Essay on Australia’s health issues – Depression

Question ?? Depression in Australia and other health related issues???

Solution the question frames is::

Depression is a state of mind when the person is not in his normal self and suffers from frequent mood swings (Wolters Klower, 2012). During this period the person acts negatively

while talking with people and seems to be confused. This problem mostly takes place during adolescence or during late childhood period. It can have huge negative effects of the physical well-being and thoughts of the person. People suffering from depression always feel sad, empty, worried, guilty, hurt, or anxious. They start losing interest in normal activities of life and are not able to socialize properly. It may be there for short term in some people but most of the times it lasts long and results in dangerous actions like suicide. Depression should not be compared with any psychiatric disorder but it occurs with some difficult life events. This can be some medical condition or arise out of an unsuccessful relationship. But if it is not treated at the right time and ignored then it can lead to a form of psychiatric disorder. There are three levels of depressive phenomena that include course, nature, and treatment. After many research programs and investigations there were suggestions for a national policy that would help in controlling depression as it has been increasing at a faster rate.  

 

Today the problem of depressive disorder has been increasing at a fast rate in Australian adolescence. This has been affecting the cognitive, somatic, and affective processes of the youth. It results in poor interpersonal relationships, academic failure, behavioural problems, etc. It is very important when one should refer a specialist and help the youth without affecting his self-confidence (J. Emily, 2006). The implications of depression on the way the young Australians lead their life has proved to be disastrous and sometimes they are not able to cope with it. The statistics of Mental Health Survey is as follows:

 

Age                             Prevalence of Depression among Australians

4-11 years                                16%

12-16 years                              22%

18-24 years                              28%

25-34 years                              23%

35-44 years                              22%

45-54 years                              18%

55-65 years                              12%

65+ years                                   6%

Reasons for increase in depression issues in Australian Adolescents

Australia comprises of linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. People from diverse groups and different communities have been increasing at a substantial rate. The size of establishment, language, migration of people, support to specific community, are the reasons that have been creating differences. These cultural differences and complicated issues are one of the main reasons of depression. The prevalence of affective disorder for people present in non-English speaking countries is much lesser as compared to people born and brought up in Australia. The refugees comprise 10percent in Australia’s annual migrant calculation and get the benefit of humanitarian criteria. They get benefits under humanitarian grounds of suffering persecution and human rights issues. Individual assessment of torture survivors shows 80 percent of people who took referral for the rehabilitation accept that they have high depressive symptoms. Though the data from rural regions in Australia does not have much information on depression but the suicide rates in Australian rural regions have increased considerably. The suicide rates of men in these areas are more i.e. the young men in the age group of 16-25 years. Since there is a huge correlation between suicide and depression it shows high increased depressive disorders in rural men. One of the major disadvantages that rural men in Australia have been facing is the lack of health care services and no proper services mental health problems.

Australians have contributed to more than 2 to 3 percent of world’s publications (Profile of Depression in Australia) related to depression and this is commensurate to other areas of Australian health care research. The major themes that have dominated recent publications are assessment, classification, and diagnosis along with other problems related to a person’s health. In these publications the research was done with the people who received special treatments for depression. The researchers need to focus on communities and adolescents to carry out proper prevention and psychological treatment. NHMRC has contributed hugely to public finding for problems related to depression. NHMRC has been allocating funds to many programs based on depression at Universities and other project grants. NHMRC and Australian Research Council have been contributing hugely to research about the depression cases in Australia. The reason for depression cases in Australia is not different from other parts of the world. The increase in competition and inclination towards some specific community has been the main reason for depressive problems. The graph of depression cases in and around Australia is on the rise and it would continue to rise if equal opportunities are not provided to everyone.

Determinants of Depression

Determining depression cases is one of the most difficult things and as a result of this most of the cases are not cured properly. The main thing that would help in determining chronicity of depression is having a look at the intentions and achievements of the person. It is common that unfulfilled intentions and fewer opportunities are the main reasons behind depression. In an experiment the researchers made comparisons between the behaviour of 18 depressed patients, 3 non-depressed people, 10 male schizophrenics, and 7 male alcoholics. This was done to determine whether people with depressive tendencies have unrealistic intentions or not. The study was conducted by examining the reduction in memory capacity that was followed by some unrealistic goal. The results were interesting and indicated that a person’s tendency to conceal unrealistic instructions in intentional format is associated with the personal history of the person’s depressive episodes. It was seen that the memory capacity of the person is unaffected and only short-term memory problems occurred.

 The cause of depression is perceived to be caused due to different social and environmental factors. For long there have been experiments and researches conducted to quantitatively survey the possibility of spread of depression from one person to another. A network level process that would determine the depressive symptoms was conducted among 12067 socially connected people. The researchers found that in a given period the increase in depression was strongly correlated between the neighbours and friends. This shows that people who discuss their issues with each other have strong chances of facing increase in depression. The research used a scoring system to classify the depressed people and the scores between the people socially related were seen to be similar. In cases of female friends the spread of depression seemed to be higher and it was seen that while discussing each other’s problems they indirectly influenced each other. The word depression has more impact on girls and they start influencing each other while discussing depression cases. The network phenomena has appeared to be very helpful while understanding depression and further studies would help in finding more about the cases related to depressive disorders.

The other sources that can help in determining depressive disorders are pharmaceutical companies. The rise in amount of antidepressants and the amount being used today can only be obtained through the Pharmaceutical companies. These companies keep a track record of these cases and have been a sponsoring the trials related to depression. This has proved to be a great source of help and can enable the institutions to treat depression at an early stage. It has been observed that the non-pharmaceutical researches don’t have a strong funding base and their effectiveness has been low. But the determination of these cases requires equal support of both the research bases along with effective treatments.

Many institutions in Australia have started different surveys to understand the reasons for rise in the cases of depressive disorders in Australia. They also found new treatments for bipolar disorders that could help the adolescents excel in every field and remain stress free. While determining depression cases they used the cases of some famous personalities who went through depression and one of them was Ian Thorpe.  

Adopting a proper health system and incorporating strategies that are relevant to the determinants

The strategies that should be used while treating depression are equally proportional to the way they are determined. The results of the research and different studies should be carefully examined while treating depressive disorders. One cannot expect a person to heal any problem without understanding its symptom (brains.org, 1996). The only way to understand the symptoms and the extent of increase in depressive disorders is to understand the studies made by different institutions and research. Australian institutions go through the academic profile of their students and try to understand the way they behave with their peers. The response of the adolescents to serious issued have also been studied and it was found that the main reason was the decrease in self-confidence. To prevent this parents and teachers should talk with the adolescents and understand their unfulfilled intentions. If they feel that they lack some quality then the people around them can help them out and increase their confidence to go ahead. The pharmaceutical companies and non-pharmaceutical research institutions both should take equal steps in Australia to try and decrease the cases of depression.   

It is believed that most of the depression cases are related to genetic factors. Symptoms of depression are often exhibited during adolescence if there is a history of depression in the family. Often it has been observed that depressed children belong from parents suffering from depression. Apart from genetic disorders, deficits in social skill might also contribute towards depression. The deficits in social skills are hard to determine as there always remains a doubt whether deficit in social skills causes depression or results from it. Adjustment problems with sexual orientation might also be a reason behind depression. Studies have shown that there happens to be some link between adolescent suicide and homosexuality.

Mental disorder in early adulthood or late adolescence seriously disrupts and impedes development and growth of a person which erodes the basic qualities of life. It can have a serious impact on confidence, create dependency on family, affect family and social relationships, disrupt career and education and prevent social development during a time when these things are absolutely important. The effects can remain for lifetime and it is essential to intervene at the right time to provide necessary treatment and advises.

The treatments of depression include training on coping skills and non-tricyclic antidepressants. Suicide prevention and depression detection are best carried out by nurses in specialty care settings. Psychoeducation plays an important role in recovering from depression by promoting healthy lifestyle, improving social skills and through proper assistance helping the individual to use and identify social support sources. If these measures are followed then premature death can be avoided and well-being for long term can easily be promoted.

Responsibility of Individuals and Society towards depressive disorders

One cannot ignore the fact that society and individuals have equal responsibility towards depressive disorders. If a person has been under depression because of different social issues then the people around them should take steps to understand their problems and provide effective advices. The individual himself should be aware of the things happening around him and should conduct self-check to get rid of depression. It is best if the individual is able is to understand the problems he is going through and take advices from adults around him. Family can be the biggest support for the people who are going through depression and talk about the problems of the adolescents in their family.

The above mentioned cases of depression in Australia should be taken into consideration to understand the responsibility of individuals and society. If there are some differences between ethnic groups and people feel that specific society is being favoured then they should not get discouraged. Even the people in the society should encourage adolescents (Help Guide, 2012) and try to remove the differences between people. The government and society should try to create equal opportunities for everyone and help the adolescents get rid of their unfulfilled desires. Though it is not easy to help out every one and make them successful but if the society and individuals work together then it would be much better.    

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