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Depression In Canada Essay

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The term "mental illness" refers to a wide range of disorders that affect one's mood, thinking, and behaviour. Depression is among the most common mental illnesses (Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, 2009). Depression is much more than simple unhappiness, it can be defined as an intense feeling of sadness and worthlessness that lasts for more than two weeks and for most of one's day. Symptoms include lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating, as well as many other symptoms which can have repercussions socially, professionally, and in other significant areas of one's life (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2012). According to Health Canada (2009), twenty-seven percent of Canadians will experience depression in the course …show more content…

This may be due to the negative stigma attached to depression. Twenty-seven percent of Canadians admitted to being afraid of being around someone who suffers from a mental illness (Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, 2012). In addition, one third of individuals suffering from depression are forced to resign once it is known that they had a mental illness. The likelihood of women experiencing depression is two times that of men. Moreover, statistics indicate that they are one and a half times more prone to being hospitalized due to depression (Mood Disorders Society of Canada,2009). Although depression is more pronounced in females, men have a higher rate of feeling angry and irritable , which can make it harder to recognize depression in men (American Psychological Association Task Force, 2010).The reason women are much more likely to suffer from depression can be linked to a number of sociological factors such as divorce, domestic inequality, the sexualisation of females, and the gender wage gap experienced by women. Understanding the determinants of depression among Canadian women is an important problem to investigate because it is linked to suicide (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2012), lower GPAs, and lower political efficacy (Ro*co Films Educational,

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