What Is Depression?

Depression is a serious condition that negatively affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. In contrast to normal sadness, clinical depression is persistent, often interferes with a person’s ability to experience or anticipate pleasure, and significantly interferes with functioning in daily life.

Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home.

Depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include:

  • Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
  • Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
  • Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
  • Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
  • Loss of energy or increased fatigue
  • Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., inability to sit still, pacing, handwringing) or slowed movements or speech (these actions must be severe enough to be observable by others)
  • Feeling worthless or guilty
  • Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
  • Thoughts of death or suicide
  • Depression is a common mental disorder. Globally, it is estimated that 5.0% of adults suffer from depression (1).
  • Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease.
  • More women are affected by depression than men.
  • Depression can lead to suicide.
  • There is effective treatment for mild, moderate, and severe depression.

More symptoms

Symptoms of Depression

The symptoms of depression can range from mild to severe and include the following:

  • A persistent feeling of sadness
  • Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed
  • Changes in appetite – weight loss or gain
  • Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
  • Loss of energy or increased fatigue
  • Increase in purposeless tasks or physical activities such as pacing
  • Slowed movements and speech
  • Feeling guilty or worthless
  • Difficulty thinking or concentrating
  • Decreased confidence and self-esteem
  • Negative, bleak, or pessimistic attitude
  • Self-harmful or suicidal thoughts or actions

Prevalence

According to WHO The proportion of the global population with depression in 2015 is estimated to be 4.4%. Upper and lower uncertainty intervals are represented in the bar graph by the error bars. Depression is more common among females (5.1%) than males (3.6%).Prevalence varies by WHO Region, from a low of 2.6% among males in the Western Pacific Region to 5.9% among females in the African Region. The total number of people living with depression in the world is 322 million. Nearly half of these people live in the South-East Asia Region and Western Pacific Region, reflecting the relatively larger populations of those two Regions (which include India and China, for example). The total estimated number of people living with depression increased by 18.4% between 2005 and 2015 This reflects the overall growth of the global population, as well as a proportionate increase in the age groups at which depression is more prevalent.1

Depression is a common mental disorder. Globally, it is estimated that 5.0% of adults suffer from depression . Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease.More women are affected by depression than men.Depression can lead to suicide.There is effective treatment for mild, moderate, and severe depression.2

Depression is a common illness worldwide, with an estimated 3.8% of the population affected, including 5.0% among adults and 5.7% among adults older than 60 years (1). Approximately 280 million people in the world have depression.3

In Pakistan 4.2% population is suffering from depression4

The apparent point prevalence of depression from Urban Rawalpindi was found to be 25% for women and 10% for men.5 In another study, using a similar methodology, the prevalence estimate from rural community setting of Rawalpindi was 57.5% for women and 25.5% for men.6

Of thIn a study there were 1159 subjects, 367(31.6%) were males and 792(68.3%) were females. The overall age range was 19-45 years. Of all the subjects, 986(85%) had some degree of depression, while 173(15%) were normal. Depression in females was significantly higher than males (p<0.05). Depression also had a significant association with academic grades (p<0.001). Depression was found to be common among university students in Pakistani.7 the values of anxiety and depression ranging from 22% to as high as 60% in a given population.8

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A total of 259 people were screened (96% response rate). The second stage yielded 55 cases, of whom 54 had depressive disorder, and 48 non-cases. The adjusted prevalence of depressive disorders was 44·4% (95% CI 35·3 to 53·6): 25·5% in males and 57·5% in females.9

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 400 people, chosen through non-probability consecutive sampling, from Karachi, Pakistan. Most of the participants comprehended depression as a natural feeling of sadness rather than a mental disorder. The vast majority cited increased stress (72.2%) and physical/ emotional trauma (51.3%) as the main causes of depression. The most popularly associated symptoms were sadness (53.3%), irritability (53.3%), inability to perform daily tasks (52.8%), and changes in sleeping patterns (52%). Participants believed depression to be best treated by talking to someone trustworthy (59.5%), praying to God (56.5%) and consulting a psychologist/psychiatrist (52.3%).10

A two-phase survey of a general population sample in a Pakistani village was performed. The adjusted prevalence of depressive disorders was 44-4% (95% CI 35.3 to 53.6): 25.5% in males and 57.5% in females. 11

A pilot study of depression among older people in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The objectives of the present study are to report the magnitude of depression among elderly having two different residential arrangements and to examine the association of depression and its established demographic factors. Prevalence of depression as assessed by Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) among community and Care Homes (CHs) participants was 31.5 percent and 60.6 percent, respectively.12

References

  1. World Health Organization. Depression and other common mental disorders: global health estimates. World Health Organization; 2017.
  2. Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation. Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx).  http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool?params=gbd-api-2019-permalink/d780dffbe8a381b25e1416884959e88b (Accessed 1 May 2021).
  3. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression
  4. Ref:https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/depression-rates-by-country
  5. Mumford DB, Minhas FA, Akhtar I, Akhtar S, Mubbashar MH. Stress and Psychiatric disorder in Urban Rawalpindi: a community survey. Br J Psychiatry 2000; 177:557-62.
  6. Mumford DB, Saeed K, Ahmad I, Latif S, Mubbashar MH. Stress and psychiatric disorder in rural Punjab: a community survey. Br J Psychiatry 1997; 170:473-8.
  7. Gul F, Yuefen W, Ullah I, Zada S. Study of depression in university students in Pakistan. JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association. 2020 Apr 1;70(4):650-4.
  8. Ahmed B, Enam SF, Iqbal Z, Murtaza G, Bashir S. Depression and anxiety: a snapshot of the situation in Pakistan. International Journal of Neuroscience and Behavioral Science. 2016;4(2):32
  9. Husain N, Creed F, Tomenson B. Depression and social stress in Pakistan. Psychological medicine. 2000 Mar;30(2):395-402.
  10. Nisar M, Mohammad RM, Fatima S, Shaikh PR, Rehman M. Perceptions pertaining to clinical depression in Karachi, Pakistan. Cureus. 2019 Jul 7;11(7).
  11. Husain N, Creed F, Tomenson B. Depression and social stress in Pakistan. Psychological medicine. 2000 Mar;30(2):395-402.
  12. Qadir F, Haqqani S, Khalid A, Huma Z, Medhin G. A pilot study of depression among older people in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. BMC research notes. 2014 Dec;7(1):1-9.