Depression Research Paper
Depression has long since been the plague of humanity. Whether it is a biochemical disorder or mourning the loss of a loved one, nearly every human being has experienced the blues. However, depression becomes a problem when it persists past the mourning stage. Many people experience it for seemingly no reason. It is that cold sense of apathy that lurks below the surface, siphoning your emotions and your ability to react to your surroundings. Nothing matters anymore when depression has you in its iron grasp. Eventually, you are reduced to staring listlessly at nothing while the world continues without you; a world that, in your opinion, would perhaps be better off if you did not exist. Such thoughts as those often occupy the mind of a depressed individual, haunting them until they simply cannot bear to live anymore. An American psychiatrist by the name of Hugh Storrow once claimed that depression “...probably causes more human suffering than any other single disease – mental or physical.” (Campbell, page 66) Having personal experience and a family history of depression, I am well acquainted with the topic; however, there were elements unknown to me that I found fascinating, so I took the time to research the subject further.
Hippocrates, known as the “father of medicine,” was the first physician to identify depression as something more than just an emotional state of being. He put forth a conjecture that depression was caused by an excess of black bile, known as “melan chole” in Greek. Up until the twentieth century, depression was referred to as Melancholia. (Campbell, page 67) In the age of Ancient Greece, the treatment for melancholia was to send the patient to hot springs in Italy. Surprisingly, the treatment worked, though scientists discovered it was because the mineral spring was rich in lithium, a metallic element used in contemporary anti-depressants. Many believed that melancholia was repentance for past sins – a form of divine punishment, even.
Hippocrates, known as the “father of medicine,” was the first physician to identify depression as something more than just an emotional state of being. He put forth a conjecture that depression was caused by an excess of black bile, known as “melan chole” in Greek. Up until the twentieth century, depression was referred to as Melancholia. (Campbell, page 67) In the age of Ancient Greece, the treatment for melancholia was to send the patient to hot springs in Italy. Surprisingly, the treatment worked, though scientists discovered it was because the mineral spring was rich in lithium, a metallic element used in contemporary anti-depressants. Many believed that melancholia was repentance for past sins – a form of divine punishment, even.
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