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Originally Posted by JinnKai
I strongly believe that depression is 80% mental (conscious and controllable) and 20% physical (chemical) in 99% of individuals. I've seen a lot of evidence to corroborate that position, but very little for the opposite.
If you had to place a percentage, as I have above, on how much depression is physical vs mental, how would you place them?
And do you have any recent information (preferably scholarly journals, preferably online) that provide evidence for a direct physical causation?
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There is a variety of thought out there on this subject, which the scholars refer to as "depressive subtypes." I think that most psychiatrists would agree that many people with depression are depressed at least partially because they have learned maladaptive ways with which to interact with the world around them. Maladaptive behaviors rarely produced the desired results, and often produce undesirable results, and thus the individual finds themselves living in a world of their own making which is unable to meet their emotional needs.
There are also many cases of depression which seem so entrenched that no matter what the individual does to restructure his/her life, attitudes, outlooks, etc, they cannot break out of it for an extended period of time. There are many psych's more scholarly than I who might argue that this might be a more biologically-based depression.
Scientologists would say that it's all due to "body thetans," disembodied spirits who were "killed" by an alien emperor long ago, and who latch onto us and cause a broad range of "illnesses" from homosexuality to bad eyesight. (sorry, I had to throw my Scientology dig in somewhere).
In the end, I don't think we have the sophistication or data to say with any degree of certainty whether or not these theories are fact, nor to nail it down to a particular ratio or percentage. Physicians were interested in these theories insofar as they might potentially predict which depressed patients would respons to which types of treatment(s), but subtyping depression has not offered any reliable treatment-response guidance according to my understanding of the literature.
As for literature, Stephen Stahl's "Essential Psychopharmacology" is my Bible for approaching pharmacological treatment.