Question

What is the cause of the feeling of depression in human beings? Name a drug that can be useful in treating this depression.

Answer 1

Depression is a lifestyle disease. It is primarily a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in activities and it can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems.

Complete step by step answer:

If the level of noradrenaline in the human body is low for some reason, then the message transfer process becomes slow and the person suffers from depression. In such cases, antidepressant drugs are used and these drugs inhibit the enzymes which catalyse the degradation of noradrenaline. If the enzyme is inhibited, then the noradrenaline which is a neurotransmitter is slowly metabolized and can thus activate the receptor for long periods thereby counteracting the effect of depression. In other words, we can say depression is reduced.
There are two important antidepressant drugs:
1.Iproniazid.
2.Phenelzine.
The structure of the above antidepressant drugs are given below:


Additional information: Drugs that are used for the treatment of depression are generally known as tranquilizers. They relieve anxiety, stress, irritability, or excitement by inducing a sense of well-being. They are also an essential component of sleeping pills. Tranquilizers are of many types and work by different mechanisms.

Note:
Depression being related to the lifestyle of an individual can be treated by medicines but the treatment time can be reduced by a basic change in lifestyle such as practicing yoga, working on hobbies, by setting goals, by getting into routines, eating healthily, by taking enough sleep and spending time on what you enjoy.