The European Commission Green Paper on mental health (European Commission, 2005) suggested that factors such as biological, individual, family, social, economic and environmental all contribute to determining the mental condition of a person. Similarly, Kinderman, Schwannauer, Pontin & Tai (2013) stated that it is never just one factor that occurred that leads to the discovery of a mental illness in an individual. Therefore, this essay will look at factors including genetics, experiences, social support, social status, and living conditions and how they might influence someone who becomes depressed. Depression causes depressed moods and loss of pleasure in most activities. A person's thoughts, emotions, body and behavior are all affected. It's like chronic sadness, a person never feels truly happy with themselves and these symptoms are present most of the time. There are many types, including minor, dysthymic, subsyndromal, and major. Depression is the fourth leading cause of disability and disease, affecting 121 million people worldwide (Bromet et al, 2011). One factor that has dominated in recent years is the biological approach, suggesting that a person's genes cause the symptoms of depression. One theory that has contributed to this is the monoamine hypothesis. This suggests that there are three main monoamine neurotransmitters including dopamine, serotonin and norephrenine that cause depression. Specifically, low levels of serotonin. Serotonin helps regulate mood and balance areas of the brain associated with thinking and emotions. Serotonin pathways connect to different regions of the brain and are located in the brainstem area “the Raphe nuclei”. They affect areas of the brain including the neocortex and the limbic system (and...... middle of paper ......personal experiences, social support, social status and living conditions all have an influence on the onset of depression This ultimately supports the European Commission Green Paper on Mental Health (European Commission, 2005: p.4) which states that “people's mental condition is determined by a variety of factors…” Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that for For each factor there are a number of explanatory models that describe how an individual could potentially become depressed, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses. Although these factors contribute to the development of depression, research has suggested that none exist a single explanation for depression Furthermore, the research implies that future research should bring all these models together to provide an explanation for depression since they have been shown to interact with each other anyway...