DIATHESIS STRESS MODEL FOR MENTAL DISORDER

1. The prevalence alone might indicate the pressing need for research in the field concerning the neurobiology of depression. Statistics indicate that between five and twelve percent of men and ten to twenty percent of women experience a major depression at some point in their lives, and among those, half undergo this ordeal more than once. Moreover, as many as five percent of the American populace are proclaimed to be manic-depressive, and sufferers of bipolar disorder are thought to comprise as much as ten percent of the depressed individuals taken into account in statistics such as this one. In addition, one might consider the loss of life resulting at least partly from depression and/or mania per annum, howbeit, such figures, mayhap underestimate of the true toll upon humanity (if it must needs be considered a toll). Some statistics on suicide indicate that circa fifteen percent of downcast individuals commit the act per annum, which then leads some idealistic statisticians to estimate ?lost? worker productivity.

English: An American Lady butterfly against a clou...

English: proposed mechanism

Intracranial volumetric distribution of cerebrospi...

As for the assumed fiscal costs arising from the mental disorder, in 1996, the CDC claimed that depression was the ninth leading cause of death and that 30,862 people, perchance many more, perished because of mental illness that year. Also, an estimated forty-three billion dollars in ?lost? GDP arose indirectly or directly because of this psychological malady. Además, there is much evidence to support a contention that the neurological and somatic effects to which the ailment lead increase the risk for myocardial infarctions, strokes, Cushing?s Syndrome, and osteoporosis, as well as effect a reduction in overall survival time for cancer patients, most likely because of the heightened levels of cortisol in the bloodstream.

2. Depression appears to be at least partly genetic, as those afflicted with the ailment tend to display an elevated risk for bearing...