Many say depression is anger turned inward.

Great question though. I'm curious to see the replies to this one.

i wasnt depressed till i was older either events triggered it good question

I don't know.. I have felt this way all my life as far as i remember to a greater or lesser degree. So maybe it is chemical/genetic influenced by life though i don't really know what happened to set me off in the first place or to make me worse at times?????????????

depression runs in my family so i know i'm predisposed.....

i think the chemical imbalance causes depression, just because thats what i'm told and it makes sense..theres really no other explanation

my depression hit when i was 12, out of nowhere....

Stress definately triggers our diseaese and genes we are pre- dispositoned to have!

I think it's the stress we are pre destinated with that causes the inbalance.

Well.... I dont know....I could have been depressed for a while but Ive only had a hard time with It since my marrage has been so rcky these last couple weeks it got so bad that I had to call my doc. and get in to get a med. to help with my feelings for the sake of our 2 boys which both have a rare genetic disease its tohugh I feel "traped" I do love her but I feel like im getting to the point where enough is enough. I think its just a fact of life I think at some point in everyones life we all have or will deal with some sort of depression. Good Question though. :)

A "chemical imbalance" is merely a change in the hormones your body produces. As individuals get older or stressed, many of our glands come under attack and may not be working optimally. Most all Glands affect mood... Thryroid, adrenal, pituitary. Estrogen or testostrone. I for one do not prescribe to antidepressants as the cure all be all. I would rather deal with the cause not the symptom. For instance if your pituitary gland is stressed, it affects the addrenal gland which effects the amount of cortisol and adrenaline in your system. This is usually the No. 1 reason people have anxiety. They have no fight or flight response because they have no cortisol or adrenaline being produced. You can take raw Adrenaline and Cortisol to help. Likewise low thyroid will make you less reslilient to stress, tired, and contributes to depression. There is thyroid medication for to help with that. Lack of sleep is another. So you ask, why weren't you chemically imbalanced previously - simply because you were younger and your body had not gone through the amount of pressure and stress that we subject ourselves to in day-to-day living.

bump

I am in two minds as to what causes my depression. My mum suffered with depression as did her mother so i feel that genes could have something to do with it. I also think it could be a chemical imbalance because it wasnt one event that set off my depression, it just sort of crept up on me.

I believe that depression is circumstantial-is that a word?-I am too scared to come off antidepressants until I am fine in life.Depression is overload and some of us cannot handle it.Actually am talking crap,I really don't know x

Predisposition.
Alcoholic family, isolated childhood. I believe that there was something there first, but a steady diet of anger and depression pushed along a chemical imbalance. This imbalance is the norm for me now. But it can be controlled. For some it is meds, for me it is cognitive. Situational circumstances give me highs and lows. I think on the scale, I am currently at the lesser end. But I have been at the deep end, and it was not pretty. Is it chemical, heredity, or situational? I think it changes occur like a body changes over a lifetime. I was predisposed for grey hair, but it did not show up until a certain age. Same with diabetes. Chemicals change, and can be changed in our brain.

i'm no expert, but maybe you did have the problem before. you dealt with your problems better before. maybe like you said, your life has been alittle overwhelming lately and you haven't been able to do like you did before. i know i've had depression as long as i can remember. i also suffer from anxiety, and that too as long as i can remember. my father was an alcoholic before my mother had me. he quit when he found out she was pregnant. and my mother suffered from depression. so according to my research that made me prone to having the problems. my doctor told me i have a chemical imbalance. i don't know if these problems caused my imbalance or my imbalance caused the problems. either way, i'm just trying to take each day at a time. sometimes i feel very overwhelmed too. i'm a single mother so sometimes i get very stressed out about my finances and things. i don't know if i'll every get rid of these problems but i just try to do the best i can. at this point i doubt i will since i'm prone to this behavior.

Just because it runs in your family it doesn't prove that it is genetic - it could be a learned behaviour - we react to things as our role models did - Not saying it isn't genetic just that it doesn't have to be - no proof. I finally became depressed when I had so many traumatic and stressfull things happen at once and the key I think is that I felt I had no control or no way out.

scaredgirl- good point. What I should have added was one of my beliefs: Whether it is genetic or learned, chemical or situational- it can be controlled with work and help.