What Is The Depression?

Depression is not experienced in the same manner and to the same extent by all age groups and sexes. It is a well known fact that women experience depression more than men. This is true regardless of economic status, racial and ethnic background. There are many factors responsible for this difference in the experience of depression. Research has shown that hormonal, biological, life cycle and psychological factors are mainly responsible for the higher rate of depression in women as compared to men. Research has also shown that the chemical processes of the brain, that control mood and emotions, are directly affected by hormones. The hormone secretions in women vary according to life cycles and periodical physical changes that women experience.

We used to minimize or totally ignore the cultural factors in the science of depression. With the prevalence of establishing the universal understanding in the knowledge of depression, it is crucial to understanding the relationship between culture and depression in order to effectively assessing and treating this disorder in all populations. In recent years, It has been established knowledge that, aside from biological and biographical factors, socio-cultural patterns have a major impact in prevalence and phenomenology of depressive disorders.This paper mainly discusses the role of cultural factors that are particularly relevant in the depressive disorders.

“Americans are more depressed today than in the 1980’s “ (Jean M. Twenge). Depression affects the lives of millions of Americans across the nation.

The National Institute of Mental Health reported that in 2014, an estimated 2.8 million U.S adolescents aged 12 to 17, and an estimated 15.7 million U.S adults aged 18 or older had at least one major depressive episode in the past year, thus representing 11.4% of the U.S. population aged 12 to 17, and 6.7% of all U.S adults (NIMH, 2016). More inclusively the lifetime prevalence of people experiencing major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder is 20.8% of the U.S adult population. The 12-month prevalence is 9.5%, of which 45% are classified as severe. Non-hispanic whites and women are the most likely populations to experience a mood disorder over their lifetime (NIMH, 2016).

Consequently, having grasped an understanding of this form of depression, it is important to recognize the various psychological causes that are believed to attribute to this emotional disturbance. First, we can consider

The expression of depression in men can be very complex. There can be additional problems with measuring depression in men than with women. Men use various ways to hide and suppress their depression. Depression in men can be hidden in their being antisocial and participating in risk taking behaviors. Such behaviors can be drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, road rage, extra sexual activities or adventures, gambling, binge drinking and various types of violence. This violence can result also in suicide. Men are three to five times more likely than women to die from suicide. Depression is the most commonly associated condition with mood

Depression is a very prevalent disorder that is diagnosed by a psychiatric physician. The main purpose of this paper will be to see how and why depression occurs. Is there a specific treatment or therapy that can prevent the onset of depression? How is depression diagnosed and how is it determined who is at a high risk for depression.

With over 250 million people attached by depression worldwide, it´s no doubt an incredibly real and serious issues'.

The issue of women experiencing higher incidence of depression is real. This is because of the natural differences that make women the weaker sex; this makes them mores susceptible to depression. Moreover, gender disparities imminent in some societies discriminate against women; this discrimination makes them more prone to depression. However, with more and more societies getting civilized and embracing gender equity, the

Women experience depression at twice the rate of men. Gender differences emerge first at puberty and occur mainly in the common mental disorders such as depression, anxiety among others. These disorders, in which women predominate, affect approximately 1 in 3 people. The frequency of major depression in adults is estimated to be 7 to 12 percent in men and 20 to 25 percent in women in a community and this constitutes a serious public health problem (NIMH, 2006). Several and variable factors in women contribute to depression, such as genetic, hormonal, developmental, reproductive, and other biological differences like premenstrual syndrome, childbirth, infertility and menopause. Factors associated to social issues may lead to depression

The study population was screened for depression using the CES-D questionnaire, while psychological distress was screened using GHQ-12. The prevalence of depression was 65.2% (95% CI 62.4 – 68.0). The prevalence of psychological distress among the study participants was 75.0% (95% CI 72.5 – 77.6).

Depression is clinically defined as the cluster of Expressive, somatic, and communicative symptoms characterized by unhappiness, low self-confidence, loss of pleasure, and sometimes, difficult functioning. Depression is common, but a serious mood disorder that causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think and handle day to day activities. Since we have characterized depression, we will legitimize the significance of depression. (Barnes, 2003) stated that the study of depression has been neglected globally and the number of diagnoses has increased in young people. The interest in depression is long overdue. The sociologist is interested in the “how, why and when of depression, as we know depression has an impact on the society, this paper shows, how groups of people relate to each other) proves that depression affects an individual as well as the community. (CDC) found that the number of a person’s with depression is %6.6 of the total population in the United States.

The method comprised of using 2 diagnostic tools. The Beck depression inventory (BDI) and the Spielberger trait anxiety inventory (TAI). The BDI is 35 item assessment, designed to gauge how sad a person might be, factoring things such as cognitive and physiological processes, symptoms of depression etc. In order to validate this as a measurement tool, a pilot sample study of 50 students was carried out, with these students being outside the 200 student cohort. The sample test was repeated, with a two week gap, and the correlation between responses analysed. The coefficient alpha for the Beck Depression Inventory was 92. Cronbach's alpha for the current study sample was 0.94 (Beck et al., 1988).

Occasionally people might feel sad and unmotivated due to numerous factors and these are normally short-term events. However, in other situations, these feelings are enduring and disturb the individual's routine, whether they have a clear reason to happen or not. It is not rare when seeking professional help or even the opinion of someone close to them, for people to hear that they may be depressed, including cases when they are not, because depression in many societies is already considered a serious illness. In our case study, Magda, a woman previously happy with her life, began to show symptoms of depression which was noticed by people close to her. She noticed that what gave her joy before, no longer had the same meaning, and on the contrary, made her anxious.

When we analyzed, the depression score, among all of total 246 students; 145 were reported under normal category, 52 of them in mild, 35 were in moderate level, 10 in severe category and 4 had fallen in the extremely severe category.