A culture’s view of depression differs from one another. For example, cross-cultural psychiatrists have found that depression can be expressed in somatic and emotional terms, ‘“In “somaticizing cultures, “depressive experiences may be expressed as complaints of weakness, tiredness, ‘imbalance’ (Chinese and Asian cultures), ‘nerves’ and headaches (in Latino and Mediterranean cultures)…”’ Due to the diversity of experiences within the different cultures, there is no universal entity incorporating all views of culture in defining depression. The views of a culture toward mental disorders have a great impact on the prevalence of certain individuals within a culture compared to another culture. For example, Japan has a significantly lower prevalence depression rate compared to the United States, “the World Health Survey Initiative estimated a twelve-month prevalence of mood disorders to be around 3.1% in Japan compared with 9.6% in the United States.” The concept of “depression” is the factor to account for in this difference of vulnerability. …show more content…
In Japan, people with experiences in the range of depression tend to be understood as having psychosomatic or anxiety problems and treated by family physicians or internist rather than mental health specialists. This perspective creates a positive intuition in individuals with depression to recover from the illness, whereas the western perspective creates a negative intuition in the depressed that they are “crazy.” Such experiences are greatly involved in the treatment plan and recovery rates of patients of particular cultures. Treatment Progressing research on the particular mental illness has provided depressed individuals with various treatment options. However, the ability for depressed persons to recover lie solely on their will to recover. Choices of treatment often involve both biological and non-biological therapies – medications and psychotherapy. Treatment for individuals with moderate-to-severe depression include antidepressant medication; through the use of antidepressant medications selected to target the symptoms of depression and to produce minimal side effects, 80 percent of depressed patients can recover. Despite the high percentage of recovery, the willingness of patients to take medications is rarely 100%. As a result, psychotherapy is often prescribed to these individuals along with medication. These therapies aim to help depressed persons develop an understanding of various problems, as well as new beliefs and behaviors, which can increase recuperation percentages. While different types of therapy involve distinct methods, they all involve a therapist working with an individual, or with a couple, a family, or a group of unrelated people. Therapists use different forms of treatment to adapt to their patients’ psychiatric needs for recovery. Recent research shows that a set amount of daily exercise can also reduce the rates of depression within affected individuals. Participants of the study who committed to exercise for 30 – 45 minutes (three times a week) for 12 – 16 weeks presented with lower rates of depression. This statistic proves that rushing the recovery process is not a good idea when it comes to depression since more exercise have made no effects on the recovery process of individuals. “It is noteworthy that the study with 90-minute sessions did not produce any reduction in depression for the participants, suggesting that “more is better” is not true.” Rather than speeding the recovery process, an affected individual should exhibit patience and act “one step at a time” for better success in overcoming their illness. Conclusion Depression, is a common mental illness that can affect anyone of any gender, age, and culture.
While it can affect anyone, statistics have also shown that some may be more prone to depression. A main group of individuals to look out for are young adolescents, especially college students, who are constantly under stress and often times are unaware of how to relieve such emotions. Stress is a frequent issue that contributes to signs of depression, not only in students but also in adolescents as well. Despite the frequent occurrence of the illness, it is treatable in many ways. Some treatments include medications, psychotherapy, and exercise. With more understanding of the illness, more options of treatment are likely to come in the near future. The best treatment is however, is the support from friends and family. It is extremely important for depressed individuals to know that they are not alone in fighting the illness and that others are fighting with
them.
According to Kirmayer, “...every culture has a type of experience that is in some ways parallel to the Western conception of depression…” (Watters 517). He proves this by explaining how a Nigerian man “might experience a peppery feeling in his head” (Smith 517) or how symptoms of depression in an American Indian project as feelings of loneliness. Depending on the location of the country and the language used to describe distress, symptoms of depression varies from region to region. He described this as “explanatory models” that “created the culturally expected experience of the disease in the mind of the sufferer” (Watters 518). In other words, the cause of depression is different for every country and thus each person experiences and describes depression in a way that matches their culture and environment. American researchers and clinicians often overlook culturally distinct symptoms because Americans classify depression in terms that might contradict the standards of other
The dominant biomedical model of health does not take into consideration lay perspectives (SITE BOOK). Lay perspectives go into detail about ordinary people’s common sense and personal experiences. A cultural perspective, like the Hmong cultures perspective on health, is considered a lay perspective. Unlike the Hmong culture, where illness is viewed as the imbalance between the soul and the body, the dominant biomedical model of health views health in terms of pathology and disease (SITE THE BOOK). Although the Hmong culture considers spiritual and environmental factors, the dominant biomedical model of health only looks at health through a biological perspective, and neglects the environment and psychological factors that affect health. Depression in the U.S. is a medical illness caused by neurochemical or hormonal imbalance and certain styles of thinking. Depression is the result of unfortunate experiences that the brain has difficulties processing (SITE 7). Unlike the Hmong culture, where Hmong’s who are diagnosed with depression report the interaction between a spirit, people diagnosed with depression in the Western culture report themselves to having symptoms such as feeling tired, miserable and suicidal (SITE
Measuring depression in different culture is a complicated task, “there is a need for tools for multicultural mental health primary in order to promote communication and improve clinical diagnosis” (Lehti et al, 2009). This results indicated that there is still a need for a tool to accurately measure depression in patients from different countries/cultures. Each culture is unique in its very own, and certain abnormal behavior can only be found in certain culture. For instance, in western society we have the histrionic personality disorder, in which an individual desperately seek out attention, while in Japan, there is a phenomenon called “hikikomori” is an abnormal behavior where a person would go great length to avoid any social contract at any means. This abnormal behavior is similar to the avoidant personality disorder, however hikikomori is more severe. “Hikikomori is used to refer to group of young people who have withdrawn from social life and have had no relationships outside of family for a period in excess of six months.” (Furlong, 2008). The long period of time to be withdrawn from society is quite serious and will have many psychological damage. Another factor that is important when looking at abnormal behavior is the gender. The gender of an individual have play an important role in shaping the diagnosis and the diagnostic feature of these symptoms.
Japanese people once did not believe depression was a disease, but a collection of emotions felt sometimes physically, through pain in the stomach, or emotionally through sadness. American pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline wanted to change that. “‘The focus was not on medication.’ Kirmayer remembers ‘they were not trying to sell there drugs to us. They were interested in what we knew about how cultures shape the illness experience’”
In “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan”, Ethan Watters draws attention to the ways in which concepts that are usually taken as concrete and standardized, such as depression or mental illness, are actually extremely varied and complex. In other words, people’s definition and the experience of such concepts are shaped by the cultures that they belong to. For example, if a Westerner experiences a depression, it will be different from ways that an Easterner will experience depression. However, despite the significant role that culture plays in determining people’s way of thinking, there is a certain limit to how influential culture can be; being aware of cultural differences and understanding why there are cultural differences can greatly
Teenage Depression. Everywhere you look these two words appear together as one, in newspapers and magazines, as well as in scholarly reports. Teenage depression is one of today's "hot topics" this among other teenage mental health problems, has been brought to the forefront of public consciousness in recent years after several incidents involving school shootings (CQ 595). The environment that teens grow up in today is less supportive and more demanding than it was twenty years ago. Not only are the numbers of depressed teens rising, but children are also being diagnosed at younger and younger ages. Studies have found that, "There is an estimated 1.5-3 million American children and adolescents who suffer from depression, a condition unrecognized in children until about 20 years ago" (CQR 595). This increase in depression is due to social factors that teenagers have to deal with everyday. A recent study found that, "About five percent of teenagers have major depression at any one time. Depression can be very impairing, not only for the affected teen, but also for his or her family-and too often, if not addressed, depression can lead to substance abuse or more tragic events" (NAMI.org). Gender roles and other societal factors including the pressures on girls to look and act a certain way, the pressures on boys to suppress their emotions and put on a tough front and the pressures on both sexes to do well in school and succeed, all contribute to depression in teens today. Depression is a growing problem which crosses gender lines and one that needs to be dealt with with more than just medication.
Teenage depression is happening constantly and not improving. In fact, from 2005 to 2014 the prevalence of depression, or the chance of experiencing depression within the year increased in ages 12-17. “Any parent of an adolescent,” as Perri Klass points out, “has to wonder, of course, what’s the difference between “regular” adolescent mood swings and teenage behaviors and these warning signs.” Depression has varying symptoms such as mood changes, persistent sadness or irritability, and changes in functionality, such as school failure or a loss of interest in activities. This being said, author Perri
The second situation manage a young fellow, Albert S., he has been seen by a therapist since he has been depressed. He has been feeling miserable, desolate, and fatigue during the most recent month, due to his forthcoming divorce. Albert is not experiencing an extreme mental issue; and a physical exam demonstrates that Albert has no physical issues. I would propose that Albert is as of now managing a serious depressive disorder which is also called Clinical Depression. When managing clinical depression, you should have various ill feeling over a two-week time frame, the vast majority of the day, consistently. No less than one of the manifestations must be either a discouraged mind-set or loss of joy. Albert’s significant other separating him
Medication would be the ideal solution for depression if it were just as easy to consume a pill and make all symptoms disappear. It is important to understand that depression is not just about a chemical imbalance in the brain, depression is a process that is suffered and needs to be treated therapeutically and a lot of the time medically as well in order to obtain a sense of emotional balance. Treating depression with just medication alone in members of certain cultural groups might ultimately become of concern especially because as reported by Tseng (2001), he addressed the concern of how distinct cultures disclose their emotions. Mental health providers need to be familiar and cultivated when dealing with diverse cultures in order to be
Depression and anxiety among college students is something that experts have focused on for the past twenty years. The information they have been gathering ranges from the different stressors of college life to the effects of one's culture on how they deal with depression or anxiety symptoms. They have identified a few core characteristics of depression and thoughts of suicide. These are both serious concepts that people need to seek help for. It is important for students to reach out to friends, family, or professionals to support them during this time.
As it has been proven, students and depression across campuses are becoming more common daily, and it must be taken as a serious matter. There are many causes that result in depression, such as personal stress and academic stress. This severely influences a student’s life and can bring about extreme negative outcomes like suicide or eating disorders. Luckily, there are cures for this major issue. Counseling centers and mentors in the classroom and in residence halls can impact a student’s overall well-being and attitude towards his or her daily life. Depression, in conclusion, is an extremely dangerous mental illness that, if not cured with the correct treatments, could become detrimental to students across the globe.
There are many people in the world who are struggling with the disease depression. Depression is the state in which a person feels very sad, hopeless and unimportant. The thing about depression is that it affects both genders and any ages. Depression is something that deserves full attention. For many reasons doctors believe that when a person has depression, they have to start taking medication for it as if medications help. People are becoming more dependent on antidepressants when there are other techniques for dealing with depression.
It may even come abruptly, happening in just a few weeks or days. Nervous breakdowns are commonly associated with depression and are often identified due to the confusion and fear that depression brings. Depression heavily influences emotions and one’s outlook on life and more than often ends up changing a person’s life in a major way. People experiencing depression often feel sad every day and cry very often, making that too another daily routine. Even when participating in activities that used to bring joy, people begin to lose interest and begin secluding themselves from people and things they love. Depression still exists in the teen population and recently has begun increasing in numbers. Reports of depression in teenagers have shown different signs from those of adults. Physical complaints are very common in the younger crowd, including stomachaches and headaches. It also leads to or is in correlation with eating disorders or abnormality, social withdrawal, and of course, depressed mood. They may feel unenthusiastic about school and other activities. Their sleeping patterns become irregular and unhealthy, they may sleep more, but still feel an extreme lack of energy or enthusiasm. Elderly people with depression usually complain of physical rather than emotional
There is a serious and dangerous illness in America that affects teenagers each day. Teenage depression is a serious medical illness that causes persistent feelings of sadness and loss of interest in everyday activities. It is not a weakness or an illness that can be overlooked. If gone untreated, it can become fatal. Those who suffer from depression are at an increased risk for suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 – 24 year olds (“Teen Suicide Statistics”). Most people often thought that depression only happened to adults. In fact, 20 percent of teens will experience some form of depression before reaching adulthood (“Teen Depression Statistics”).
Depression has become a huge issue amongst teens within the past decade. The most devastating fact about depression is that it is often not addressed. Most teens feel they have no one to talk to about their depression. Depression affects teens of all walks of life from the porvished to privileged teens.