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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
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.
Think you can help?
Do you have expertise in a particular area such
as Psychology, graphic/web design, journalism,
public relations, IT, (Web Geeks Needed!) or fund raising? We
need your assistance volunteering for DF. We're
always looking for additional forum and chat moderators
as well, keeping DF the safe haven it has always been for our
members.
If you're interested, this would be a wonderful
way of giving back to DF.
Contact Forum Admin for more details.
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Featured Topics
Featured Topics
- By Lindsay
- Published 07/22/2008
- Featured Topics
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Mental health poll reveals stigma
Nine out of ten people with mental health problems in England say they
are frequently stigmatised - often by those closest to them, a survey
has found.
Strangers in shops or
public transport were likely to be the most accepting, with family and
neighbours more likely to treat them differently.
The poll, by charity Rethink, found discrimination also impacted on carers of people with mental illness.
The charity called for more government funding to fight the problem.
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People with mental health problems have enough on their plates without
facing additional pressure caused by other people's archaic and bigoted
opinions
Paul Corry
Rethink
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A study suggests unmarried women living in rural
areas have lower self-rated health status than their married
counterparts. This lower health status often includes greater instances
of self-assessed feelings of depression. The results of the study were
recently published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. They suggest that primary care physicians should take a proactive role in addressing health concerns of single women.
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- By Lindsay
- Published 05/30/2008
- Featured Topics
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ScienceDaily (May 13, 2008) — The post-university years can start out tough. The good news: it gets better.
A new University of Alberta study of almost 600 of its graduates
(ages 20-29 years old) tracked mental health symptoms in participants
for seven years post-graduation and looked at how key events like
leaving home and becoming a parent were related to depression and
anger. Graduates showed a significant decrease in depressive symptoms
over the seven years. Expressed anger also declined over time after
graduation, suggesting improved mental health.
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May 11, 2008
IN the YouTube video, Liz
Spikol is smiling and animated, the light glinting off her large hoop
earrings. Deadpan, she holds up a diaper. It is not, she explains, a
hygienic item for a giantess, but rather a prop to illustrate how much
control people lose when they undergo electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, as she did 12 years ago.
In other videos and blog postings, Ms. Spikol, a 39-year-old writer in Philadelphia who has bipolar disorder, describes a period of psychosis so severe she jumped out of her mother’s car and ran away like a scared dog.
In lectures across the country, Elyn Saks, a law professor and associate dean at the University of Southern California, recounts the florid visions she has experienced during her lifelong battle with schizophrenia
— dancing ashtrays, houses that spoke to her — and hospitalizations
where she was strapped down with leather restraints and force-fed
medications.
Like many Americans who have severe forms of mental illness such as
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Ms. Saks and Ms. Spikol are
speaking candidly and publicly about their demons. Their frank talk is
part of a conversation about mental illness (or as some prefer to put
it, “extreme mental states”) that stretches from college campuses to
community health centers, from YouTube to online forums.
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 Wellbeing: a guide to happiness What's
so good about CBT?
Harry Potter author J K Rowling revealed last week that she recovered
from serious depression with the help of cognitive behavioural therapy
(CBT). This "talking therapy" is now widely used to help people with a
range of mental health problems.
What is CBT?
It is a way of discussing how you think about yourself, other people
and the world generally (the cognitive part) and how this affects how
you feel and what you do (the behaviour bit). It can help you change
these things, which can improve your symptoms. Importantly, unlike some
other talking treatments, it focuses on "now" and how to improve the
way you're currently thinking and feeling, rather than looking back at
causes of distress in the past.
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2008-02-07 14:46:15 -
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St. Jude Medical, Inc. Investor Relations Angela Craig, 651-481-7789 or
Media Relations Kathleen Janasz, 651-415-7042 or St. Jude Medical, ANS
Division Media Relations Denise Landry, 972-309-8085 St. Jude Medical,
Inc. (NYSE:STJ)
today announced it has received an Investigational
Device Exemption (IDE) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
to begin enrollment in a controlled, multi-site, blinded, clinical
study of deep brain stimulation for major depressive disorder, a severe
form of depression.
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Sunday, February 3. 2008
This weekend Britney Spears was being detained in a psychiatric hospital. Her
very public breakdown reminded Emma Forrest of her own slide into mania
and suicidal despair - and how her parents helped achieve her ultimate
recovery.
Around 11pm last Wednesday night, Britney Spears was taken, by ambulance, into
a three-day hold at the UCLA Medical Centre and labelled 'gravely
disabled', which is to say, in legal terms, that a mental disorder
leaves her unable to provide for her own basic needs, such as food and
shelter.
It was Spears's appearance at the MTV Awards in September,
with her spray-tanned skin, bright blue contact lenses and blonde
extensions - as if to say 'this is not my hair, these are not my eyes,
this is not my skin, I don't know who I am' - that started my
flashbacks.
Because mental illness is not tangible, not a broken leg or a tumour,
people suffering from it tend to offer as many physical signs as they
can. It can be as dramatic as self-harming or as seemingly innocuous as
changing your hair colour week to week. I did both.
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This Month In Pictures
Members Online
Medical News
A Potpourri of Mental Health Articles
Mental Health Parity News
Suicide Prevention Llifeline
Our Soldiers & Veterans
Andertoon
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
Link To Us
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Depression Forums would like to hear from you!
Depression Forums would like to hear from you!
Mental illness affects one in seventeen Americans.
We
would like to invite you to share your story about
your Depression, 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.
There is nothing better than to speak out, tell your story and get the word out!
There is hope!
Together, we can help ourselves and others.
Warm Regards,
~Lindsay and The Depression Forums Administration Staff
Att: Mental Health Professionals
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