New Research Finds Major Depressive Episodes More Common Than Formerly Believed
A new Yale School of Public Health study finds that the number of adults in the United States suffering from major depressive episodes is much higher compared to what was formerly assumed.
A new Yale School of Public Health study says that the number of adults in the United States suffering from major depressive episodes is much higher compared to what was formerly assumed.
According to a national survey data, approximately 17 percent of women and 10 percent of men report having had a history of major depressive episodes or MDEs.
However, the said data are reportedly subject to 'recall error,' which is the people's tendency to forget or misreport their health background when participating in surveys.
Led by the Department of Health Policy and Management assistant professor Jamie Tam, Ph.D., the team of researchers devised a simulation model to produce "corrected approximations of lifetime depression."
The team also found that the portion of adults in the U.S. who have suffered MDEs is, in fact, closer to 30 percent of women and 17 percent of men after they factored recall error.
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New Findings of MDEs
Tam explained, MDEs are far more common than we thought. The research team's model presented that the probability of an individual experiencing a major depressive episode is particularly high among adolescents.
Tam added that other research has also shown that having an initial MDE increases the probability of experiencing a second one.
This means that they can do anything to stop or cure such episodes in young individuals, which could result in more significant benefits over the period of their life.
An MDE is defined as a two-week period, or longer, in which an individual feels intense loneliness or hopelessness.
During this period, one also experiences weight gain or loss and changes in sleeping habits. This could be accompanied by loss of interest in activities, or even having thoughts of, or attempts at, suicide.
The study also reports that these persistent symptoms cannot be changed easily, even if they are opposing the circumstances of an individual. Typically, depressive episodes recur sporadically among those experiencing major depression.
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Depressive Episodes in Older Adults
Mental health programs screening for, preventing, and treating depression could be advantageous in a much larger part of the populace compared to what was formerly thought.
Tam explained the relevance of related ailments to mental health.
"If you think about chronic health conditions like heart disease, we do a lot to identify people who might be at risk for additional health events like heart attacks because that group would benefit from maintenance treatment and clinical monitoring," she said. "We don't do such a great job when it comes to mental health conditions. So, if we're able to assess how many people actually have histories of depression, that also tells us that more people are at risk of experiencing more depressive episodes."
The same study also showed that older adults could "underreport" their history of experiencing depressive symptoms.
Among the elderly aged 65 years old and above, underreporting for depression was as high as 70 percent.
Older adults also frequently experience what's considered "minor depression," where they still state considerable depressive symptoms but do not always meet the clinical requirements for MDEs.
Tam said that older adults tend to downplay unfavorable experiences of depression from their younger years, categorizing them as growing pains instead of major depression.
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