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QUOTE (lifegotcold @ Dec 27 2007, 05:13 PM) *
I'm glad i found DF. I love this place and i know i dont post much and i'm not really that interesting but just being on here makes me feel better. I love the people you are all great wub.gif and i really mean that. I could not imagine my life without DF now. hearts.gif
(QUOTE (lifegotcold @ Dec 27 2007, 05:13 PM) *)
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Depression & Mental Health FAQs
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated 40 million Americans living today will suffer from major depressive illness during their lives. Seasonal affective disorder is major depression that appears in the fall or winter and goes away in spring, thought to be caused by lack of sunlight.
Postpartum depression occurs within four weeks of a women giving childbirth. Most new mothers suffer from some form of the �baby blues.� Postpartum depression, by contrast, is major depression, thought to be triggered by changes in hormonal flows associated with childbirth. Catatonic depression is a rare form of major depression characterized by (at least two): Stupor, excessive motor activity, extreme negativism, peculiarities in voluntary movement, and repetition of other people's words or actions. - mcmanweb.com
Psychotic depression is a rare form of depression characterized by delusions or hallucinations, such as believing you are someone you are not and hearing voices.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the US population age 18 and older in a given year, have a depressive disorder. Depression is a chronic illness that exacts a significant toll on
America's health and productivity. It affects more than 21 million
American children and adults annually and is the leading cause of
disability in the United States for individuals ages 15 to 44.
Lost productive time among U.S. workers due to depression is estimated
to be in excess of $31 billion per year. Depression frequently
co-occurs with a variety of medical illnesses such as heart disease,
cancer, and chronic pain and is associated with poorer health status
and prognosis. It is also the principal cause of the 30,000 suicides
in the U.S. each year. In 2004, suicide was the 11 th leading cause of death in the United States, third among individuals 15-24.
According to the World Health Organization, depression is presently on track to becoming the world's second-most disabling disease (after heart disease) by the year 2020. Depression is responsible for some $87 billion a year in lost productivity in the US (a conservative estimate), and according to Bank One, is responsible for most lost work days in its employees after pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally, one million people worldwide die by their own hand, most as a result of a mood disorder. Finally, the linkage between depression and a host of physical illnesses makes it arguably the world's greatest killer.
Research presented at the 56th Annual Conference of the Canadian
Psychiatric Association shows a marked link between bipolar disorder
and migraines. The odds of migraine in persons with bipolar disorder were 40% higher than the general population. Data
obtained from 36,984 people aged 15 and over, who screened positive for
manic or depressive episodes with migraine, were compared against those
who screened positive for mania but who didn�t suffer from migraines. Amongst
males, 14.9% of those with manic episodes were also diagnosed with
migraines compared with 5.8% of the general population. Amongst
females, 34.7% had both migraines and bipolar disorder compared with
14.7% who only had migraines.unquote.gif While the research was
skewed towards persons who were already diagnosed with bipolar
disorders, what does it mean for people who suffer from migraines but
who may have an undiagnosed bipolar disorder?
Migraines and headaches aren�t fully understood but the manifestations are very real and debilitating for their sufferers: Throbbing pain Nausea Heightened sensitivity to light or sound Seeing dots, wavy lines, flashing lights, or blind spots Difficulty with speech, sensation, or movement
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Teens: Suburban Blues
Money does not equal happiness, especially for the young.
Affluent kids suffer higher rates of depression, but time with
family can help.
By: Hara Estroff Marano
A report from the suburbs has some surprising news about children
growing up in the culture of affluence. It's a longitudinal study
and the interesting finding is that the kids have a multitude of
adjustment problems. The surprise is that they often have more
problems than age-matched kids growing up in the inner city—and
their problems persist despite the mental health services
presumably available to them.
Beyond a certain point, the researchers found, the pursuit of
status and material wealth by high-earning families (say,
0,000 and above) tends to leave skid marks on the kids, but in
ways you might not have expected. Affluent suburban high
schoolers not only smoke more, drink more, and use more hard
drugs than typical high schoolers do—they do so more than a
comparison group of inner-city kids. In addition, they have much
higher rates of anxiety and, in general, higher rates of
depression.
Among affluent suburban girls, rates of depression skyrocket—they
are three times more likely than average teen girls to report
clinically significant levels of depression. And for all
problems, the troubles seem to start in the seventh grade. Before
then, the affluent kids do well.
Interestingly, among the upper-middle-class suburban kids, but
not among the inner-city kids, use of alcohol and drugs is linked
with depression and anxiety. That raises the possibility that
substance use is an attempt to self-medicate.
What's more, this so-called negative-affect type of substance use
tends to endure; it doesn't disappear after the teen years. The
researchers also found that among the suburban boys, popularity
with peers went hand in hand with substance use.
What's it all about? In part, the affluent kids are responding to
achievement pressures. Rates of depression, anxiety, and
substance use were high among those whose families overemphasized
their accomplishments and who saw achievement failures as
personal failures.
Isolation—emotional as well as literal—from adults also played a
big role. Where the demands of the parents' own professional
careers eroded relaxed family time, and the kids shuttled between
various after-school activities, distress and substance use among
the young were high.
Accessibility counts. "A common assumption is that parents are
more accessible to high- than to low-income youth, but our data
showed otherwise," the researchers reported. Wealthier kids
didn't feel closer to parents or spend more time with them at the
dinner table, for example.
Eating dinner with at least one parent on most nights turned out
to be a big deal. It predicted both adjustment and school
performance—at both economic extremes.
Why do affluent kids have so many problems if their families can
easily afford to get professional help for them? Maybe, the
investigators suggested on the basis of other research, the
parents aren't eager to delve into problems that are not
conspicuous—unless symptoms include those that inconvenience
adults, such as disobedience.
Privacy concerns and embarrassment may also keep parents from
attending to invisible problems. They may need to maintain a
veneer of well-being. Then there are all the inconveniences of
daily life that impede them—the demands of their very
high-powered careers that provide so well for their families.
"Few families would blithely repudiate such rewards," the
researchers concede.
Here's the kicker: Even if the kids of the affluent got all the
mental health care they need, something irreplaceably protective
would still be missing from their lives: strong attachments with
parents. Research shows that you can't relieve "crystallized m
aladjustment" as long as kids' everyday lives still present major
challenges.
So what's to be done? First and foremost, say the researchers, be
aware of the costs of overscheduled and competitive lifestyles.
Second, understand the risks affluence poses to healthy
adjustment of children. And a third measure seems self-evident:
Make dinner a command performance for all family members.
Source: Psychology Today, 22 March 2005
Copyright Sussex Publishers, LLC. 2006.
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Depression & Mental Health FAQs 2
What is Clinical Depression? Clinical
depression can affect your body, mood, thoughts, and behavior. It can
change your eating habits, how you feel and think about things, your
ability to work and study, and how you interact with people. Clinical
depression is not a passing mood, a sign of personal weakness or a
condition that can be willed away. Clinically depressed people cannot
"pull themselves together" and get better. Depression can be
successfully treated by a mental health professional or certain health
care providers. With the right treatment, 80 percent of those who seek
help get better. And many people begin to feel better in just a few
weeks.
Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health World Health Organization Finds Depression Often Goes Untreated By Salynn Boyles WebMD Medical News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Sept.
6, 2007 -- Depression has a greater impact on overall health than
arthritis, diabetes, angina, and asthma, but it all too often goes
unrecognized and untreated, a report from the World Health Organization
(WHO) suggests. more... Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health
For Additional Information About Depression Write To: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663 Bethesda, MD 20892-9663
For free brochures on depression and its treatment call: 1-800-421-4211. or visit: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
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