Discuss the stressful circumstances that have been linked to the development of depression.

Drs Holmes & Rahe after a study into life events
came up with the Holmes & Rahe Scale which is commonly accepted as an idicator
to the predisposition of stress crossing into a depressive style
illness.

The scale discusses 43 main life events, whch
impact on people's stress levels in different ways, and as you progressivley worked up
the scale, the stress level, increased, and thus the chances of distress increased.

The two drs also came up with a scoring system, which indicated the
probability of the subject suffering from a major stress reaction or associated illness
like depression.

The top 5 involve the loss of a signicant
other, or being removed from a social network, which would make coping or dealing with a
stressful situation easier, for example the top of the list is the death of a spouse,
and this loss would be catastrophic to the surviving spouse, as not only have they lost
a confidant, but they also have to deal with the trauma of losing a loved one, and the
psychological issues this may bring.

This scale also works
on association, by that I mean, if you have had a previous experience of  a life event,
for example moving house, and it was a good experience, then this association would help
with the person dealing with the event later in life, it may not be as stressful to them
as indicated, whereas if the experience of moving house was especially stressful, e.g.
in the case of someone fleeing domestic abuse, this may have the opposite effect, and
increase the effect of the situation on that person to the point an illness may
develop.

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