Patients may be reticent to talk to their doctors about depression

bluediamond

bluediamond

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People suffering from depression may not bring it up with their doctor for a number of reasons, a study finds. The most common one? They're afraid of getting a recommendation for antidepressants.

Those findings are featured in a study released Monday in the journal Annals of Family Medicine. In it, researchers surveyed 1,054 adults about why they wouldn't tell their primary care physician about depression symptoms, as well as their beliefs about the mental disorder. Depression symptoms, the study authors note, are underreported.

Among the participants, 43% reported one or more reasons why they wouldn't discuss symptoms with a doctor. The most common obstacles to not reporting symptoms were the prospect of being put on medication, the belief that it's not the doctor's job to handle emotional issues, and worries over medical record privacy. At least 10% of the participants said that fear of being referred to a counselor or psychiatrist and being branded a psychiatric patient were stumbling blocks.

http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-depression-silence-20110912,0,341639.story
 
This is sad. At least the stigmas issue. I completely agree with the medication issue. Over 90% of people on anti-depressants do not need to be on them and are over-prescribed. If you don't require them, they actually change your brain chemistry and neurotransmitters and cause a myriad of physical and psychological issues including the very issue they're trying to solve. As to the stigmas, that's a problem in America and possibly other countries as well. Here in America, we're taught to be self-reliant and independent. Asking for help in anything is already a barrier and now you throw in the stigma of seeing a "shrink" and it only leads to people not seeking the help that they need.
 
Here in Germany, it has been estimated recently, that about 1/5th of the working population is suffering from some kind of burnout syndrome. Especially economical pressures but also peer pressure drives people to work harder, more hours, for less pay than they used to, and only a small fraction is actively seeking help for roughly the same reasons as mentioned above (8.5‰ = 0.85% of all people are treated for psychological reasons, twice as many as 20 years ago).

I was on antidepressants once in 2006 for two weeks, and I probably won't do it again, b/c the pills gave me an "I don't give a rat's ****" attitude, and I almost became addicted to gambling (a documented side effect of the drug), and was thirsty all day and my kidneys didn't like it (another documented side effect). But in retrospect, it helped me to cope with my stress issues in a different way, my mind found a solution afterwards.

Of people my age, many had psychological problems from their 30ies onward (I'm 41 now), so I guess I'm not the only one.

Often the problem is simply how to deal with daily routine when life seems to be the same all day every day.

Definitely, one has to find rooms of freedom for oneself, however tiny they may be, and give oneself a little joy every day, a different kind of joy, if possible. Otherwise, life would be essentially unbearable.
 
Wow, that's only 150 km (93 mi) from here (I live near France and near the Black Forest).
 
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