Who is susceptible to depression? The answer to that is everyone - men, women, children, and the elderly. This illness does not play favorites. It is true that women, on average, are twice as likely to be diagnosed than men; however, men are less likely to seek out treatment. Men tend to commit suicide about four times more often than women. The elderly are another largely untreated population. Their symptoms are often just written off as a result of old age. This is not always the case.

Despite common belief that someone with this illness can just snap out of it at will, this is not true. There is no one thing that is responsible for this disease. It can be genetic and run in families. People with a trauma history and people in chronic pain are susceptible to depression. Other causes include medication and thyroid disease.

When neurotransmitters are too weak or when there are not enough of them, these chemical messengers cannot pass messages between the neurons effectively. You can think of it as being like talking on your cell phone in an area where there is spotty service.