Problems, Research and Treatment of Major Depression Disorder

Introduction

Major depression disorder is a mental illness disease that is characterized by depressed mood, loss of interests, impaired function and bodily symptoms, such as disturbed sleep or appetite. Major depression happens more often in women than it does in men and affects one in six adults in their lifetime. The history of major depression is multifactorial and may be passed down it is estimated to be approximately 35%. In addition environmental factors, such as sexual abuse physical abuse and emotional abuse during childhood, is heavily associated with the risk of developing depression no one really has answers.

Body

Major Depression (DP) is a mood disorder that causes a constant feeling of sadness and loss of interest. The term DP can also be called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel on a day to day basis, think and behave and can also lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal everyday activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn't worth living. It’s estimated that 16.2 million adults in the United States, or 6.7 percent of American adults, have had at least one major depressive episode in a given year. According global and local statistics. Major depression not only affects the person who suffers from it also affects the family and friends. It’s estimated that depression cost the economy 30 to 40 billion dollars per year. This paper will discuss the history and treatment of major depression.

In 2007 American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment , a survey of approximately 20,500 college students on 39 campuses, 43.2% of the students reported 'feeling so depressed it was difficult to function' at least one time in the past 12 months. More than 3,200 students in the university’s reported being diagnosed with depression, with 39.2% of those students diagnosed in the past 12 months, 24.2% is currently in therapy for depression, and 35.8% taking antidepressant medication. Out of all the students surveyed, 10.3% admitted 'seriously considering attempting suicide' within the past 12 months and 1.9% actually attempted suicide during that period.

Depression has been known to affect academic progress as well as personal problems at school, with severe depression combined with higher levels of impairment. The treatment of depression with college students has been associated with a protective effect on these students' grades. In order to diagnose and treat early and effectively, and to decrease the excess and risk of suicide associated with depression, some U.S. colleges have started to screen students for depression in the primary care setting.

These studies have been occurring since 1990. Although the data shown above may be a bit surprising it’s not to most mental health clinicians and administrators at U.S. colleges. According to the 2008 National Survey of Counseling Center Directors, 95% of respondents believe that there has been a trend in recent years of an increase in the number of students with psychological problems. In 2008 an estimated 26% of counseling center clients were taking psychiatric medication, up from 20% in 2003, 17% in 2000, and 9% in 1994. And even though the rate of suicide among college students may have decreased in recent decades, suicide remains the third leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults. There are challenges of providing treatment for college students. These challenges include significant academic pressure in semester-based cycles, long semester breaks that result in discontinued care, and heavy reliance on community supports that can be inconsistent. Given the impact of depression on college campuses and the varying services offered by university mental health centers throughout the United States, there is a significant need to evaluate successful models of treatment and outcomes. The current body of literature on depression outcomes among U.S. college students is thin and for the four studies they have found, varying inclusion and exclusion criteria, and lengths of treatment make the interpretation of results difficult. Whereas Kelly and colleagues and Lara and colleagues used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV to diagnose participants with major depressive disorder, Gesner and Pace and Dixon used self-report scales to measure depressive symptoms for study inclusion and Pace and Dixon took out students with severe levels of depressive symptoms. All four studies took in students who were not seeking treatment and who was offered course credit for participating, a reward that might have influenced the improvement in outcomes. There was no steady standard used across these studies to define a student with depression, even when using the same assessment tool. In terms of length of treatment, only two out of four reviewed studies followed students for approximately 9 weeks. The amount of time over which students are tested is especially critical for the college population, where time is defined by a semester calendar, moods are often common by exam schedules, and treatments are adjusted to comply with upcoming vacations. Today's college mental health services seems to employ short-term models of care with referral to outside clinicians if long term treatment is necessary. Given the dynamics, future research in college mental health needs to establish quality standards for monitoring and follow-up of students' treatment outcomes. Unfortunately, the results of these four studies might not be fully applicable to college students today or in the future.

Treatment

Medications and therapy work effective for most people with depression. Your primary care doctor can prescribe medications to reduce symptoms. However, many people with depression benefits from seeing a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health professional.

If you have severe depression, you may need to stay in the hospital awhile, or you might need to participate in an outpatient treatment program until your symptoms get better.

Psychotherapy is a general term for treating depression by you talking about your condition and other issues with a mental health professional. .Different kinds of psychotherapy can work for depression, like cognitive behavioral therapy or interpersonal therapy. Your mental health professional can also recommend other types of therapies. Which can help you Adjust to a crisis or other, identify the negative behaviors and replace them with healthy ones and Explore relationships experiences.

Some people’s depression can be so bad that you may need to stay longer in the hospital this can be necessary if you are not able to physically take care of yourself example: suicide or other dangerous activity. Psychiatric treatment at a hospital can help make sure you stay calm and safe until your behavior improves. Partial hospitalization or day treatment programs may help some people. These programs provide the support and counseling needed to get symptoms under control.

For quite a few people there are other procedures that are recommended like Electroconvulsive therapy aka ECT, which is where electrical currents are passed through the brain to impact the function and effect of neurotransmitters in your brain to reduce depression. ECT can be used for people who don't progress with medications or can't take antidepressants for whatever health reason like a high risk of suicide. Also Transcranial magnetic stimulation aka TMS can also be an option for those who have yet to respond to the antidepressants. During a TMS treatment the coil that’s placed against your scalp delivers a brief magnetic pulse to stimulate the nerve cells in your brain that are involved in mood regulation and depression.

Conclusion

Granting all this information major depression is very common but also a serious mood disorder. It causes minor symptoms that affects how your day goes and the people around you, depression disorder has been studied and tested for years now. There are multiple forms of depression that may not be recognized as much so there for people aren’t aware of how to treat it.

I think the most important lesson here is that depression needs to be recognized most people just brush it off and think that it’s nothing serious but when in reality it is this mental health issue cannot be just swept under the rug. Depression take multiple lives on an everyday it affects the people who suffer from this illness but it also affects the people around them depression is a personality just recognize it.

In conclusion, I think that depression should be noticed and treated. Build a more trusting relationship and foundation work on opening up more, engaging and non-judgmental manner

Site out treatment options, explain to others the different courses of depression and that recovery and let them know that they are not alone is treatment is possible be aware of the signs and discrimination can be associated with this diagnosis.

References

• Depression (major depressive disorder). (2018, February 03). Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20356013
• Depression: Facts, Statistics, and You - Health line. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/facts-statistics-infographic
• Psychiatric Services. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/