American Depression Research Paper

Improved Essays
The United Sates has a lot of problems involving mental health disorders. Americans suffer from all kinds of mental issues, and the evidence indicates that they're not going anywhere /despite an increasing number of treatment options. Americans are over-diagnosed and over-treated for depression, according to a new study conducted at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Depression is not natural for human beings. Everyone feels sad in some time of their life but this feeling passes away in a short period of time. When a person has depression, it interferes with their life and it won’t go away as easy. Depression affects the person diagnosed with it & to the people who care about them. Depression is a serious illness caused …show more content…
Although scientists agree that depression is a brain disorder, the debate continues about exact causes. Many factors may contribute to the onset of depression, including genetic characteristics, changes in hormone levels, certain medical illnesses, stress, grief, or substance abuse. Any of these factors alone or in combination can bring about the specific changes in brain chemistry that lead to the many symptoms of depression. The causes of depression are not fully understood, but scientists believe that an imbalance in the brain's signaling chemicals may be responsible for the condition in many of the patients. However, there are several theories about what this imbalance actually is and which signaling chemicals are involved. Moreover, a variety of distressing life situations are also associated, including early childhood trauma, a job loss, the death of a loved one, financial troubles, or a …show more content…
will experience some sort of mental health disorder, making the U.S. the country with the highest prevalence. Surveys have shown that up to half of Americans with depression don't get medical help for their condition. Left untreated, major depression can set off a chain of social, emotional and health consequences that add to patients’ overall stress. According to the Mayo Clinic, these include alcohol or drug abuse, anxiety, social isolation and relationship conflicts, work or school difficulties, or suicide. "Depression over-diagnosis and over-treatment is common in the U.S. and frankly the numbers are staggering," said Ramin J. Mojtabai, PhD, author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Mental Health. People diagnosed with depression taking antidepressants should be closely monitored, for any worsening depression, suicidal thinking or behavior. They should be treated naturally. Lifestyle changes are simple but powerful tools in treating depression. Sometimes they might be all people with depression need. Even if they need other treatment, lifestyle changes go a long way towards helping lift depression. And they can help keep depression at bay once they’re are feeling

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The fact that antidepressants are the third most proscribed drug in the United States is disconcerting. Are there really that many people in this country that is depressed? If so, maybe it is time an open and honest discussion is needed on how mental health is treated and…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In conclusion, Clinical Depression is one of the most common major depressive disorder within the United States. Clinical Depression clients are typically reported as being sad, depression, or even suicidal. Many clients who experience Clinical Depression do not seek help because they believe getting help is a sign of weakness. However, if a client recognizes that they need help then the process will go a lot smoother.…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Depression is a condition that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and dejection. Although depression can be inherited or be caused by unbalanced hormones or brain chemicals, it is caused by multiple stressful events in most cases. Those events can be a traumatic childhood, death of a loved one, suicide in the family, self-esteem problems, health problems, or alcoholism. Usually, depression shows a variety of symptoms physically, emotionally, and mentally. Some of the symptoms are sadness, loneliness, loss of interest, unexplained aches, risky behavior, anger, change in diet or sleeping patterns (oversleeping or insomnia), guilt, self-criticism, and possibly self-harm or suicidal thoughts.…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    An estimated 350 million people of all ages around the world suffer from depression. Depression is very different from when you just get sad sometimes or have a reaction to a challenge,depression changes how you feel every second of the day, it's not short lived. It is a very common mental disorder, characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness, and poor concentration. Although we know many effective treatments for depression fewer than half and in some countries fewer than ten percent affected by depression receive these treatments. Many people can't get to effective care because,first a lack of resources, lack of trained health care providers,…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Annotated Bibliography Working Thesis: With depression being at an all new time high with the college generation, it is important that Doctors and Psychiatrists find new remedies to treating depression than just the magic pill. Cuijpers, Pim, et al. " Psychological Treatment of Depression in College Students: A Metaanalysis." Depression and Anxiety, vol. 33, no. 5, May 2016, pp.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There is 324,910,116 people currently in the United States of America, with a child being born every eight second. According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness, one out of five Americans are diagnosed with a mental illness. That’s 64,910,116 people just in the U.S. with a mental illness. However, many are still un-treated or not given the medical assistance they need. Many more are still In order to solve this problem, an Act should be passed that guarantees health care/insurance and training for police officers in order to benefit the mentally ill.…

    • 1518 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Depression can manifest itself in a variety of ways, which can include feelings of worthlessness and helplessness, a loss of interest in usual hobbies and activities, and thoughts of death and suicide. People who are depressed sometimes do not feel sad at all, but instead feel restless and irritable, and some patients can have physical symptoms like muscle pain and headaches. Symptoms of depression must be present for two weeks nearly every day for it to be considered major depression, although not all symptoms of depression have to be present; only a few have to be present for it to be considered major depression. Also, it isn’t necessary to wait 2 weeks to seek help if any of the symptoms are interfering with daily activities or if the person is having thoughts of self-harm.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Commonly described as an imbalance of hormones in the body, depression is a serious affliction. Typically, the chemicals serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine are the neurotransmitters…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Definition A mood disorder in which the person has suffered one or more intense episodes of depression. This condition is also characterized by the presence of various symptoms which last for more than a 2 week period and will include 5 or more specific symptoms during this timeframe (DSM 5). Symptoms An individual suffering from this condition may display various symptoms such as feelings of sadness, emptiness, loneliness and also question the relevance of their own existence. There may also be a loss of appetite, not only for food but also for activities which previously brought enjoyment or pleasure.…

    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Depression is a serious thing in the United States. 14.8 million Americans are depressed. There are several reasons to be depressed. An everyone is serious in there own way. Some are worse than others.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Depression is a continuing issue in the teens/young adults of america but it’s not all hopeless there are ways to help with these problems and ways to identify which of the different types of depression you have. There are many different type of depression and many symptoms of each type that will help identify I won’t be going over all of them but I will go over some of them and their symptoms. I will also go over some tips to help get over a depression relapse.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Approximately 5% of ambulatory care patients were diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders. The rate of depression is increasing in America, especially among adults. Each year 14.8 million Americans are diagnosed with depression, which is accounted for 6.8% of adults in the population (Hidden, Kennet, Lipari, Lipari, & Tice, 2016). The rate of mental illness differs based on gender, age, and race.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone who does not know about depression will be surprise of how often this problem affects our society. Depression is a serious condition that unfortunately it can happen at any age but it’s more common among teens. The effects that depression has can range from affecting a persons personality to affecting the ones who surrounds the individual with depression. some of the many ways in which depression can affect someone is by altering the way you feel, think and act. In addition, feeling down, sad, and loosing interest in pleasurable activities for a long period of time could be a sign of depression.…

    • 1691 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It’s not just a matter of feeling sad, or unhappy; these our normal human emotions that everyone experiences. However not everyone will experience depression. In fact according to psychcentral. Only about 5% of the population suffers from severe clinical (Nauert, 2015). Depression is so such a finite thing, that it becomes so hard to describe.…

    • 2410 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    When not treated it can cause suffering that can lead to suicide. Being able to recognize the symptoms of depression is a big obstacle to diagnose and treat the clinical or major depression. About half the people who have symptoms of depression never get diagnosed or get the help they need for the illness. When someone is depressed not getting treatment can be life threatening. More than one out of every ten people fighting with depression commits…

    • 1785 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays