Therapeutics of Depressive Illness | Report

Running head: THERAPEUTICS OF DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS
THERAPEUTICS OF DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS
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THERAPEUTICS OF DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS1
Introduction:
Depression or depressive illness is a medical condition that involves impaired mental
health of an individual. The condition may result from some adverse life events, involving
various factors. The factors might be physical, social, behavioural or psychological (Gilbert,
2016). The events affect the function of the brain of an individual such a way, the normal
function of the brain is impaired (Zhang et al. 2018). There are many symptoms, which can
be associated with this depressive condition. The symptoms include a continuous feeling of
sadness, low self-esteem, insomnia, lack of interest in work, self-isolation and various others
(Gilbert, 2016).
According to a data presented by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the
depressive illness affects all the age group of people. There are about 300 million people,
who suffers from this mental illness all around the world. In terms of percentage the number
is about 4.4% of the global population. WHO has identified this disorder to be the principle
contributor for the global disability (apps.who.int, 2020).
Depression is a mental disorder that can be associated with the thoughts of suicide
very frequently. Every year this illness claims about 800,000 lives, which results from
suicide. The most common co-morbid condition for depression is anxiety disorders.
Depressive illness are also known to increase the mortality risk in the patients, who already
have some severe physical problems, like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, renal diseases or
various others (Dew et al. 2015).
The paper will be discussing the basic theories for depression, the role of the
SSRI/SNRI drugs in treating depression, the wide range of effects of those drugs and the
possible next generation of antidepressants in brief in the following section.

THERAPEUTICS OF DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS2
Discussion:
Basic Theories for Arising Depression:
There are many psychological theories that explores the causes for the introduction of
depression in an individual. The first of those theories is the behaviourist theory. The theory
states that the behaviour of an individual is mainly shaped by the person’s interaction with
their surrounding environment and the depression condition is learned through the interaction
of the individual with their surrounding environment (Nakao 2015). The theory has a few
components, such as classical conditioning, social learning and operational conditioning. As
per the classic conditioning theory, the negative emotional state of an individual stimulates
their learning of the depressive behaviour. The theory for social learning suggests that
observation, imitation and finally reinforcement is responsible for an individual to adapt the
depressive behaviour. The operant conditioning theory states that the depressive behaviour is
a result of removing some positive operant factors from the surrounding environment of an
individual (Nakao 2015).
Another theory, known as psychodynamic theory states that the biological factors are
mainly responsible for arising depression in an individual. The theory also states that
different types of loss (such as actual loss or symbolic loss) might also be responsible for the
depressive illness in an individual. An example for actual loss can be the loss of a parent or
close relative and an example for symbolic loss can be the loss of a job or opportunity
(Fonagy 2015).
Another psychological theory can be mentioned in this discussion, which is known as
cognitive approach theory. According to this theory, mainly three mechanisms are
responsible for the depressive illness condition in an individual (Liu, Kleiman, Nestor and
Cheek 2015). Those mechanisms are interrelated and together they cause the negative

THERAPEUTICS OF DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS3
impacts on an individual’s mind, which eventually results in depression. The mechanisms are
automatic negative thinking, error in the processing of an information and finally negative
beliefs about self. The automatic negative thinking forces an individual to have a negative
view on self, world and the future. The error in information processing implies that the
individual tends to process any information provided to them differently and more negatively
than the medically normal individuals. The negative believe on self means the individual
creates a negative image about themselves and about their own abilities in their mind (Liu,
Kleiman, Nestor and Cheek 2015).
The humanist theory suggests that the depression might be a result of not fulfilling the
need for self-actualisation. Self-actualisation can be defined as the meaning of their life for a
human being or the reason for their living according to them. Those reasons can be one or
more goals, which are set by the human being to achieve in their life. Any possible disruptive
event blocking them for achieving those goals might lead to a depressive condition in that
individual (Yapko, 2014).
Role of SSRI/SNRI generation of drugs:
The research has found that the neurotransmitters that control the functions of the
brain and the nervous system can be associated with the depressive illness. There are about
three main neurotransmitters identified, which fluctuates in level in presence of the illness in
an individual. The neurotransmitters are serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine (Belujon
and Grace 2017). Serotonin level in the body have been found to have an important
association with various functions including the control of the mood in an individual. It has
been found that the individuals with depressive conditions experience low level of serotonin
production by their neurons compared to the normal individuals (Healy 2015). The
norepinephrine level also found to have similar impact on the mood of an individual. The low