issue Analysis

In the world today, depression significantly contributes to the overall problems of different diseases since it affects individuals in every community globally. Currently, depression affects approximately 350 million individuals across the globe(WHO,2012). According to the World Mental Health Survey, carried out in seventeen specific nations, averagely one in twenty people acknowledged that in the past one year, they have had an incident of depression. Commonly, disorders caused by depression usually affect mental health and begin at a very young age, as they decrease the functioning of victims with their recurrent nature. In line with such explanations, depression stands out as one of the noticeable causes of disability in the world as dictated by the total number of years the victims lose because of disability. Many clinicians have categorized depression as a mental health issue, which has increased the demand to reduce the disorder in every country (WHO, 2012). This paper carries out critical analysis of key arguments presented by various authors about mental health and depression affecting the youth and adults in various primary care settings. The analysis focuses mostly on the youth or adolescents because they are highly vulnerable to depressive disorders.. In line with such explanations, depression stands out as one of the noticeable causes of disability in the world as dictated by the total number of years the victims lose because of disability.

As a common mental disorder, depression results in some of prevalent and long-term symptoms. These include the loss of concentration or pleasure, depressed moods, poor concentration, reduced liveliness, guilty feelings or low self-esteem, low appetite and sleep appetite. Furthermore, the disorder usually carries with it some symptoms of anxiety. Such symptoms can develop into chronic or recurrent aspects resulting in considerable impairments in the ability of individuals to pay attention to their day-to-day duties.  In extreme cases, depression can result in suicide. Ramsawh, Stein, Belik, Jacobi & Sareen, (2009) claim that nearly one million individuals lose their lives annually because of suicide, which turns into three thousand suicide deaths daily. For each individual who executes a suicide to its completion, twenty or more may endeavor to end their lives. In the United States alone, 25 million people struggle with depression annually. More than half of those who have experienced suicidal deaths struggled with key depressive disorders. With the addition of depressed alcoholics in the same statistics, the number of suicides in America rises the figure to more than 75% of depressed victims. In terms of age, depression affects approximately 5 to 8 percent of individuals who have attained 18 years and above in the United States annually. The authors go ahead to argue that a large number of Americans struggle with depression compared to other prevalent diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, as well as coronary heart disease. Despite, the rise in the number of depressed people, the illness stands out as the most treatable of all mental health disorders. Usually, between 80% and 90% of depressed individuals show positive responses to treatment, with nearly all patients gaining some extent of relief from the common symptoms as long as the patients acknowledge that they have depression (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010).

Many authors have cited the evidence of disparities in the consistency of depression treatment in line with factors, for example, age, ethnicity, race, and type of insurance. According to Harman, Edlund & Fortney (2004), the authors analyzed the practical disparities in the treatment of depression to ascertain if the inconsistencies in the initiation rates of treatment or the dissimilarities in the quality of treatment the disparities as soon as treatment starts. This report establishes that obstacles of accessing mental health care function as major concerns in mental health care inequalities. The authors argue that as long as mental health care functions begin, no disparity would persist. However, the assessments of such disparities do not take the long-term perspective, and fail to represent many factors that could affect the quality of care, when introduced. In spite of these complications, this source helps clinicians and depression victims to recognize that with the introduction of care, disparities can reduce significantly. By using logical regression models, the results of the study showed that Caucasian constantly take antidepressant prescriptions compared to Latinos and African Americans. However, African Americans seem to receive enough psychotherapy compared to Caucasians and Latino. People lacking insurance cover did not seem to undergo any depression treatment matched with those having insurance cover. The number of adolescents undergoing psychotherapy or counseling surpassed that of the elderly. The authors conclude that disparities in the treatment of depression seem to originate from the inconsistencies in rates of initiating the treatment of depression, as long as rates of quality care did not vary as soon as the initiation of treatment.

  Reducing the burden of mental health concerns calls for robust mechanisms of addressing issues related to depressive disorders. With the international problem of depression posing a considerable public health challenge at various levels, such as, social, economic, and clinical, several definite and evidence-based approaches can successfully address or curb such liability.  The management of common mental disorders like depression in primary health care settings demands significant interventions, such as treating patients using standard antidepressant medications as well as short-term psychotherapy sessions (Seal, et al, 2009). The Authors argue that economic analysis shows that the treatment of depression in primary care is achievable, cost-effective, and affordable. However, depression and anxiety usually go together. Approximately 50% of individuals having depressive disorders usually experience anxiety as well. Implementing effective remedies in the management of anxiety can help the victims to acquire some important mental space as the starting point of dealing with depression (Ramsawh et al, 2009). Building trust with someone can help those experiencing depression and anxiety discuss the issues that make them develop anxiety, as they follow the advice of taking healthy diets and exercising frequently. With such remedies, the victims can control their anxiety effectively and deal with depression successfully. Sleep habits influence the higher level of frequency and intensity of anxiety because, as adolescents approach adulthood, they come across characteristic anxieties that play key roles in many stages of their lives. These exclusive anxieties may persist, thus bringing about augmented rates of ill health, along with sleep disorders. Some adolescents, especially the ones experiencing mild depression, can use relaxation methods for example, massage and yoga to reduce their anxiety levels (Thapar, et al, 2012).

   As a mental and an emotional illness, adolescent depression affects both teens and adolescents. Also known as teenage depression, it does not have a big difference with adult depression, medically speaking (Thapar et al, 2012). Nevertheless, symptoms found in adolescents may develop in various ways compared to the way they manifest in adults. The author also claims that these differences stem from the different social and age-related challenges that adolescents experience as they approach adulthood. These include developing bodies, peer pressure, shift in hormone levels, sports, drug abuse and many other factors that can bring about related difficulties for teenagers, which can also result in depression symptoms. Adolescents also experience depression, which can affect their sleep and academic work. Even though many researchers have extensively studied sleep disorders and patterns in the past decade, many of them have continuously overlooked college students except for the last few years. Such tendencies stem from the misplaced notion that college students lack sleep due to their desired routines, such as constant partying and procrastination. On the other hand, new findings have showed a different story completely. Grimes (2012) claims that about 73% of students have reported sleep complications, with their symptoms ranging from minor and intermittent to persistent and unceasing. Except for the length of sleep time, sleep latency and number of sleep awakenings also function as contributors to sleep quality (Grimes, 2012).

The authors referenced in this paper have noted that depression is a pervasive mental disorder affecting almost every individual in the world today. Contrasting numerous large-scale global issues, depression has solution at hand that clinicians and other specific individuals can harness to mitigate the mental illness. Patients can access many available effective as well as cost-effective treatments to improve their health and livelihoods and live normal lives. The authors have used strong justifications including logical and reliable scientific data to present their arguments regarding depression with well-reasoned organization. The audience can easily point out that the authors present their excellent skills in argumentation, as their strong ethos captures the attention of their target audiences into considering their knowledgeable arguments to generate an inspirational and encouraging way of highlighting the main points about mental health and depression. It is important to educate one another about depression on individual, community as well as national levels for the intention of supporting individuals struggling with mental disorders.As Ramsawh et. al states, implementing effective remedies in the management of anxiety can help the victims to acquire some important mental space as the starting point of dealing with depression.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC. (2010). Current depression among adults---

In the United States, 2006 and 2008. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 59(38), 1229.

Grimes, A. (2012). Anxiety and Sleep Disorder Comorbidity: Affecting the College Students’

Performances. Master of Science in Health Science. University of Arkansas, 1(1), 47. doi:3506016.

Harman, J., Edlund, M., & Fortney, J. (2004). Disparities in the adequacy of depression

Treatment in the United States. Psychiatric Services, 55 (12), 1379‐1385.

Ramsawh, H., Stein, M., Belik, S., Jacobi, F., & Sareen, J. (2009). Relationship of Anxiety

Disorders, Sleep Quality, and Functional Impairment in a Community Sample.Journal of Psychiatric Research, 43(10), 926-933. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2009.01.009.

Seal, K. H., Metzler, T. J., Gima, K. S., Bertenthal, D., Maguen, S., & Marmar, C. R. (2009).

Trends and risk factors for mental health diagnoses among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans

Using Department of Veterans Affairs health care, 2002-2008. American Journal of

Public Health, 99(9), 1651-1658.

Thapar, A., Collishaw, S., Pine, D. S., & Thapar, A. K. (2012). Depression in adolescence. The Lancet, 379(9820), 1056-1067.