Depression issue

Depression issue

Depression is a mental disorder which demonstrates itself through the loss of happiness, feeling of low self-esteem, disturbance in the sleep cycle, disturbance in appetite, continuous feeling of fatigue as well as reduced activity.[1] Depression is considered a great contributor to the worldwide burden of many diseases.[2] children, as well as adolescents, are more susceptible to mental disorders due to any disaster or due to loss of their loved ones, any personal injury, etc. [3] The symptoms of depression include irritating behavior, loss of interest in everything, feeling of sadness, loss of weight or gain of weight, and stubbornness, etc. Risk factors that play a vital role in depressive disorder are poverty, lack of attention as well as lack of education[4] In primary care patients, the rate of depression lies between three to five percent [5].

Major depression is a public health problem; among depressed people, hyperactivation of HPA (hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis) along with cortisol is observed. The activity of HPA, as well as cortisol, may influence the onset of depression in many people [6]. Symptoms of major depression include inappropriate guilt, negative thoughts, low self-worth, insomnia, etc. Major depression may be concerned with changes in the function of the thyroid gland [7]. Obesity is the most widespread somatic cause of major depression[8]. Cortisol is one of the significant risk factors of the risk factors that depend upon genetic variants as well as psychological traits.[9]

Beck depression inventory is the most effective method to diagnose major depression in adults as well as in children. In this method, items are added to generate the total score. If the score of the person is high, it means he has severe depression. While the low score indicates minor depression or normal states. Beck depression inventory-II is applied in clinical practice as well as in research.

References:

1. Shera M, Raza Talpur M, jillani s, Shabu M, Khan A. Association of Depression with Chronic Illnesses. 2019;.
2. Toseeb U, Brage S, Corder K, Dunn V, Jones P, Owens M et al. Exercise and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents. JAMA Pediatrics. 2014;168(12):1093.
3. Yonekura T, Takeda K, Shetty V, Yamaguchi M. Relationship between salivary cortisol and depression in adolescent survivors of a major natural disaster. The Journal of Physiological Sciences. 2014;64(4):261-267.
4. Abdul Rehman TM, Rabia Aslam, Uzma Yousaf, Irfan Bashir, and Naila Tabassam. Cases and Causes of Depression among School Going Adolescents in Lahore, Pakistan.International Current Pharmaceutical Journal. November 2018.
5. Katon W and Schulberg H. “Epidemiology of depression in primary care.” General Hospital Psychiatry 14.4 (1992): 237-247.
6. Geoffroy M, Hertzman C, Li L, Power C. Prospective Association of Morning Salivary Cortisol with Depressive Symptoms in Mid-Life: A Life-Course Study. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(11):e77603.
7. Ng C, How C, Ng Y. Major depression in primary care: making the diagnosis. Singapore Medical Journal. 2016;57(11):591-597.
8. Opel N, Redlich R, Grotegerd D, Dohm K, Heindel W, Kugel H et al. Obesity and major depression: Body-mass index (BMI) is associated with a severe course of the disease and specific neurostructural alterations. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2015;51:219-226.
9. Herbert J. Cortisol and depression: three questions for psychiatry. Psychological Medicine. 2012;43(3):449-469.
10. García-Batista Z, Guerra-Peña K, Cano-Vindel A, Herrera-Martínez S, Medrano L. Validity and reliability of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) in general and hospital population of Dominican Republic. PLOS ONE. 2018.