Hlst236 Psychology : Different Methods Assessment Answers

Answer:

For many, depression may sound or seem like someone in low moods for having a bad day or receiving some bad news. A single day of low moods may be characterized by some as depression. But this is not the case. Depression may be associated with low moods but the moods should be persistent. Persistency may include two, three weeks and so forth. It should take a while and should affect the life of the patient. Depression ranges from mild to severe in every instance. The mild cases seem to fade off after some period with little or no treatment. The severe cases tend to turn the patient suicidal and that is never good. There are patients who may experience moderate cases of depression. This is neither mild nor severe. Depression affects every human being from children to adults, men to women and from the young to the very old in the society. It leaves no exception. Current studies indicate that one out of ten people are affected by depression.

Depression has many causes that could trigger it. And for some, it may be hereditary. In a family with a line of depression patients, there are high chances that the future members of that family will be diagnosed with depression. This may not be the case to some family tree lines, but studies have shown that it may be true to most.

Bullying in kids tend to a leave a lasting mark of questions of why they are constantly bullied. It also makes them feel different and maybe not fit in the society they are in. For those who lose their jobs while they have to pay bills and settle debts and expenses are also vulnerable to depression. Some cases are due to losing someone very close to you. Most always have close dependence on the close member who passed. They will mostly feel that they cannot live without such members. Other cases include economical downfall or financial crisis, unexpected circumstances such as unexpected pregnancies and births, constant mistreatments especially for abused children in families and abuses through bodily harms or rape for men, women and kids. Generic inheritance may also be summed up as part of the causes of depression. All this may lead to an individual experiencing depression and if not treated may lead to death.

Depressed patients for some people may be hard to be identified since it seems like someone experiencing a bad day. Just like any other sickness, depression also has its signs and symptoms. Some may be physical and some emotional. The physical signs of depression include an individual constantly avoiding events and activities both social and personal that they enjoy, constant attempts or thoughts of suicide, for some they may have a low sex drive, low concentration, constantly lost in thoughts, they may get involved in drugs such as alcohol, tobacco or cocaine, less sleep, loss of appetite and feeling continuously agitated by even the small things. The unseen symptoms include being upset, tearful, irritable, feeling guilty or worthless, feeling empty and unwanted, being in isolation, hopeless and lack of confidence. All this are signs and symptoms that may help identify an individual experiencing depression.

In some researches, it has been found that there are specific kinds of depression which may affect different individuals. They include seasonal affective disorder (SAD) which affects individuals during winter. Most cases are always diagnosed during winter and they may be mild or moderate depression when put to scale (March, Silva, Petrycki, Curry, Wells, Fairbank, Burns, Domino, McNulty Vitiello, and Severe, 2009). There is dysthymia which is a continuous mild depression that mostly last two years or more. It persists for a long time thus its other name, persistent depressive disorder. There are also other kinds of depression that mostly affects women. They include prenatal depression that occurs during pregnancy and postnatal depression which occurs months after delivery and becoming parents. Postnatal depression also affects men.

Depression has different methods of treatment that can be tried by a physician on a patient. The major treatments of a patient with depression include talking treatments and medication. The talking treatments are mostly effective in every stage of depression and they include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), interpersonal therapy (IP), behavioral couple’s therapy for partners, behavioral activation and psychodynamic psychotherapy. One may also be given medical prescription most commonly known as antidepressants and they include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) and tricyclics and tricyclics-related drugs. Most of these drugs are mostly paired with talking treatments to facilitate efficient recovery for the patients. There is also electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) which is also method of treatment for depression.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment of depression that is only considered as a last resort for extreme cases. This may be concluded through long, severe period of depression or when the medications don’t seem to be working. It is a shock treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in depression patients in mild amount to give relief from the disorders. It was first used in 1938 and it still is used now. This therapy is applied by consent from the patient. The ECT method is given under anesthetic and it is applied in three forms which vary. The forms include electrode placement, frequency of treatment and electrical waveform of the stimulus (Löwe, Unützer, Callahan, Perkins and Kroenke, 2008). After treatment with ECT, patients are still put under drug therapy. The method works for 50% of the patients and some of them relapse back just after twelve months. Despite it working for some periods, it has serious side effects which include memory loss and confusion. Despite its effects, ECT is still in use in some developed countries.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a treatment that takes a hands-on practical approach to problem solving through changing pattern of behavior and thinking from low to normal mood or feel. It was pioneered in 1960s by Dr. Aaron Beck. CBT involves six phases that include assessment, reconceptualization, skills acquisition, skills consolidation and application training, generalization and maintenance and post-treatment assessment follow up. The CBT method is up to date still in practice by many physicians worldwide due to its effectiveness.

In conclusion, depression can be very severe when left untreated or checked. If the patient is not looked after, they may end fall for the suicidal thoughts. The methods of treatment recognized such as CBT and the antidepressants should be used and qualified physicians consulted. In cases of resistance to these methods, only then a patient is to be referred to an ECT method under their consent. The method should be implemented under watchful supervision due to its effects on the mind of the patients.

References:

Löwe, B., Unützer, J., Callahan, C.M., Perkins, A.J. and Kroenke, K., 2008. Monitoring depression treatment outcomes with the patient health questionnaire-9. Medical care, 42(12), pp.1194-1201.

March, J., Silva, S., Petrycki, S., Curry, J., Wells, K., Fairbank, J., Burns, B., Domino, M., McNulty, S., Vitiello, B. and Severe, J., 2009. Fluoxetine, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and their combination for adolescents with depression: Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS) randomized controlled trial. Jama, 292(7), pp.807-820.