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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 11th 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

 


An estimated 2.1 million American adolescents have experienced major depression within the last year, according to a new comprehensive government study.  Researchers surveyed more than 67,000 young people ages 12 to 17 and found that one in 12 had suffered from serious depression in the previous year.Nearly 13 percent of girls had struggled with depression, compared to less than 5 percent of boys. Odds of depression increased with age -- just 4 percent of 12-year-olds experienced depression but that climbed to 11 percent for older teens.

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Suicide Findings Question Link to Antidepressants

By kstours

July 10, 2007


By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Two large new studies in The American Journal of Psychiatry suggest that treatment of depression, either with psychotherapy or drugs, reduces the risk of suicide attempts in all age groups, especially during the first months of treatment. The findings raise further questions about possible links between antidepressant drugs and suicide.

In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration, faced with evidence from controlled studies, mandated a “black box” notification on all antidepressant drugs, warning that their use in children and adolescents could increase the risk of suicide. In May, after reviewing controlled data from all age groups, the F.D.A. required an updated version to include a warning about suicide risk in young adults 18 to 24.

The studies the F.D.A. analyzed, in which patients were followed closely and matched to controls, are considered the most direct way to analyze results. The two new studies were based on retrospective reviews of medical records.

In one, researchers led by Dr. Gregory E. Simon, a psychiatrist with the Center for Health Studies in Seattle, reviewed the records of 109,356 people being treated for depression in a large prepaid health plan serving 500,000 people in Washington State and northern Idaho. They found that suicide attempts were most common in the month before treatment began, declined sharply in the month after it began, and tapered off in the following six months. All treatments — psychotherapy, medication or both — showed the same pattern, suggesting that treating depression reduced suicide risk regardless of technique.

The authors acknowledged that they had no way to assess the severity of illness either before or after starting treatment, and that about a third of patients dropped out of treatment within a few weeks, two factors that may have influenced the results. Dr. Simon has received research grants and consulting fees from pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. David Shaffer, a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Columbia who was not involved in the study, said the results should prove reassuring to people taking antidepressants. “The study provided no evidence that starting an antidepressant increases the likelihood of a suicide attempt,” he said. “Starting treatment, regardless of which kind, seems to reduce suicide attempts.”

The second study was led by Robert D. Gibbons, director of the Center for Health Statistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Using medical data from the Veterans Health Administration, researchers found that among 226,866 adults with depression, the overall rate of suicide attempts after beginning treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, or S.S.R.I., was about one-third the rate of those who received no antidepressant at all. This was true for men 18 to 25 as well as for older adults.

“The V.A. has a very good electronic medical record system, so this is likely to be reliable data,” said Dr. Nada Stotland, a professor of psychiatry at Rush Medical College in Chicago. “That makes these results even more powerful.” Dr. Stotland had no part in the study.

The risk of suicide attempt was significantly higher before S.S.R.I. treatment than immediately after starting it, a finding that coincides with that of the Simon study. The scientists acknowledged that their patients were almost all men, and that they did not include any suicide attempts that did not result in contact with the Veterans Health Administration medical records system. One of the six authors has been a paid adviser to pharmaceutical companies.

The authors of both papers worried that extending the boxed warning to young adults might discourage people from seeking effective treatment. “The F.D.A. didn’t say anything wrong in the warning,” Dr. Simon said. “I am 100 percent in support of the message that we need better follow-up care. But my concern is that the warning may scare people away from treatment.”

Dr. Gibbons expressed similar concerns. “These two studies clearly show that the greatest risk for suicide is depression,” he said. “Failure to treat depression, either using pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy, will lead to dramatic increases in the rate of serious suicide attempts and completions in the U.S. and in the world.”


Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

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Mental illness affects one in seventeen Americans. However, in this country alone, funding for mental health
facilities is dropping drastically and the care for the mentally disabled.
When the people who need those facilities have no where to go, they end up overcrowding emergency rooms.
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We would like to invite you to PM Forum Admin to share your story about your Depression or Mental Health issues as breaking the silence will help us to break open the stigma surrounding mental health that keeps people from getting the care that continues misunderstandings about those affected by mental health disorders.
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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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