Dr. Kay M. Shilling: Affordable Confidential Psychiatrist

Blog

Blog
December 14, 2023

What causes depression?

Onset of depression more complex than a brain chemical imbalance It's often said that depression results from a chemical imbalance, but that figure of speech doesn't capture how complex the disease is. Research suggests that depression doesn't spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, and stressful life events. It's believed that several of these forces interact to bring on depression.

Blog
December 14, 2023

Identifying signs of anxiety and depression

What is stress, and what happens when you can't cope well with it? Stress can present itself after being fired from a job, going through a divorce or losing a loved one. Even getting married, transitioning to a new job or having a baby can cause stress. Everyone experiences stress at one time or another. Many people define stress as either good or bad when it's neither. Stress is an event you view as out of your control, and it typically occurs outside your daily routines. How you react shapes your ability to cope with these and other similar events in the future. When people struggle to cope with stressful situations, depression and anxiety become more noticeable. Anxiety and depressive disorders are common. These illnesses affect more than 40 million adults in the U.S., or about 18% of the population, every year. The World Health Organization has estimated that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 27.6% increase in depression and 25.6% increase in anxiety disorders worldwide in 2020.