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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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Male Depression Is Linked to Poor Sibling Relations
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June 12, 2007
Male Depression Is Linked to Poor Sibling Relations
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Men who had poor relationships with siblings during childhood are at significantly greater risk for depression in adulthood than those who got along better, a new study has found.
The researchers emphasize that their findings do not mean that a poor childhood relationship with a sibling causes depression, but they say the two are strongly associated. Moreover, whether the men’s parents did a good or a poor job of raising them seemed to have little effect on their risk of depression.
“Poor parenting may be reflected in poor sibling relationships,” said Dr. Robert J. Waldinger, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard. “But once you’ve taken account of the quality of sibling relationships, knowing about the quality of parenting doesn’t add much information.”
The findings, published in the June issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry, are based on an analysis of data from 229 men who were followed for more than 30 years beginning at age 18 or 19. They were first assessed in the period 1939-42 by internists, psychiatrists, psychologists and anthropologists, and then they completed questionnaires every other year. Researchers also interviewed their parents.
The men were reinterviewed when they were about 25, 30 and 50, and the biennial questionnaires have continued to the present. This prospective design and long follow-up are major strengths of the study.
Using information from these questionnaires and interviews, experts rated the men’s relationships with siblings during childhood and adolescence, and how well they were raised by each parent. They also recorded whether a parent had died before the child was 18 and whether there was a family history of depression. The 26 only children in the sample were excluded from the rating of relationships with siblings.
None of the 21 men who had a parent die in childhood became depressed. The 15 percent who had a poor relationship with their mothers and the 16 percent who had a family history of depression suffered depression later in life. But among those who had poor or destructive relationships with siblings, 26 percent had episodes of major depression as adults.
The significantly increased rate for depression among this last group remained even after controlling for family history of the illness, which suggests that the poor relationship with brothers and sisters did not grow out of a genetic tendency for depression but was an independent predictor.
“This is a really important study,” said Myrna M. Weissman, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University who was not involved in the work. “The one caveat is that these were all men, and sibling relationships may pertain more to men than to women.”
The researchers offered some other examples of how the risks interact. A man whose parents did an average job and who had no family history of depression, but who had a poor relationship with a sibling, would have a 9.9 percent chance of developing depression. But a similar man with a good relationship with at least one sibling would have only a 2.3 percent chance of becoming depressed. In a man with an average parental experience, a family history of depression and poor relationships with siblings, the risk for depression rises to 30 percent.
The authors acknowledged that they collected diagnostic information on depression before the appearance of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which established strict psychiatric diagnostic criteria. Also, the small sample consisted only of white male college students who came of age in the World War II era, and who were selected specifically for excellent mental health.
The study offers no conclusions about whether depression causes destructive interactions between siblings, whether the destructive relationships are an early indication of depression, or whether the two factors act on each other to increase the risk.
“This is just one study, and we need more to see whether this finding will be confirmed,” Dr. Waldinger said. “Sibling relationships have been underemphasized in learning about child development.”
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
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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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