If depression really is just a chemical imbalance, why does counselling work as well as anti-d's in some cases?

[Enid]

I can never understand that one.

past trauma can lead to mental health problems but it is not always present in dperessed people

Use of drugs - not just illegal - can also definitely cause depression.

depression does seem to run in my family.

I had traumatic childhood but have never been treated for depression despite the fact that everyone else in my family seems to have!

I suffered mild PND with one child but perfectly fine after 2nd.

BUT i do suffer from SAD...

I should say I recognise what you might call a melancholy streak in myself, running through like lettering in a stick of rock but I have always managed it myself.

It is so individual though. My depression was caused by specific events and also childhood trauma. It is a bit chicken & egg for me. I wouldn't have endured the specific events that led to the depression if it hadn't been for the childhood trauma. However, one can never say 100% for certain that even without the childhood trauma I wouldn't have suffered depression at some point in my life! You could tie yourself in real knots with it.
So, I had both counselling & ADs. The ADs were to give me a lift to help me just deal with functioning in everyday life & the counselling was to address why the hell I'd got into such a mess in the first place.

undoubtedly drug use or alcohol use can be both cause and symptom

a single root cause of depression is in fact pretty unlikely in an individual

so pre disposition plus a trigger which may be something which responds to a psychotherapist but it may not

autism is also in some cases thought to have a genetic plus trigger mechanism

Fullmoon
Bipolar disorder ran like a blue streak through ex H's family on his dad's side and clinical depression on his mother's.

My ex bf, a neurosurgeon, definitely had an inherited form of bipolar disorder. He is bipolar, too, and chose to have himself sterilised at the age of 27 to avoid passing it on.

My ex bf also has a PhD in genetics, b/c he wants to find out more about heritbable neurological diseases like his.

god expat...

gosh that's a bit drastic isn't it expat

I think certain people are predisposed to mental illness as well, and not purely because of past trauma or current reaction to stress / bereavement.

This is purely a personal view, not from research or scientific study, but from my own experiences with depression and from working with depressed people.

If you knew what a nightmare his life had been, you'd see why.

Don't think it drastic at all.

I agree with F&Z. I am one of four siblings and only one of us has a depressive illness despite all of us having the same childhood.

ah but you didnt all have the same childhood

everyone 'sees' and experiences things differently

Hmm, Lucy, I am not sure if your experience backs me up

you didn't all have the same childhood, did you? They may have been very similar, but...

My sisters were brought up in the same house as me with the same set of parents but we are wildly different people, in part I think due to our very different experiences of childhood.

ah yes, I see what you mean I guess I just sometimes wonder why my sister has such problems when she seems to be the one who lives near the help (my parents) My mum says my sister was always the most demanding child and it seems to have continued into adulthood.

I wonder why, with a label like that from her own mother

if in psychotherapy practice someone presents without an identifiable or self confessed reason for their depression how do you help them if you believe there must be that cause

I'm also quite interested in why some people and there are many on mn who expereince quite traumatic things bereavement, violence, disability and yet they aren't dperessed whereas another person would be

Hmmm... I keep posting ad then realise how it sounds afterwards My mum has only ever said that to me, never to my sister. She has been very supportive and paid for countless treatments for her

zippi it took me about 35 years to actually get depressed about some things

it takes me a bit of time to assimilate things

Sorry Lucy it was a bit snippy of me in the first place

you know what I meant, anyway

Lucy, I live near my parents (nearer than my siblings) and I have had big problems with depression. Doesn't follow that proximity to parental support means less likely to have PND (for instance) - I know I felt worse and at several points wouldn't contact them in case they minded me being so needy and told me to piss off for being bothersome.

No lucyjones I think you have a very valid point. I think it must be the case that there is a genetic element, and also that even a very similar childhood environment (ie siblings) can give a different experience to different people.

I'm not at all sure why sophable is so unhappy with what I've said

anyway here is another interesting article as she didn't like my other link here

thanks Bozza
Hunkermumnker - yes, I can definitely see what you mean there.