Stress and Depression

Stress and depression has a multi-faceted relationship, on how our body and mind reacts to stress and when depression sets in. It is apparent that people become depress when they experience a very stressful event in their lives, particularly during a loss of a loved one. Other negative experiences that can lead to depression are job loss, broken relationships or any traumatic events that may bring enormous stress.

Stress may also result even from positive experiences like getting married, getting a new job or transferring to a new neighborhood or city. It isn’t unusual for either negative or positive experiences to turn into a crisis that can pave the way for depression. It is not yet fully known if stressful events do actually make a person depress. Stress does not often result to depression. There are even people who experience depression without being exposed to stress at all. Also, there isn’t a particular stressful event which can cause depression automatically with every person and what may cause depression to one person do not necessarily cause depression to another person.

There is actually an indirect link between stress and depression. A person who might be stressed from a negative experience may become depressed but the depression may result not because of the negative experience but it can be due to genetic predisposition combined with stressful event that made them vulnerable to depression.

People who experience chronic depression may notice that the effects of stress to them are more complicated. They may initially develop stress then become depressed and more depression may set in. There is no sure explanation why stress could lead to depression. But there is a theory that has been developed by researchers and this is called the “kindling effect”. There is a presumption that as a person initially becomes depressed, certain changes are ignited in the brains chemistry and limbic system which makes a person more vulnerable to becoming more depressed in the future. To explain it, a person has been exposed to depression thus they are more vulnerable to become depressed again the next time they get exposed to stress.

There are also people who would be subjected to several types of chronic stress at the same time and as they try to get their way through it, depression may set in. While researchers are studying the relation between stress and depression, they have developed a theory on “learned helplessness”. They say that when a person experiences chronic stress, they tend to become helpless. This belief is brought about by the fact that a person feels they cannot control the stressful event which leaves them helpless. People who get depressed are those who are pessimistic about their capability to manage their lives during stressful events.