The Impact of Biological and Environmental Factors on Depression

This essay delves into the intricate relationship between biological and environmental influences and the development of depression. It examines how genetic factors, as revealed through twin and adoption studies, can predispose individuals to mental illness, with a focus on the impact of family history and inherited traits. The essay also explores the significant role of environmental factors, such as psychological trauma, adverse childhood experiences, social stressors, and lifestyle choices, in triggering and exacerbating depressive symptoms. It highlights the interplay of these biological and environmental factors, emphasizing the importance of understanding both genetic vulnerabilities and external influences in the context of mental health. Furthermore, the essay discusses how factors like nutrition, sleep deprivation, and substance abuse can contribute to depression, providing a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted causes of this complex mental health condition. The essay concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to understanding and treating depression, considering both internal and external factors.

ASSESSMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Biological factors are those which are genetic and have their influences on the person.
Mental illness can be inherent .as it occurs with the interaction of multiple genes and other
factors like depression. Mental health of the person is affected due to biological influences as
the members of the family are affected by the mental illness than there are chances to occur the
same in the other members of the family. The biological influences due to which the person get
into depression is psychological trauma, adverse childhood environment. The environmental
factors are those which are present in the environment and due to which the person goes into
depression include the factors such as death or divorce, social and cultural expectation, low self
esteem , anxiety , anger etc. are the environmental factors which leads to mental illness of the
person as it increases the stress of the personal and leads to depression. The biological and
environmental influences are important to the topic because the topic for the essay is related to
mental illness which leads to depression for the person and which is caused b y the biological
and environmental factors and thus theses influences are considered. The twin and adoption
studies helps in understanding the impact of the genetic and environmental influences.
Thesis statement : "This essay will provide information regarding the biological and
environmental influences leads to depression for a person".
MAIN BODY
The biological and Environmental factors play and important role in the development of
mental illness. The biological factors which h The mental illness of the person is caused through
depression because the person which is suffering from severe depression . The contribution of
genetic factor is stronger in the development of mental illness (Causes of Mental Illness, 2018).
As per the twin studies it is identified that pair of twins have same trait which means if the one
twin is suffering from mental illness than there are chances that the same can be occur in the
other twin. According to study it is identified that twins were found to have the major
depression (Kuehner, 2017). The environmental factors contribute to mental illness consist of
lack nutrients, maternal stress, social disadvantage, childhood maltreatment, traumatic events
etc.
The environmental influences have their impact on the mental illness of the person due to
which the level of severe depression rises. the depression is caused by different reasons which
consist of brain chemistry which is imbalance in neurotransmitter that are involved in mood

regulation . The neurotransmitter are the chemicals which assist the different areas of the brain
to communicate to each other. The depression ca be caused with the brain chemistry which is
known and clinical depression. The depression contains the genetic components which leads to
the mental illness of the person.
According to the Kuehner (2017), it is identified that the first- degrees relative which
includes parents, siblings and children of people are found to have the major depression .
Researcher have identified the differences in the brains of people which are suffering from
clinical depression. depression is the complex illness which affect the mental health of the
person. There is relationship between biological influences and the depression because it has
identified that partial genetic are link to depression (9 Most Common Causes of Depression,
2019). It is found that the children, sibling and parents of people which are suffering from
severe depression are more likely to suffer from depression than the other members of
population.
As per world health organisation there are 300 million people which are suffering from
depression (The genetic risk factors for depression, 2018). For the treatment of depression the
medication of the person is important which assist in reducing the stress level and help in over
coming the influence so the biological and environmental risk factors of depression. Depression
leads to stress and affect the mental health of the person due to which the person is not able ton
concentrate and the whole body stop functioning which affect the brain and physical health of
the person. The depression occur in the person due to alcohol or drug, eating disorder, low self -
esteem and other factors which affect the mental health of the person.
Depression leads to mental and physical illness of the person. depression is common
among the people which are suffering from chronic illness such as cancer, diabetes, stroke etc.
There are various environmental factors which affect the mental health of the person as it causes
depression among the people which have the great influence on the body as well as mind. it
include factors such as abuse , poverty, neglect etc (Smoller, 2016). Depression leads to chemical
imbalance due to which the person is not able to think properly and thus the physical health of
the person is badly affected with that of its mental health. As per the research on the basis of
twin and adoption studies it is identified that the mental health of the person is affected due to the
genetic and environmental factors which leads to depression.

The different study has provide information that the depression is caused by the genetic
and environmental factors which affect the mental health of the person. Smoking , sleep
deprivation, pollution, toxins during childhood affect the health of the person due to which it
leads to depression among the people. Twin study has provided information regarding the
identical and non identical twin and their influence of depression on them. mental illness is
caused due to depression which have a great influence on the mind and body of the individual.
The biological and environmental influence on the mental health of the person because the
person is having depression due to these factors which leads to the mental illness of the
individual. Having parents and sibling with depression is a a risk factors for the people because
it increases the chances of occurring depression in that person. poor nutrition is the other factor
which leads to depression for the person (Kuehner, 2017). The poor diet of the person can leads
to depression because deficiency of various vitamins and minerals in the body of the person are
the symptoms of depression.
As per Cheng (2015) it is identified that diets either low in omega -3 fatty acids
increases the rates of depression. The environmental factors act as risk which leads to
depression among the people and thus the mental health of the person is affected badly.
Moreover, the person which is suffering from sleep disorder is the symptom of depression which
can affect the mental health of the person. The environmental factors and genetic factors leads to
depression be cause this factors leads to mental imbalance of the person which increases the rate
of stress and thus the chances of depression increases. On the contrary Uher and Zwicker (2017)
stated there ere other factors which leads to mental illness of the person which are not related to
genetic an environmental influence such as social and physical health of the person which leads
to depression for the person.
As per the twin studies it is identified that identical pairs of twin have the significant
chance of increasing depression rate if one twin is affected with depression but on the contrary it
is identified that there are non- identical people which are also affected by the symptoms of
depression (How Genetics Can Factor Into Depression, 2019). The mental health of the people is
not influenced by the biological and environmental factors because there are other factors such
as social, and cultural factors which many impact on the mental health of the person as it
increases the level of stress among the person (Lopizzo and et.al., 2015) . The depression leads to
mental illness of the person as it leads to imbalance of the brain due to which the person is

affected badly with the depression and the mental health of the person is affected. It is critically
evaluated that depression is the symptom of mental illness which is not only affected by the risk
factors of genetic and environmental influences because there are other factors which affect the
person mental stability and thus the person is not able to concentrate properly.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has concluded about the biological and environmental
influences which leads to mental illness of the person. It is identified that the genetic factors act
as risk of depression because the twin study has provided information that the identical Pair of
twin have more chances of depression than the non- identical Pair of twins. Moreover, it has
provide information that no genetic studies has identified which specific genes are associated
with the major depression. furthermore, the study has provide information regarding the
bioecological and environmental factors which leads to depression for a person the genetic
factors which are consider in this study include first- degree relative, stress, inheritance etc. the
environmental factors which act as risk to depression consist of pollution, changing jobs, abuse
by person or the person's parents etc. the environmental factors such as natural disaster,
earthquake etc.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Lopizzo, N and et.al., 2015. Gene–environment interaction in major depression: focus on
experience-dependent biological systems. Frontiers in psychiatry. 6. p.68.
Uher, R. and Zwicker, A., 2017. Etiology in psychiatry: embracing the reality of poly‐gene‐
environmental causation of mental illness. World Psychiatry. 16(2). pp.121-129.
Cheng, Z. H., 2015. Asian Americans and European Americans’ stigma levels in response to
biological and social explanations of depression. Social psychiatry and psychiatric
epidemiology. 50(5). pp.767-776.
Kuehner, C., 2017. Why is depression more common among women than among men?. The
Lancet Psychiatry. 4(2). pp.146-158.
Smoller, J. W., 2016. The genetics of stress-related disorders: PTSD, depression, and anxiety
disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology. 41(1). p.297.
Online
Causes of Mental Illness. 2018. [Online]. Available through :<https://www.webmd.com/mental-
health/mental-health-causes-mental-illness#2-4>
9 Most Common Causes of Depression. 2019. [Online]. Available through
:<https://www.verywellmind.com/common-causes-of-depression-1066772>
The genetic risk factors for depression. 2018. [Online]. available through
:<https://www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/press-releases/genetic-risk-factors-for-depression>
How Genetics Can Factor Into Depression. 2019. [Online]. Available through
:<https://www.verywellmind.com/is-depression-genetic-1067317>