Emotion Causing Chem Imbalance

[Concerned16]

can an emotional event cause a chemical imbalance?

my wife has recently ended our marriage, we are separated but living together and the kids don't know. This summer she lost the most important other man in her life when her grandfather died. Long story, but he had colon cancer and it turned out that her grandmother stopped feeding him and contributed to her death.

My wife hasn't been the same since. Can the emotion of an event like this cause a chemical imbalance creating a bunch of other odd behaviours in the past five months? She ended her marriage of 14 years with no warning or wish to work on it. Now she's planning a New Year's trip to see her dad that she hasn't had a relationship with in 30 years.

If this is done I will go on, but I care about this person and if she isn't thinking clearly I feel I need to find a way to help

Thanks

[iwojima]

my sons head injury 11 years ago sent me into a depression that lasted all 11 years but did not know i was depressed for 2 years nor did anyone else,,,i also wanted to leave my husband but stayed for security reasons,,i was so out of character i did have counseling but after 8 years with this one counsler who was a great person did not really help...he did put me on prozac and told me i would be on it forever which depressed me even more ...a tv program against meds for depression helped i started weening off with help from my dr. but i did start seeing a new counsler who put me in a more intense group counseling,,but by then i wanted to be healed more than anything and i did not want to be numbed by prozac,,,,,and believe me i was ready this time ,,,i prayed so much had so many people praying for me,,,,so after a 3 week group meeting and 3 sessions with my counsler,,,,,i don't have to go back,,,,,your wife has got to want to get better,i was pretty angry with my husband so he took alot of abuse from me,,good luck and GOD be with you,,i'll pray for you and your wife.....

[Neuro Forum]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with your doctor

While I can not comment on whether or not your wife’s behavior is due to an underlying psychiatric illness or not, I will try to provide you with some general information.

It sounds like your wife recently lost a loved one. It is important to keep in mind that people deal with bereavement in different ways. Bereavement may cause a transient adjustment disorder with depressed mood, and may result in certain changes in behavior or judgment that may be within the normal range of ways people deal with loss of a loved one. Or bereavement can eventually result in clinical depression. Depression results from abnormalities in certain brain chemicals, and medications used to treat depression target these brain chemicals. Counseling is another way for people to learn to deal with major life stressors, bereavement, and depression.

Depression can occur de novo, without triggers, or can result after major or even minor life stressors. Depression itself can lead to unusual or unexpected behavior, and everyone obviously has their own way of manifesting depression. Common symptoms of depression include social withdrawal, excessive sleeping or insomnia, changes in appetite/weight (weight loss or weight gain), lack of enjoyment of prior pleasures, and in moderate to severe cases, day to day functioning and employment responsibilities can be affected. Sometimes, changes in judgment and personality/behavior changes do occur with depression too. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between normal bereavement and depression. However, symptoms of depression lasting more than 3 months after loss of a loved one is more consistent with depression that bereavement. In addition, any suicidal ideation, significant guilt, hallucinations etc are not normal parts of bereavement and should be treated as depression.  

Thank you for using the forum, I hope you find this information useful, good luck.

[22dode44]

am 19 , but i can relait to your wifes setuation . i have lost a very important person as well . and i t havent effect me as it did to hes sister . she lietterly stoped living the only two places she goes to are her moms place and the hospital.
she wanting to end up ur marriage is a relly bad thing but fixing her relationship whith her father is a graet thing you should support her ..