Is Depression a serious medical illness

 Introduction 

With no second thought, the seriousness of depression can take your breath away in seconds! With the psychological interference, depression also attacks the physical structures of the brain leading to the weakening of the brain cell intercommunication. Your major control center of the nervous system gets severely affected via depression. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 2017 - Women are twice likely to get depression issues in comparison to Men.

According to one of the Ph.D. psychologists from New York named Yesel Yoon, - 'The loss of a dear one or even the sudden shifts in your environment worsen the existing symptoms of depression. He also added the fact that depression can alter the overall functioning of a person.' 

You will get to know from this article that how serious a route depression can take if not treated on time. 

 

Is Depression a serious medical illness?

Depression is no joke - it's a serious mental health condition telling us that the person suffering from it isn't stable at the moment needing some urgent help.

According to the Journal of Adolescent Health, 2019 - 'The suicide attempts in the year 2013 till 2018 amongst the college students aged between 19 to 24 increased from 0.7% to 1.8%.'

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 2017 - 'Suicide is one of the major leading reasons for death among the teenagers aged between 15 to 19 years.'

From your social life to personal life, depression leaves no area without its fingerprints! 

American Association of Suicidology - 2009

"Suicide statistics - Depression" below is enough to tell you the seriousness of this mental health problem -

• Almost 7% of the Men committed suicide because of existing depression

• Almost 1% of Women committed suicide because of existing depression

• Almost two-thirds of the people in America committed suicide because of intolerance to the depression

• People diagnosed with major depression symptoms are at a 20% more risk of committing suicide as compared to those who aren't having major depression.

Moreover, depression gets the chance to multiply itself if you are a patient of any chronic illness like diabetes, thyroid issues, and heart problems! 

Depression Statistics 

1. POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION

• According to the JAMA Psychiatry, 2013, - Almost 1 out of the 7 women are prone to having the PPD in a year.

• According to the American Pregnancy Association, 2015, - More than 70% to 80% of women will undergo mood swings or depressive episodes for one to two months after childbirth.

1. HOLIDAY DEPRESSION

As per the National Alliance on Mental Illness in the year 2014 -

• Almost two-thirds of the people who went for the holiday outings felt depressed, stressed and lonely due to financial constraints. 

• Almost 64% of folks undergoing some mental sickness revealed that going on a holiday made them more depressed.

1. DEPRESSION ACCORDING TO AGE 

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association, 2018 -

• People above 50 years had only 4.5% of the depression threat. 

• The highest threat of depression was faced by the adults between the age group of 12 to 17 years almost by 14.4%.

• In adults between 18 to 25 years, the depression rate was around 13.8%.

• Almost 11.5 million adult folks faced major depressive disorder along with the severity of this illness.

1. DEPRESSION IN AMERICA

As per the 'National Institute of Mental Health 2017' -

• Almost 16.9% of the adolescents had depression.

• Almost 11.3% of the adults had depression.

• Almost 7.1% of adults I.e., 17.3 million Adults faced at least one major depressive disorder.

• Almost 63.8% of adults faced severe impairments.

• Almost 70.77% of adolescents went through severe impairments.

How serious the Depression could be?

Depression can be serious to a level you can't imagine! It directly attacks the brain and hampers its functionality. Check them below -

1. Brain Inflammation

Inflammation and depression have a strong correlation to each other. The brain Inflammation at the time of depression tells us that how many times an individual had experienced the phase of depressing vibes. 

Researchers are still working on the fact that whether depression leads to Inflammation or if the vice 

versa is true! 

What a brain Inflammation can lead to?

• Death of brain cells
• Minimizing the functioning of neurotransmitters

• Negatively affecting the overall brain development

• Ill effect on mood

• Brain shrinkage

• Complications while learning and memorizing things

• Neuroplasticity -  diminishing the capacity of the brain with the age 

According to the mental health experts, - 'Folks who has been depressed for more than 10 years in a row are more likely to show the Brain Inflammation by almost 30% as compared to others who had faced depression for fewer years.'

1. Limited Oxygen Regulation

The worst thing depression can do in your body is reducing or limiting the supply of oxygen to the body. One obvious thing it does is letting the breathing issues in people. Although researchers are still on their way to make this judgment that whether breathing issues cause depression or if the vice versa is true. 

What it can lead to? 

• Cell Injuries of Brain

• Brain Inflammation

• Death of the Brain Cells

Our Brain cells are highly sensitive to the less supply of oxygen leading to the dangerous results mentioned above. Apart from this, it also leads to a reduction in your thinking power, learning capabilities, and recalling things.  

If you face such issues, you can go for the treatment related to the hyperbaric oxygen chamber - A proven way to increase the supply of oxygen in the brain leading to relief in depression symptoms! 

1. Structural & Connective alterations

Depression can go extreme in severe cases leading to Structural & Connective alterations. Its repercussions get into effect within eight months approximately. 

Results of Structural & Connective alterations 

• Decreased functioning of Amygdala - 'It has the direct effect on the sentimental response and the mood of an individual.'

• Decreased functioning of Prefrontal Cortex, - 'It hampers the productivity of an individual making him resistant to complete any task.' 

• Decreased functioning of Hippocampus, - 'It directly leads to the impairment of the memory where a person feels difficult to remember the things.'

1. Brain Shrinkage

Depression is extremely a serious mental health concern. It can lead to altering the size of a brain region. When a brain shrink, all the functionalities linked with it, shrinks as well. 

Effect of depression is so in-depth that it might lead to effecting the following regions of the brain leading to serious issues-

• Frontal

• Thalamus

• Amygdala

• Prefrontal Cortices

• Hippocampus

Here, the amount of brain shrinkage is affected by the duration and the seriousness of the depression. 

In the case of the Hippocampus, the changes due to the depression will be visible within the period of 8 months to 1 year. 

Final Words

Depression can go out of the way as explained above if not detected and diagnosed. Here, stress also plays an important factor - balance your life by dedicating your time to some spiritual stuff that will calm your mind keeping stress away! The calmer you stay, the more your brain will function well keeping the life-taking and hazardous brain dysfunctioning away from you! Take care of your mental health as you take care of your physical health - everything is related in the universe.

Take Depression symptoms seriously, before it turns your life into a serious condition! 

Reference

https://www.singlecare.com/blog/news/depression-statistics/