Depression a Common Mental Disorder: An Over View

Depression is a common and often debilitating reaction to chronic illness. Up to one third of all medical in-patients with chronic disease report at least moderate symptoms of depression and up to one quarter suffer from severe depression. Depression increases with the severity of the illness. The experience of pain and disability in particular lead to depression which in turn increases pains and disability. These problems are aggravated in those who are experiencing other negative life events, social stress, and lack of social support. Moreover, depression can exacerbate the symptoms and complicate the treatment of many diseases, including diabetes, cancer, CHD, stroke, hypertension, MI, AIDS and epilepsy. Depression over illness and treatment has also been linked to suicide among the chronically ill. Perhaps most importantly, depression complicates treatment adherence and medical decision making; it may confer enhanced risk of mortality from a broad array of chronic disease. For all these reasons, the assessment and management of depression in chronic illness has become of paramount importance to health care providers and health psychologist.