Why Am I Depressed?

Depression is a serious and broad mental health illness. It can impact a person’s ability to function in their daily life, relationships, and work. Depression can be caused by many things, and if there’s one thing that you should know is that having depression is not your fault. “Why am I depressed?” is a question I ask myself multiple times a day. Sometimes I need to stop in my tracks and reflect on the situations that I have been through to make sense of the way I’m feeling, and sometimes, there’s no solid answer that could give me comfort.

Why do I feel depressed?

Depression is a complex condition. It’s not your fault you feel depressed, but it can be caused by many things. Depression can affect anyone and it is treatable, so you shouldn’t feel ashamed or weak if you find yourself suffering from it.

Depression affects everyone differently – some people experience symptoms that are different from others, or they may go through periods of time when they are feeling fine before becoming depressed again at another point in their life.

If you think that you might be experiencing depression, it’s important that you seek help from your doctor as soon as possible so that they can rule out any other conditions which could be causing similar symptoms to depression.

These are some of the things that can potentially be a cause to what you’re feeling.

Why am I Depressed?

• Brain structure and functioning
• Neurotransmitters
• The limbic system – the area of the brain responsible for our behavioral and emotional reactions
• The amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex work together to control our emotions and behavior. This emotional control is regulated by the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is produced in the brain’s pineal gland, which influences mood, sleep patterns, and hormonal balance. It also affects how much melatonin your body produces (melatonin being an important hormone for regulating sleep). When you’re depressed, you may have low levels of serotonin and/or high levels of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Paxil or Zoloft that compete with natural serotonin for space on brain receptors.

Environmental factors

Depression can be caused by stressful situations in your life, including work, school, and home life. People who are depressed often have problems in relationships as well as financial problems. Depression can also cause you to lose interest in hobbies or activities that used to bring you joy and happiness. Other environmental factors include lack of emotional support from others; family history of depression; physical health problems like chronic pain and heart disease; poor sleep habits; medications that may make you feel sad or tired; alcohol and other drugs (including marijuana); smoking cigarettes (or using chewing tobacco); unhealthy eating habits such as skipping meals or eating too much junk food; not getting enough exercise.

Life events

Life events are a major contributing factor to depression. Unhappy life events include – but are not limited to:

• Unemployment
• Divorce or separation from a partner
• Loss of a loved one, including death or divorce
• Financial problems and home foreclosure.

Loss of a loved one

• The loss of a loved one is one of the most common causes of depression.
• You may experience some symptoms related to losing a loved one, such as grief, sadness, and crying. You may also feel angry or guilty about their death. These feelings are normal, and hopefully, will get better over time.
• If your symptoms do not improve after several months or if they worsen, talk with your health care provider about getting help for depression. Treatment is available that can help you manage these feelings in healthy ways so that those feelings don’t completely control your life.

Trauma

Another one of the most common causes of depression is trauma. When a traumatic event occurs, it can cause symptoms like sadness, loss of interest in activities you used to enjoy, and feeling overwhelmed by situations that are usually easy to handle. Sometimes people become depressed because their symptoms are particularly severe when compared to what they would expect given the type of trauma they experienced. In this case, it’s important to seek professional help so that you can get back on track with your life.

Another possibility is that depression has nothing to do with any past trauma; rather, it’s caused by some other factor within your life that has made you feel hopeless and helpless. This kind of depression doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with trauma—and sometimes people don’t acknowledge how much personal life stressor are affecting them until they’re looking back from an outside perspective.

Depression can be caused by many things and is not your fault.

Depression is not a character flaw. It’s not a sign of personal failure, weakness, or moral decay. And it’s certainly not something to be ashamed of—it’s actually one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States, affecting more than 15 million Americans annually.

Depression is also treatable with medication and psychotherapy; however, if you’ve been feeling persistently depressed for weeks on end and nothing seems to help (or even makes you feel worse), that could point to something else: possibly bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder can look like depression at first—with symptoms like feelings of hopelessness, agitation, and anxiety—but has distinct differences that make it easier to diagnose via blood test or brain scan.

Resources

So, Why Am I Depressed?

My goal with this piece was to help you understand more why you may be thinking “why am I depressed? there’s no cause for my depression” or maybe there is, maybe you found your answer here. Whatever the outcomes may be, you matter and your feelings matter. I’m glad you stopped by to find answers and trusted my platform enough to make it all the way through this full article – I know, dealing with a mental illness can be draining and often times it can affect your concentration status, or even make it difficult to read through a whole blog post. I’m proud of you for doing so.

If you are feeling depressed or anxious, it is important to know that you are not alone and there are resources available. You can find support by contacting your doctor, seeing a mental health professional, or seeking help through local community organizations. We hope that this article has given you some understanding of what depression is and how it affects people’s lives.