Subjective Experience Of Depression Research Articles

How do depressed people feel perceived by others? A qualitative study from the patient's perspective

BackgroundDepression is a condition which affects the individuals’ entire existence. The difficulty in emotionally tuning in to the environment and the resulting sensation of loneliness have frequently been described as salient points of depressive experience. To our knowledge there are no studies that phenomenologically analyze how depressed people feel perceived by others. MethodsAiming to fill this gap, this study builds on a previous work, which carried out a literature screening and a thematic analysis on the subjective experience of depression. The narratives collected in this way were analyzed using a bottom-up qualitative method (Consensual Quality Research). ResultsFour main categories of experience related to perceived social apprehension of depression have been identified: (1) feeling guilty about not meeting others' expectations, (2) feeling socially misunderstood, (3) bringing to light an inconvenient truth that others do not want to see, and (4) hiding from exposure to the judgement of others. LimitationsA broader and more specific data collection on the topic is missing. ConclusionsDepressed patients often feel misunderstood by their social environment, which belittles or dramatizes their condition or doesn't realize how otherwise normal requests can instead cost a lot of effort, generating feelings of guilt and inability. This frequently pushes depressed individuals to try to hide their condition by isolating themselves or wearing a social mask. The difficulty in emotional attunement already present in depression can only worsen in the face of this feeling of incomprehension, generating a vicious circle of non-recognition that ends up maintaining the depressive state.

Lived experiences of depression in autistic children and adolescents: A qualitative study on child and parent perspectives

BackgroundDepression is highly prevalent in autistic children and adolescents. Despite this, little is known about the nature of the autistic child’s subjective experience of depression and the impact of depression on their lives. MethodsWe therefore conducted a qualitative study using thematic analysis with 7 autistic children and adolescents and their parents to identify common themes and individual differences. All children had previously experienced at least one depressive episode. ResultsSix main themes were identified: (1) Autism related experiences; (2) Difficulties with peer relationships; (3) Co-occurring relationships between anxiety and depression; (4) Impactful pessimism and anhedonia; (5) Impactful difficulties with focus and concentration and (6) Feelings of irritability, including aggressive behaviours. Parent’s accounts of their children’s experience of depression mirrored the child’s perspective. Novel findings included reports of depression related restriction of diet variety and masking of mental health difficulties. Children and parents linked being autistic and developing depression, referring to the difficulties of being autistic in a complex, neurotypical world. ConclusionsThese results highlight key challenges that autistic children and their families experience, calling for increased awareness of the impact of depression on autistic young people.

1.18 THE EXPERIENCE OF RECEIVING A DIAGNOSIS OF DEPRESSION: A PILOT STUDY WITH ADOLESCENTS FROM BRAZIL

MDD is a common mental disorder affecting adolescents worldwide. Qualitative studies focusing on adolescent depression, although still not very common, may shed some light on how depression is experienced by youth, as well as their reaction to receiving the diagnosis. This pilot study had the aim to qualitatively explore adolescents' subjective experience of depression.

Stigma towards psychiatric disorders in a sample of depressed females in two different communities

IntroductionStigma and discrimination experienced by persons suffering from mental illness, unlike other medical conditions, recognized as a barrier in countries rich and poor, and in countries with well-developed mental health services and those with limited services. It was hypothesized that depression may affect patients’ attitude towards mental illness “public stigma” as well as self-stigmatization and that there will be a difference between Egyptians and Germans.AimsThis study sets out to identify and compare public–and self-stigma among depressed women in two different communities.ObjectivesTo test findings from transcultural comparative study of two patient groups of depressed women from two different communities. Participants were 50 adult females diagnosed with depression from Egypt and Germany.MethodParticipants completed after clinical interviewing and diagnosis with depression two questionnaires: the inventory of attitude towards mental illness (Shokeer, 2002) and the explanatory model interview catalogue EMIC (Weis et al., 2001).ResultsAnalysis indicates that positive attitudes towards mental illness were more for the German respondents than for the Egyptians. There were significant differences between the two groups in the causal attributions of mental illness. Psychotherapy was widely accepted in the two groups as a helpful method for treatment of mental illness.ConclusionIt was concluded that the traditional beliefs affect the understanding of illness causality and that the subjective experience of depression may affect attitude towards mental illness and mentally ill people. The effect of the social desirability is discussed.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

A prospective study of predictors of poststroke depression

To investigate the association between early depressive behavior after stroke onset and occurrence of poststroke depression (PSD) at 3- and 12-month follow-up evaluations. The study prospectively included 273 patients with first-ever single uncomplicated ischemic stroke. In the stroke unit, nurses scored crying, overt sadness, and apathy daily using an observational method to include patients with comprehension deficits. The Barthel Index was used to assess disability. Follow-up evaluation at months 3 and 12 included psychiatric assessment based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition. Crying (19.8%), overt sadness (50.5%), and apathy (47.6%) were observed. Of the patients observed crying, 4 showed pathologic crying, 19 emotionalism, and 12 catastrophic reactions. Crying and overt sadness, but not apathy, were associated with a subjective experience of depression (p < 0.05). Thirty of 52 (58%) patients observed crying, 12 of 19 (63%) patients with emotionalism, and 5 of 12 (41%) patients with catastrophic reactions developed PSD within the first year. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that only severe functional disability (odds ratio [OR], 4.31; 95% CI, 2.41 to 7.69), crying behaviors (OR, 2.66; 95% CI, 1.35 to 5.27), and an age <68 years (OR, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.30 to 4.13) were (p < 0.05) predictors of late PSD development (13% of the variance). In the stroke unit, crying and overt sadness are more reliable indicators of depressed mood than apathy. In patients with first-ever stroke, crying behaviors soon after stroke, a younger age, and severe disability are predictors of poststroke depression occurrence within the first year after stroke onset.

Depression measured by the Zung Depression Status Inventory is very rare in a Finnish population aged 85 years and over.

The purpose of this study was to obtain information about the prevalence of depressive symptoms in a representative sample of elderly subjects aged 85 years and over. The study was carried out as a population-based interview study in the City of Vantaa in Finland. The Zung Depression Status Inventory (DSI) was used to evaluate various depressive symptoms in this study population. The DSI scores range from 20 to 80; the higher the score, the more severe the disturbance. In subjects interviewed (n = 467, 362 women, 105 men), the prevalence estimates of depression with cutoff scores used in earlier studies (40 and 48) were very low: 5.2% and 1.1%. Also, the mean DSI score (SD) was very low, 27.9 (6.4). The scores tended to decrease with age, although the differences were not statistically significant. The DSI means were 28.0 (6.1) for women and 27.3 (7.2) for men (p = .0349). Women had a greater risk of being classified as depressed on the DSI (odds ratio: 1.60, 95% confidence interval: 1.00-2.57, p = .049). Feelings of emptiness, personal devaluation, and depressive mood were the most common depressive symptoms. In conclusion, the present population-based study shows that subjective experience of depression is very rare in Finnish people aged 85+. Our results suggest that optimistic mood might give some protection against death.

Depletion states and selfobject disorders

The subjective experience of depression is reviewed. The dynamics of that experience are then explicated from the perspective of self psychology. It is proposed that some depressions may best be understood as reflective of the patient's feeling of depletion. This feeling may be related to the loss of a selfobject, or may be reflective of a deficit in the self, which gives rise to unsatisfiable yearnings.

Lithium-Carbonate-Induced Myxedema

After six months of lithium carbonate maintenance therapy, a myxedematous state was induced in a middle-aged manic-depressive man in whom results from basal thyroid function studies were found to be normal. The diagnosis was missed because it was assumed that his mental state and psychomotor retardation were manifestations of a shift to the depressive phase. The diagnosis of myxedema should be considered when a manic-depressive patient maintained with lithium carbonate develops sluggish mentation, apathy, and facial edema in the absence of the subjective experience of depression.