Table of Contents
Depression and its Causes
Each of us has gone through the ups and downs of life. We all feel sad and dejected at some point in our lives and gradually learn to get over these feelings. However, a persistent feeling of sadness, loss, and despair that refuses to go away might be attributed to depression.

Depression can alter the way you look at life. When depressed, you might find it difficult to carry on with the normal functioning of your life and enjoy even small moments of happiness. Depression can lead to a number of emotional and physical problems.
To devise a plan for treating depression, health care providers tend to find the underlying cause of depression.
Depression is often characterized by feelings of despair, sadness, loneliness, and a low self-esteem and the person suffering from depression exhibits withdrawal symptoms and a vegetative physical state accompanied by a loss of appetite and insomnia. People who are depressed find it difficult to concentrate and face difficulty in doing normal day-to-day tasks.
Depression leads to feelings of irritability and aggressiveness and may cause people to become short-tempered. People suffering from depression find it difficult to control their negative thoughts and often take refuge in substance and alcohol abuse.
Numerous studies suggest that there is a direct correlation between stress and infertility. As per a study, women who have a history of exhibiting depression symptoms subsequently report almost twice the rate of infertility than women who do not exhibit depressive symptoms.
Stress can alter the immune system of a person and makes the person more vulnerable to viruses and cold. The suppressed immune system also has an adverse effect on a person’s capability to conceive. Stress has a tendency of inhibiting the normal functioning of hypothalamus gland in our body which regulates the levels of hormones. An over activation of hypothalamus can also impact the pituitary and adrenal glands.
Stress and depression can also interfere with the normal ovulation cycle of a woman. It can also lead to a lower sperm count. It is therefore very important to control stress and depression to ensure that it does not impact the chances of conceiving.
- “Personality Traits Increasingly Important for Male Fertility: Evidence from Norway”, by Vegard Skirbekk, et al. Published in the August 2013 issue of the European Journal of Personality, accessed on September 10, 2013
- “Personality traits and developmental experiences as antecedents of childbearing motivation” by Warren B. Miller. Published in the May 1992, Volume 29, issue 2 of Demography, accessed on September 10, 2013.
- Photo courtesy of Antti T. Nissinen by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/veisto/6337562432/
- Photo courtesy of Chris Connelly by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/c_conn/5092133032/
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