Neurosis And Epigenetic Synthesis Essay

Neurosis can arise from symptoms of stress, often causing mild to severe psychological ailments, specifically depression and/or anxiety. There are many reasons as to why an individual may experience these depressive moods, and the relationship of your environment and your biological make up can make you more or less susceptible to forms of neurosis. There are many things that contribute to whether or not a person experiences depression. In addition to the way chemicals react in the brain and genetic influences, other factors can cause depression such as seasonal changes, as well as social and life events. These factors can modify neurotransmitters in the brain and have adverse effects on mood regulation. Personality is also an influence on depressive symptoms as pessimism is something that often goes hand in hand, however, there are times where there are no clear reasons for depression and/or anxiety, and this is where genes and biochemistry may be the cause. Stressful life events, such as divorce, financial problems, and abuse, have a substantial causal association with depression. However, despite a strong correlation between stressful life events and depression, part of this apparent association …show more content…
Epigenetics refers to stable changes in gene expression that are mediated by altered structure of chromosomes without modification of DNA sequence (cite.) According to this hypothesis, severe stress triggers changes in the chromatin structure of vulnerable individuals, which drive sustained changes in gene expression that contribute to episodes of depression (cite). An outcome of this hypothesis is that such stress-induced epigenetic modifications also occur early in life and help determine an individual’s lifetime vulnerability or resistance to ensuing stressful events