Fact: Depression Often Occurs With Other Health Conditions
It is not uncommon for someone with clinical depression to have another mental health condition or a physical health condition, or both. In some cases, an illness may trigger depression, while in others depression can lead to complications and other mental and physical health problems. Any kind of serious, severe, chronic, or terminal illness can lead a patient to develop depression. Some of the more common illnesses that trigger depression are cancer and any condition that causes chronic pain or disability, such as fibromyalgia or multiple sclerosis.
Commonly co-occurring mental health conditions include anxiety disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, eating disorders, and substance use disorders. It is not always possible to determine whether depression causes another condition, but it is possible, especially when depression goes untreated. For instance, depression can lead to substance use disorders, because some people use substances to self-medicate. With some health conditions, co-occurring depression affects many people:
- One quarter of cancer patients develops depression.
- One third of heart attack survivors will struggle with depression.
- Half of patients with Parkinsonâs disease experiences depression.
- Fifty to 75 percent of eating disorder patients will have episodes of depression.
- More than one quarter of people with substance use disorders experience depression.
Ongoing Mood Cognitive Changes May Require Professional Help
Depression is not only hard to endure, it is also a risk factor for heart disease and dementia. “Depressive symptoms can occur in adults for many reasons. If you are experiencing mood or cognitive changes that last for more than a few weeks, it’s a good idea to bring this up with your doctor or consult a mental health specialist to help sort out possible causes,” says Dr. Nancy Donovan, an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.The four most common types of depression are major depression, persistent depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder.
Major depression. The classic depression type, major depression is a state where a dark mood is all-consuming and one loses interest in activities, even ones that are usually pleasurable. Symptoms of this type of depression include trouble sleeping, changes in appetite or weight, loss of energy, and feeling worthless. Thoughts of death or suicide may occur. It is usually treated with psychotherapy and medication. For some people with severe depression that isn’t alleviated with psychotherapy or antidepressant medications, electroconvulsive therapy may be effective.
Some 300 Million People Suffer From Depression Un Warns Ahead Of World Health Day
These new figures are a wake-up call for all countries to re-think their approaches to mental health and to treat it with the urgency that it deserves, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in a news release.
With the number of people with depression increasing more than 18 per cent from 2005 to 2015, WHO is carrying out a year-long campaign, Depression: lets talk, with the aim of encouraging more people with depression to get help. This is also the theme of the 2017 edition of World Health Day, marked on 7 April.
Lack of support for people with mental disorders, coupled with a fear of stigma, prevent many from accessing the treatment they need to live healthy, productive lives. Depression is an important risk factor for suicide, which claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year.
One of the first steps is to address issues around prejudice and discrimination. The continuing stigma associated with mental illness was the reason why we decided to name our campaign Depression: lets talk, said Shekhar Saxena, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO. For someone living with depression, talking to a person they trust is often the first step towards treatment and recovery.
Every $1 invested in scaling up treatment for depression and anxiety leads to a return of $4 in better health and ability to work.
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How Depression Affects Fathers
Some fathers also report symptoms of depression. To better understand the experiences of fathers, PRAMS implemented a PRAMS for Dads pilot project. The pilot projectexternal icon in Georgia found 1 in 10 fathers reported depressive symptoms since the birth of their new baby. Studies such as PRAMS for Dads can help quantify mens health behaviors and service needs.
Need For Primary Care Involvement
Despite the fact that many patients with depressive disorders seek help in primary care, general practitioners have difficulties in diagnosing and treating depression. The point prevalence of major depressive disorder in general hospital setting care is higher than 10%. Concomitant depression increases the morbidity and mortality from concurrent medical illness. Depression increases the risk for cardiac illness, diabetes, hypertension, etc. Depressed patients have three times higher risk of developing MI compared to people not having depression.
Mood disorders, as highly prevalent and lethal disorders, must command a greater share in the clinical curriculum. Depressive disorders can be easily diagnosed at the primary care level and do not require any special investigations or hi-tech equipment. They can be detected early and managed very effectively by a primary care doctor, with a wide array of effective and safe medications available at reasonable cost. The challenge is to provide all primary care physicians with the requisite hands-on experience in this prevalent group of disorders. Emphasis on training in psychiatry during undergraduate medical training remains an issue of immediate attention.
It is highly imperative that Depressive Disorder be considered an issue of public health importance to provide effective treatment to the patients and to reduce the burden of disease on the nation.
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What Countries Have The Highest Depression Rates
The World Health Organization tracks depression rates from around the world. However, its essential to keep in mind that depression and other mental health conditions are vastly underreported around the globe. Cultural biases, social stigma, and a lack of access to screening and treatment can all influence rates of underreporting. The most recent findings on global depression rates from the WHO indicate that the following countries have the highest rates of depression:
In the U.S., one in five adults will struggle with a depressive disorder at some point in their lifetimes. However, only 41% of depression sufferers will receive help for their illness. The biggest reason that mental health advocates cite as the prevention for people getting help for their depression in the U.S. is a lack of sufficient healthcare providers and the prohibitive costs of medication.
Depression: The Disorder And The Burden
Depression, the common psychological disorder, affects about 121 million people worldwide. World Health Organization states that depression is the leading cause of disability as measured by Years Lived with Disability and the fourth leading contributor to the global burden of disease. By the year 2020, depression is projected to reach second place in the ranking of Disability Adjusted Life Years calculated for all ages. Today, depression already is the second cause of DALYs in the age category 15-44 years.
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Prevalence Of Different Types Depression
The 17.3 million adults who experience a major depressive episode each year reveals the prevalence of depression in America. However, depression rates vary when focusing on specific types of depression. Aside from major depressive disorder, two of the more common types of depression are seasonal depression and postpartum depression.
Feelings of depression or anxiety can lead to suicidal thinking. If you or a loved one is experiencing suicidal thoughts or tendencies, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at .
How Common Is Depression
You may feel that you are the only one who has ever felt hopeless and helpless. But that’s not true. You’re not alone. Lots of people suffer from depression.
In the United States, more than 19 million people suffer from depression, and it is the number 1 cause of disability in the world. One hundred million people around the world suffer from depression. Twenty-five percent of women suffer from depression serious enough to seek treatment at least once in their lifetime. In fact, nearly twice as many women as men suffer from depression every year. Depression is even more common for young people.
Remember: Depression can be treated, and you can feel better. Mental health experts say that most people who have depression – 80% or more – can feel better when they receive treatment. Many see some improvement in their symptoms as soon as 4 to 6 weeks after starting treatment.
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Depression Types Unique To Women
Although women are at higher risk for general depression, they are also at risk for two different depression types that are influenced by reproductive hormonesperinatal depression and premenstrual dysphoric disorder .
Depression Among Older Adults
According to the 2017 survey, approximately 1.4 million Americans age 65 and older experienced a major depressive episode. In 2016, the figure was 1.3 million. Some factors explaining the increase in depression among older adults include:
- The death of a loved one
- Lifestyle changes due to retirement
- Becoming physically ill
- Anticipating death
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Formidable Obstacles To Mental Health Care
Challenges to addressing depression at a clinical and community level in less developed countries are numerous and vastranging from inadequate funding and personnel for diagnosis and treatment to stigma and the simple lack of understanding that mental illness is, in fact, a distinct medical condition.
Stigma
The stigma of mental illness is perhaps the biggest challenge to confronting depression in developing countries. Stigma facilitates a lack of awareness of the condition as an illness category and causes many people to delay seeking care.15 It is a strong contributor to underreporting of the disease and a barrier to using the available cost-effective interventions.
Lack of Treatment Access and Recognition of the Disease
Treatment for depression is often lacking, especially in developing countries: The World Health Organization reports that fewer than one in every four people affected by depression worldwide have access to effective treatments.16 Adding to the problem is that people with depression who seek help most often complain of nonspecific physical symptoms such individuals receive a correct diagnosis in less than one-quarter of cases and typically are treated with medicines of doubtful efficacy.17
Lack of Trained Mental Health Personnel
Culturally Appropriate Screening
Integration of Mental Health Care in Primary Health Care, by Income Group
Some Of The Specific Prayers That Have Been Shown To Be Helpful For Depression And Anxiety Are The Lords Prayer The Our Father The Hail Mary And The Saint James Prayer
Some of the specific prayers that have been shown to be helpful for depression and anxiety are the Lords Prayer, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Saint James prayer. The Lords Prayer is a prayer that has been used throughout history as a way to connect with God. The Our Father is a prayer that Catholics learn in elementary school and that is based on the Bible passage from Matthew 26:39-44. The Hail Mary is a prayer that often times is said when someone feels overwhelmed or fearful. The Saint James prayer is a prayer often recited during Lent and Eastertide that asks for Gods help in facing trials and temptations.
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Prevalence Of Major Depressive Episode Among Adults
- Figure 1 shows the past year prevalence of major depressive episode among U.S. adults aged 18 or older in 2020.
- An estimated 21.0 million adults in the United States had at least one major depressive episode. This number represented 8.4% of all U.S. adults.
- The prevalence of major depressive episode was higher among adult females compared to males .
- The prevalence of adults with a major depressive episode was highest among individuals aged 18-25 .
- The prevalence of major depressive episode was highest among those who report having multiple races .
Figure 1
*Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race all other racial/ethnic groups are non-Hispanic |AI/AN = American Indian / Alaskan Native.Note: The estimate for Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander group is not reported in the above figure due to low precision of data collection in 2020.
Depression Is Different From Sadness Or Grief/bereavement
The death of a loved one, loss of a job or the ending of a relationship are difficult experiences for a person to endure. It is normal for feelings of sadness or grief to develop in response to such situations. Those experiencing loss often might describe themselves as being depressed.
But being sad is not the same as having depression. The grieving process is natural and unique to each individual and shares some of the same features of depression. Both grief and depression may involve intense sadness and withdrawal from usual activities. They are also different in important ways:
- In grief, painful feelings come in waves, often intermixed with positive memories of the deceased. In major depression, mood and/or interest are decreased for most of two weeks.
- In grief, self-esteem is usually maintained. In major depression, feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing are common.
- In grief, thoughts of death may surface when thinking of or fantasizing about joining the deceased loved one. In major depression, thoughts are focused on ending ones life due to feeling worthless or undeserving of living or being unable to cope with the pain of depression.
Grief and depression can co-exist For some people, the death of a loved one, losing a job or being a victim of a physical assault or a major disaster can lead to depression. When grief and depression co-occur, the grief is more severe and lasts longer than grief without depression.
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Why Are There Such Wide Variations
The stark contrasts between countries have led some to dub depression as a first world problem or a luxury. The logic is that if you are staring down the barrel of a gun or you dont know where the next meal is coming from, you have no time for such introspection.
Recent research points to myriad reasons, many overlapping: in particular less developed countries often lack the infrastructure to collect data on depression, and are less likely to recognise it as an illness. Also, people in these countries are more likely to feel a social stigma against talking about how they feel, and are reluctant to ask for professional help.
Statistics are also less simplistic than rich = depressed and poor = not depressed.
A paper in the journal Plos Medicine argues that, extremes aside, the majority of countries have similar rates of depression. It also found that the most depressed regions are eastern Europe, and north Africa and the Middle East and that, by country, the highest rate of years lost to disability for depression is in Afghanistan, and the lowest in Japan.
National Level Of Income And Age
Generally speaking, the probability of developing depression greatly increases with puberty, and peaks during ones 20s. When crossed with a countrys level of income, comparative studies have cited significant variability. Yet within high income countries alone, a greater correlation was found, so that the younger an adult in a high-income country is, the more likely they are of benign diagnosed with depression.
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Depression Affects About 280 Million People Worldwide
Depression affects about 280 million people worldwide, including about 5 percent of all adults, according to data from the World Health Organization and a report from the World Psychiatric Association Commission, an international research group. The commission describes depression as one of the leading causes of avoidable suffering and premature mortality in the world and labels it a neglected global health crisis.
In the United States, an estimated 21 million adults, or about 8 percent of those 18 and older, are living with depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that roughly 11 percent of all physician office visits and emergency department visits are related to depression.
Though most everyone feels sad or gloomy from time to time, depression what the medical world refers to as depressive disorder or major depression goes beyond simple mood fluctuations. Rather, such feelings as sadness, hopelessness or low self-worth, loss of interest in usual activities, sleep problems and lack of energy persist for two weeks or more, interfering with a persons everyday life. Genetics, chemical changes in the brain and stressful events are among factors believed to be responsible for depressive episodes.
Linda Searing
Fact: Young People And Older Adults Struggle With Depression Too
The average age of onset of depression is 32, but teens, seniors, and even children may develop and struggle with depression. The symptoms can vary, though, and children with depression are more likely to experience sadness and irritability, physical aches and pains, and weight loss. Children may also show signs of depression through their behaviors, such as refusing to go to school or being clingy and needy with parents or siblings.
Teens with depression experience many of the same symptoms as adults, but distinguishing them from normal teen angst can be difficult. Some signs that depression is the issue include drug or alcohol use, loss of interest in activities, self-harm, social withdrawal, poor school performance, and being excessively sensitive. In older adults, depression may cause physical pains, memory problems, personality changes, and social isolation.
- As many as one in eight adolescents have major depression.
- One in 33 children will struggle with depression.
- Untreated depression is the greatest risk factor for youth suicide.
- Those at the greatest risk for suicide are young men aged 15 to 24.
- Six million older Americans struggle with depression, but only 10 percent get treated.
- Elderly men are more likely than women to have suicidal thoughts.
- More than half of caretakers of elderly family members have symptoms of major depression.
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