Check out this recent article by Gallup. Many people are becoming depressed due to the unemployment rates over the last few years. Sadly, many people still have a stigma about getting help or being diagnosed with depression. In the US...things are a bit complicated. If you are unemployed you may not have health insurance to get proper diagnosis or treatment. Also, in the US it is more common to just throw pills at people for the treatment of depression and not go to counseling and getting cognitive behavioral therapy. Though medication does work, it really only helps relieve the symptoms of depression, it doesn't encourage behavior change to avoid negative thoughts or emotions in the present or future.
There is still a huge debate among healthcare providers as to which form of treatment is better for depression: Cognitive Behavioral Therepy or Medication.
According to the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (http://www.abct.org)
- As a general rule, findings suggest that CBT can do anything that medications can do in the treatment of the nonpsychotic disorders and it can do so without causing problematic side effects. CBT also can address symptoms on a more enduring basis.
- Research suggests that medications often work but they do so only for so long as you keep taking them, whereas CBT may reduce risk for subsequent symptom return long after treatment is over.
- Psychiatric medications typically treat the symptoms but do not cure the disorders, whereas you can learn things in CBT that may reduce your risk of the disorder coming back.
- People with more severe symptoms may benefit from adding medications, particularly among disorders like depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. For the less severe instances of these disorders the evidence for CBT is at least as strong as that for medications and for some disorders it is even stronger.
- Medications tend to work a little faster than CBT (by a matter of weeks) and there are sometimes benefits from using the two in combination or in sequence.
- CBT represents a viable alternative to medications for people with nonpsychotic disorders in most instances. However, there are indications that taking medications may undermine the enduring effects of CBT in some patients.
- Findings regarding the effectiveness of psychotherapy as an alternative to medications is mostly available for CBT therapy. There are many other approaches to psychotherapy; data indicating whether these other approaches are effective are still emerging.
Though the treatments can vary and be debated, it is still important that we focus on how depression is hurting our population and we need to make it a priority to get everyone the proper help and care that they deserve.
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November 21, 2012
Depression Hits Jobless in UK, U.S. More Than in Germany
But depression rates among unemployed are higher than employed in all three places
BRUSSELS -- Unemployed Britons are 15 percentage points more likely than full-time workers to report having ever been diagnosed with depression. The gap in depression rates between the unemployed and employed is a similar 13 points in the U.S., but is lower in Germany at 10 points.
The unemployed in the U.K. and U.S. are about equally likely to self-report a depression diagnosis -- 25% vs. 24%. But unemployed Germans are much less likely to say they have ever suffered from depression, at 16%. Germans are also much less likely than Britons or Americans to report having been diagnosed with depression overall.
Still, in all three countries, those who are not working (unemployed or out of the workforce) are more likely to have ever been diagnosed with depression than those who are employed full time.
The results are from Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index monthly tracking conducted January to September 2012 in the U.K. and Germany, and Gallup Daily tracking conducted in the U.S. from January through October. Gallup classifies those working at least 30 hours a week to be full time.
Gallup has previously found that women and those with lower incomes are more likely to be diagnosed with depression in all three countries.
Part-Time Work Buffers Some From Depression in UK
In the U.K., those who have at least part-time work appear to be better off than those who are completely unemployed. Seventeen percent of Britons working part time but wanting to work full time report a depression diagnosis -- lower than the 25% of the unemployed who do. The same is not true in Germany and the U.S., where those who are underemployed are roughly just as likely as the unemployed to report depression.
In Germany and the U.K., the self-employed are the best off, while self-employed Americans are as likely as those who are employed full time to have ever received a diagnosis of depression.
In the U.S., those who are out of the workforce are almost as likely to be depressed as those who are unemployed, 25% and 24%, respectively. This is not the case in Germany and the U.K., where those who are out of the workforce are less likely to have been diagnosed with depression than the unemployed.
Implications
Those in the U.K., U.S., and Germany who are employed full time -- whether for an employer or for themselves -- are much less likely than those who are out of work to report being diagnosed with depression. However, depression is less prevalent in Germany among both groups, providing a possible area for future research. If the lower rates are in fact due to less depression in Germany, not a lack of diagnosis, Germany could be a useful case study for other countries to learn how to better support their residents' wellbeing.
Still, in the U.S. and Germany, those who are employed part time but who want to work full time struggle with depression almost as much as those who are completely jobless.
It is possible, of course, that the pre-existence of depression can reduce the likelihood that someone will be able to seek out and gain employment. The more intuitive explanation, however, may be the more likely of the two: That the absence of gainful employment increases the probability of a depression diagnosis. This latter scenario suggests that both unemployment and underemployment may have very serious costs to individual wellbeing -- and on a larger scale can strain a country's finances and healthcare resources. A study published in the Journal of Mental Health Policy Economics estimated that, in 2004, depression cost the EU 118 billion euros.
About the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index tracks wellbeing in the U.S., U.K., and Germany and provides best-in-class solutions for a healthier world. To learn more, please visit well-beingindex.com.
Still, in all three countries, those who are not working (unemployed or out of the workforce) are more likely to have ever been diagnosed with depression than those who are employed full time.
The results are from Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index monthly tracking conducted January to September 2012 in the U.K. and Germany, and Gallup Daily tracking conducted in the U.S. from January through October. Gallup classifies those working at least 30 hours a week to be full time.
Gallup has previously found that women and those with lower incomes are more likely to be diagnosed with depression in all three countries.
Part-Time Work Buffers Some From Depression in UK
In the U.K., those who have at least part-time work appear to be better off than those who are completely unemployed. Seventeen percent of Britons working part time but wanting to work full time report a depression diagnosis -- lower than the 25% of the unemployed who do. The same is not true in Germany and the U.S., where those who are underemployed are roughly just as likely as the unemployed to report depression.
In the U.S., those who are out of the workforce are almost as likely to be depressed as those who are unemployed, 25% and 24%, respectively. This is not the case in Germany and the U.K., where those who are out of the workforce are less likely to have been diagnosed with depression than the unemployed.
Implications
Those in the U.K., U.S., and Germany who are employed full time -- whether for an employer or for themselves -- are much less likely than those who are out of work to report being diagnosed with depression. However, depression is less prevalent in Germany among both groups, providing a possible area for future research. If the lower rates are in fact due to less depression in Germany, not a lack of diagnosis, Germany could be a useful case study for other countries to learn how to better support their residents' wellbeing.
Still, in the U.S. and Germany, those who are employed part time but who want to work full time struggle with depression almost as much as those who are completely jobless.
It is possible, of course, that the pre-existence of depression can reduce the likelihood that someone will be able to seek out and gain employment. The more intuitive explanation, however, may be the more likely of the two: That the absence of gainful employment increases the probability of a depression diagnosis. This latter scenario suggests that both unemployment and underemployment may have very serious costs to individual wellbeing -- and on a larger scale can strain a country's finances and healthcare resources. A study published in the Journal of Mental Health Policy Economics estimated that, in 2004, depression cost the EU 118 billion euros.
About the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index tracks wellbeing in the U.S., U.K., and Germany and provides best-in-class solutions for a healthier world. To learn more, please visit well-beingindex.com.
Survey MethodsResults are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey from Jan. 1-Sept. 30, 2012, with a random sample of 8,750 adults, aged 18 and older, living in Germany, and a random sample of 8,940 adults, aged 18 and older, living in the U.K., selected using random-digit-dial sampling. The U.S. results are based on interviews with 292,991 adults 18 and over, conducted between Jan. 1-Oct. 31, 2012.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±1.4 percentage points in Germany, 1.3 percentage points in the U.K., and 0.2 percentage points in the U.S.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellphones. Samples are weighted by gender, age, education, region, adults in the household, and cellphone status. Demographic weighting targets are based on the most recently published population data from the German Statistics Office. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit http://www.gallup.com/.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±1.4 percentage points in Germany, 1.3 percentage points in the U.K., and 0.2 percentage points in the U.S.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellphones. Samples are weighted by gender, age, education, region, adults in the household, and cellphone status. Demographic weighting targets are based on the most recently published population data from the German Statistics Office. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit http://www.gallup.com/.
