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'Depression - let's talk about it'. World Health Day

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'Depression - let's talk about it'. World Health Day

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Every year, World Health Day is celebrated in April. In 2017, the WHO is focusing on one mental disorder - depression. What caught the organisation's attention? The increasing prevalence of depression was probably taken into account, but also the fact that I, you, but also our parents, grandparents or parents can suffer from it - in a word, depression can be suffered by just about anyone. The WHO's idea is, above all, to simply talk about depression, and to do so without shame - after all, it is not a pipe dream, but a mental disorder that can be (successfully) treated.

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Table of contents:

  1. Depression - a mental disorder that spares no age group
  2. "Depression- let's talk about it" - but why does the WHO want to talk about depression?
  3. The WHO's plan - why talk about depression specifically on the 7th of April?

We celebrate many days throughout the year, such as Mother's Day or World Cat Day, but today is a special day. Every year on 7 April, World Health Day is celebrated. The choice of this date was definitely not a coincidence - it was on 7 April 1948 that the WHO, the World Health Organisation, was founded.

Each year, World Health Day focuses on promoting one particular health issue. In 2017, it is depression, and the slogan of the entire WHO campaign is "Depression - let's talk about it". In Poland, the campaign "Faces of depression. I don't judge, I accept', so it comes as no surprise that this entity is also being addressed by the WHO. What is the reason for so much interest in depressed mood and other problems related to depressive disorders?

Depression - a mental disorder that spares no age group

Child, working adult, pensioner - depression can occur in any age group, in patients of either sex and in any occupation. It is for this reason that the WHO campaign simply targets everyone. The organisation is trying to get people to talk about depression in the first place. Theoretically, watching American films or TV series, one could conclude that attending a psychotherapist or psychiatrist is simply fashionable; in any case, in the United States, the use of mental health professionals is hardly something to be ashamed of. What is it like in Poland? Certainly differently.

Depression is assessed differently by patients and their families. While it is true that more and more people are now convinced that it is a "real" mental disorder, some people who come into contact with depression still believe that it is simply a pipe dream and laziness. Depression should definitely not be talked about like that - after all, patients can lose their jobs due to this type of mood disorder, but also experience difficulties in relationships or with raising children. Through depression, patients can suffer from sleep disorders, eating problems, but also struggle with significant problems concerning their general health. As an example, patients with depression may neglect treatment for their other conditions, such as hypothyroidism, hypertension or diabetes. Depression, albeit to varying degrees, is also one of the factors in premature death associated with suicide. These are not idle words, as the statistics are clear - suicide (some of which is caused by mood disorders) is the second most common cause of death in the 15 to 29 age group.

It also needs to be emphasised that patients attending psychiatrists are also sometimes simply stigmatised by those around them - "nut job", "nut job" are some of the milder terms used to describe people who use mental health professionals. This is unfair to say the least - depression is not synonymous with being 'crazy', moreover - as has already been pointed out - ANYONE can suffer from it. It is unlikely that anyone condemns a person suffering from diabetes or asthma, so why does it happen that people with depression, which is also an illness, are stigmatised? This is also one of the goals of the WHO campaign - to convince the public that depression is not an embarrassing problem, but one that can and even should be talked about.

"Depression - let's talk about it" - but why does the WHO want to talk about depression?

Depression can be treated, what's more - depression can even be prevented! Everyone should be aware of this problem, because in fact, events predisposing to the occurrence of mood disorders (e.g. death of a loved one, loss of a job or change of residence) are experienced by basically everyone in their lives. However, in order to be able to take either therapeutic or preventive action, one simply has to be aware of the existence of depression - and this is precisely the aim of the World Health Organisation and its campaign. This goal is to raise global awareness of depression.

The WHO has particularly thought about the three patient groups where depression is most common. Special materials have been created for adolescents and young adults, for women at risk of postnatal depression and for the elderly. Depression may manifest itself slightly differently in each of these groups, which is why such differences need to be clearly mentioned - the more people have knowledge about the course of depression in different age groups, the greater the chance that mood disorders occurring in different patients will be spotted early.

World Health Organisation plan - why talk about depression specifically on the 7th of April?

World Health Day is celebrated every year on 7 April. On this day, various media outlets focus on health issues, so that the topic covered each year reaches a significant audience. The WHO's aim is for more and more people to talk about depression. After all, talking can be the first step in a patient's recovery from depression. So don't be afraid to talk about your mood disorder - specialists are able to offer both pharmacological treatment for depression and talking interventions, i.e. psychotherapy. It may also turn out that the aforementioned methods do not need to be implemented - conversations about depression started early enough can result in the problem being solved before the mood disorder actually develops.