Introduction
Having a continuous sense of exhaustion, feeling of sadness, and hopelessness are the key signs of clinical or major depression. This mood disorder is an illness; it makes one feel frustrated, angry, miserable, and apathetic. Such mood changes alter the daily life an individual quite a long and may last for years. Every individual faces moment of feeling sad and tired, yet, they tend to pass by over time. In case of such condition sets in and starts to make serious negative impact on a person’s life it is recognized as depression and requires professional treatment.
Depression has been selected as a research topic due to its growing rates in the modern world and the danger it presents to both male and female individuals of all ages and backgrounds. In this paper I will review and analyze two scholarly articles concerning depression, its sings in male and female patients, and its connection and similarity to other disorders.
People’s behaviorchanges according to events are around them. We become encouraged when we achieve something and downcast when we lose something. Many kids in grade school understand the term being ‘depressed’, but being clinically diagnosed requires different logistics. A depressive condition has three degrees – mild, moderate, and severe, with or without psychotic features.
Many famous people have suffered from Major Depression among them there were Judy Garland, Kurt Cobain, and Marilyn Monroe. Psychiatrists and Clinical Specialists are trained to recognize this condition and not to confuse it with other similar disorders. The experts are also researching various kinds and signs of depression since this disorder may vary in different patients based on such factors as their social status, causes for being depressed, sex, occupation, age among others.
Overview of the Literature
The first article reviewed for this paper is called “Depression in Men and Women: Relative Rank, Interpersonal, Dependency, and Risk-Taking”. It was written by Gayle Brewer and Nicola Olive in order to develop a better understanding of the emotional and social causes of depression. The authors of this article view depression as a malfunction of adaptive behavior observing that depression frequently is combined with dissatisfaction with one’s social status and position (Brewer & Olive, 2014). In the article it is noted that depressive state can be characterized with feeling defeated or brought down.
Brewer and Olive (2014) state that normally depressive state occurs in response to one’s loss during a competition of any kind and their rival’s signaling about this individual inability to continue competing and no longer being a threat. The authors also notice that depression in not specific to humans only, and other species can experience this state which is always connected to their social position.
Clinical depression is recognized when a person’s feeling of being defeated continues regardless of the circumstances and does not come to end. In such cases depressive state is dangerous as it starts to affect an individual’s everyday life, relationships, work, and may lead to suicide attempts based on dissatisfaction with one’s accomplishments.
The second study reviewed for this paper is “Is Burnout a Depressive Disorder? A Reexamination with Special Focus on Atypical Depression” by Bianchi, Schonfeld, and Laurent. This work explores the similarities and differences between burnout and depression in order to help the researchers and practitioners to help the patients with both of these disorders since there is a challenge in describing burnout and its signs and telling it apart from depression.
The authors notice that work-related stress is a key cause of both burnout and occupational depression. In fact, depression is characterized as the most complicated diseases for midlife patients in terms of disability-adjustment (Bianchi, Schonfeld, & Laurent, 2014). The authors struggle to determine whether or not burnout should be viewed as a form of depression since these disorders tend to overlap.
Analysis of the Literature
Both of the reviewed studies note the complicatedness and severity of depression in the contemporary world. Besides, the idea about depression being an unnaturally prolonged feeling of defeat expressed by Brewer and Olive (2014) is very similar to the opinion that depression occurs because of the individuals’ inability to affect the situation and work and influence the development of unwanted circumstances mentioned by Bianchi, Schonfeld, and Laurent (2014).
One more similar feature of the reviewed papers is that both of the employ questionnaire as a tool to conduct their research, but while the study by Brewer and Olive examines a variety of aspects of the participants, Bianchi, Schonfeld, and Laurent focus only on the individuals’ occupation. Both of the researches end up confirming the hypotheses they posed beginning their work.
Brewer and Olive (2014) prove that depressive state evolves from a defeat, increases its probability when there are higher levels of interpersonal dependency, and reduces the individuals’ desire to take risks. Bianchi, Schonfeld, and Laurent (2014) come to a conclusion that burnout is impossible to distinguish from a depression and note that the treatment from depression could be applied to burned-out patients.
Reactions to the Literature
Treatment of depression can be provided can be in two ways – with a help of medicine such as antidepressants and through the course of psychotherapy of some kind. Extremely depressed persons and those contemplating to commit suicide should receive hospital treatment. Patients are recommended to be constant in contacting their personal doctors to help them monitor the overall progress of the situation. Providers can use antidepressants to treat clinical depression; the medicines restore the chemical level in the brain. Psychotherapy involves one-on-one discussions with a mental health provider.
It is a common practice helping a patient to reveal their thoughts and analyze their behaviors under the supervision of their doctor. It is the sole responsibility of psychotherapists to apply varied techniques in order to put the patients in a favorable situation for sharing personal information. Psychosocial therapy or counseling exists in different categories, such as dialectic behavioral therapy, mindfulness techniques, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
The papers reviewed for this paper raise rather important questions considering depression and its aspects. Based on the conclusions of the research conducted by Brewer and Olive I assume that to provide an emotional way out of a depressive state one might be recommended to engage into mild recreational risks, try new experiences. In my opinion, such therapy may help to snap the depressed patients out of their prolonged feeling of defeat, add some adventure in their lives and make them feel as achievers again.
This may also help the burned-out workers, as their main issue is work relayed stress, to forget about work they might start participating in exciting activities. I think that the further research of depression and its causes is necessary to work out a manual for a modern human being that would help everyone avoid depression or cope with it at the earliest stages.
Of course, such factors increasing the risk of depression as work-related stress, interpersonal dependency, and defeats are impossible to eliminate, so as a disease depression will never be gone from our society, but at least the researchers of various fields may find the best strategies to address the depressions while they are on initial stages.
Conclusion
Depression is a widespread disorder that affects 340 million people in the world. About half of all of these conditions are unrecognized and untreated. About 10-15% of those who suffer from this take their own lives. No one is immune to depression. Those with severe depression find it impossible to continue with their everyday lives. A person suffering from severe depression may be hard to treat, this is why the modern society needs researchers to raise awareness about this disease and educate the individuals about coping methods and tools that are available to everyone and may help to save lives.
Reference List
Bianchi, R., Schonfeld, I. S., & Laurent, E. (2014). Is burnout a depressive disorder? A reexamination with special focus on atypical depression. American Psychological Association, 21(4), 307-324.
Brewer, G. & Olive, N. (2014). Depression in men and women: Relative rank, interpersonal dependency, and risk-taking. American Psychological Association, 8(3), 142-147.