effect) essays

Anti-Depressants (cause/effect) essays Anti-depressants can be extremely beneficial to patients as well detrimental. Doctors are turning to anti-depressants as a cure all for anybody feeling down or low. All people go through natural high and low points in their lives and most do not need medication to help them. There can be serious physical, mental, and emotional side effects to taking an anti-depressant when prescribed by the doctor both correctly or incorrectly. There are two types of depressions that can occur. The first type is a natural depression caused by happenings in a persons life. This is caused by the everyday events placed on a person by such things as family, friends, school, and work. A natural depression can last from just one day to a couple of months. The second type of depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. In the brain are millions of things called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemicals in the brain that carry messages from one cell to another. When there are improper balances in neurotransmitters, various diseases result, including depression. There are several types of chemicals in neurotransmitters; serotonin, neropinephrine, and dopamine. Anti-depressants work by either providing more of said chemicals to the body or by blocking reuptake cells that pick the chemical back up after it has been released to allow the chemical more time to reach its destination. When prescribed correctly, anti-depressants can be very helpful to a patient. After being taken for a couple of weeks the patient will start to return to normal daily activities. Patients will be able to wake up in the morning and do the activities they had stopped because they no longer felt compelled to do them. Patients in a depression usually sleep long hours and stay away from strenuous or cumbersome activities. After taking the anti-depressants they will return to a some what normal sleep schedule and will have the energy t...