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Depression
Student’s Name
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Instructor
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Depression
Reason for Choosing This Topic
Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders and has been reported to
affect millions of people across the world regardless of age, gender, or color. This topic was
developed to highlight the increased influence of the phenomenon and the impact on the person
and their close ones and society as a whole. For the personal support workers who always meet
clients with depression, it is important to understand the effects of the mental illness.
Definition
Depression is basically defined by APA as a mental health disorder that results in
sadness, lack of interest, and a host of physical and emotional complaints. Basically, it means
that depression changes the emotional state and cognitive abilities and reduces a person’s
capabilities for managing even basic tasks (Gold et al., 2020).
Symptoms
Other signs that suggest that the person may be depressed are low mood, lack of energy,
lack of motivation to engage in things one used to enjoy, changes in appetite, and difficulty
focusing. People also may suffer from sleep disturbances, feelings of low self-esteem, and
suicidal intentions (Thapar et al., 2022).
Major Problems
Several studies have shown that depression poses a serious threat to the health of an
individual; it contributes to fatigue, chronic pains, and weak immunity to diseases, among others.
Depression leads to withdrawal from people, such as friends and family, hence no one to support
them as they battle their problems. Psychologically, depression interferes severely with a
person’s well-being due to the constancy of the mental state that the patient develops irritability,
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anxiety, and hopelessness. These emotional issues can also affect their performance at the
workplace, resulting in financial stress from job loss or lack of employment. It is widely
practiced and causes issues such as absenteeism, poor performance at work, job loss, and career
demotion. All these combine to form a cycle of difficulty that aggravates the impact of
depression on an individual’s well-being (Fried et al., 2022).
Impact on Family
Depression often has an adverse impact on the family, members of which can be hardly
aware of the facts, nature, and ways of supporting the afflicted person. This commonly results in
anger, misunderstandings, and burnout for the people directly related to the particular person.
Next, there is great pressure on caregivers’s emotions; for caregivers, it is tough to be
psychologically healthy and to be helping the diseased person who is suffering from depression.
Another problem is that in that culture, often people do not pay attention to their mental health,
which will lead to more and more family members isolating themselves, which will inevitably
cause tensions and even some resentment.
Impact on Society
It also has significant implications for the success, growth, and well-being of society in
general. In fact, it is one of the most common sources of loss of time in the workplace, as
affected individuals may have a problem with their ability to work, thereby leading to becoming
absent from work or being low performers. Evidently, such costs are not limited to medication
only but also, amongst others, include the medical treatment and therapy that is necessitated by
depression (Cunningham et al., 2021). State and local governments are also overburdened to
cater for growing populations seeking assistance for mental health problems.
Coping Strategies
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Personal Support Workers are involved in assisting people with conditions such as
depression through non-pharmacological means. This will go a long way in helping them create
a healthy routine and an active lifestyle by insisting on the clients referring to a routine, doing
some exercises, and practicing certain exercises that help to promote a good mood.
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References
Cunningham, S., Hudson, C. C., & Harkness, K. (2021). Social media and depression symptoms:
a meta-analysis. Research on child and adolescent psychopathology, 49(2), 241-253.
Fried, E. I., Flake, J. K., & Robinaugh, D. J. (2022). Revisiting the theoretical and
methodological foundations of depression measurement. Nature Reviews
Psychology, 1(6), 358-368.
Gold, S. M., Köhler-Forsberg, O., Moss-Morris, R., Mehnert, A., Miranda, J. J., Bullinger, M., ...
& Otte, C. (2020). Comorbid depression in medical diseases. Nature Reviews Disease
Primers, 6(1), 69.
Thapar, A., Eyre, O., Patel, V., & Brent, D. (2022). Depression in young people. The
Lancet, 400(10352), 617-631.
