessive tiredness, hypersomnia, and difficulty waking up in

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