Social Psychological Theories Of Depression And Suicide

Depression is a mental health illness that involves the body, mind, and thoughts and affects the way a person goes about their day to day life. It includes being extremely sad and having lessened interest in activities, excessive weight loss or gain, and even thoughts of death. Depression is defined as: a clinical syndrome of at least five symptoms clustered together for at least 2 weeks causing impairment in functioning. There are mood symptoms, cognitive symptoms, and physical symptoms. These range from loss of interests to thoughts of death or suicide, difficulty making decisions, and a lack of energy or changes in sleep and appetite. In the U.S. during any 2 week period, 5.4% of Americans experience some kind of depression. That means that 1 in 20 people ages 12 and older experience depression at some point in their lives. This health issue needs to be addressed because it’s so prevalent in America. It affects a huge number of people and is a major cause of suicide in the United States. Depression affects many different aspects of people’s lives. It causes problems in people’s ability to maintain …show more content…
This theory states that people learn unhealthy behaviors by observing consequences of other people’s behaviors. Personal factors and the environment a person lives in both have an impact on certain health behaviors. This would mean that depression is somewhat a learned behavior. Because it is such an accepted issue in our society people view it as a normal thing that almost every goes through. They watch other people become depressed, go to the doctor, get meds, and become better. They are watching so many people with depression become happier and then when they feel sad, they automatically think they need to do the same thing. Social cognitive theory also states that if someone is observed being punished for a certain behavior, they are less likely to perform that same