Health issue: Depression compare it in Australia Vs. USA

1.     Introduction

Feeling upset or low sometimes is common for everyone but the problem occurs when such feelings are prolonged for a long while. Depression is a mood disorder which causes upsetting symptoms that affects the way an individual perceives, thinks and manages their day to day activities, such as sleeping, working, eating etc. If such symptoms are present in an individual for at least 2 weeks then they are to be diagnosed with depression. Moreover, Major depression and Persistent depressive disorder, which is also known as dysthymia, are the two most common types of depression. When an individual is showing features of depression most of the day for at least a week are having Major depression. Some people get this depression once in their lifetime and some get several episodes of this form of depression whereas persisted depressive syndrome is is the one which lasts for the minimum of 2 years time (NIMH, 2016).

2.     Discussion

2.1.  Prevalence

At the moment, the most common mental health issue in general population is depression (Sinyor, et al., 2016). It is distinguished by upsetness, loss of happiness, feelings of guilt and having low self-esteem for themselves. Moreover, it disrupts sleeping and eating activities, feeling of fatigue are generated and low self-worth is observed in the individuals suffering from depression. Depression can make an individual to go and kill himself due to the immense feeling of distress (Choo, et al., 2014).  Depression has become so common that WHO (World Health Organisation) estimated that by the year 2020, among all the global illness burdens Depression will be on the second rank and it needs the most attention as compared to the other diseases (Sayers, 2001).

References

NIMH (2016). Depression Basics. [ebook] National Institute of Mental Health. Available at: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/depressionbasics-508-01112017_150043.pdf [Accessed 10 Sep. 2018].

Sinyor, M., Rezmovitz, J. and Zaretsky, A., 2016. Screen all for depression. BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online), 352.

Choo, C., Diederich, J., Song, I. and Ho, R., 2014. Cluster analysis reveals risk factors for repeated suicide attempts in a multi-ethnic Asian population. Asian journal of psychiatry, 8, pp.38-42.

Sayers, J., 2001. The world health report 2001-Mental health: new understanding, new hope. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 79, pp.1085-1085.