(639) Why does a person become depressed?

From the one day seminar I attended, I gathered that depression starts with faulty thoughts. (From Christian counseling view point) But looking from a purely psychological point of view, a person gets depressed because of brain chemical imbalance. We have no doubt that prolong depression(d) always presents itself with brain chemical imbalance(b). As to if it is d that leads to b, or it is b that leads to d; it is a moot point.

Let us examine one particular case:
One young man went abroad to study. His parents chose the country and the university. He was allowed to choose his field to major in. He was very young, way below eighteen years of age. He is a very quiet and shy person. As a result he was having adaptation problem and consequently failed repeatedly. When he came back after a year abroad, he displayed quite a few symptoms of depression. He stayed in his room day and night, only coming out to eat his meals alone. Even when family members talk to him, he may choose not to answer. His sleeping pattern is erratic. Sometimes he went for days spending many hours on line. Other days he slept excessively.

If we really consider things from his point of view, he was not given a voice or a choice in whether to go abroad. When told to go, though it was a great privilege because it was expensive, he merely obeyed. When he could not adjust, he hid in his room. He forgo his meals that his parents paid for simply because he could not eat in the public cafeteria without a friend to sit with. Therefore he survived on biscuits and chocolate, putting on at least twenty pounds. A diet like that obviously could not maintain good health and so he was ill often. It led to missed classes and missed deadlines for assignments. He could not bring himself to see his professors to ask for help. As a result he failed.

Looking at all these points, the root of his depression is the fact he thought he had no choice but to obey his parents. He would rather suffer than to tell his parents," No. I don't want to go abroad though I appreciate the fact that you are prepared to spend so much on my education."

I am happy to note that this quiet young man is happy now in a local college, he found himself quite a few friends and is making excellent grades.