red from depression. “Although mild depression does not seem to be inherited, more serious forms run in families” (Hales, 48). Another study done the epidemiologist Myrna Weissman of Columbia University suggests that adolescents with depressed parents are at a higher risk for developing major depression or another psychiatric disorder. These adolescents also tend to show symptoms of these disorders much earlier in their life than a child whose parent did not suffer from depression (Hales, 48).There are a few identified types of neurochemicals called neurotransmitters. This substance carries impulses between nerve cells. A group of pathways in the nervous system closely related to depression is called norepinephrine. Norepinephrine pathways are released from the end terminal of one nerve cell, and pass across a small space called the synaptic cleft, to a receptor on the adjacent nerve cell; that is where the electrical impulse is stimulated. Some of the norepinephrine is absorbed into the cell and the rest is broken down into smaller molecules or metabolized (Oltmanns, 189). The nerve cell has nerve terminals, which have their own receptor sites, which are sensitive to norepinephrine, and they tell it to shut down production. In depressed patients, this neurotransmitter is either “oversensitive or insensitive.” Therefore, when it is functioning poorly, and put under stress, symptoms of depression can result. Another brain chemical, which a depressed person’s body may not produce properly, is serotonin. This chemical enables brain cells to communicate with each other. An imbalance of serotonin may cause the symptoms of sleep problems, irritability, and or anxiety, which are suffered by many depressed patents (Oltmanns, 189).Trauma can be something as little as a breakup in a relationship, loss of a parent, a traumatic car accident, or even built up stress. Other factors such as neglect, abuse, s...
