Other topics: Social Anxiety Generalized Anxiety Panic Disorder Major Depression Agoraphobia
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Age and Depression
No age group is exempt from depression, although the older one is the
greater the risk for depression. Comparison of the frequency of depression
across age is controversial since depression may have different manifestations
at different times of life.
The earliest psychological state that may be related to depression was described
by the American psychiatrist Rene Spitz in 1946 and was called anaclitic
depression. Spitz observed that when infants between the ages of six
and eighteen months were separated from their mothers for prolonged periods
of time, a state of unresponsive apathy, listlessness, weight loss, increased
susceptibility to serious childhood illness, and even death occurred.
The mothers' return, or the substitution of a different, permanent mother,
reversed these effects (Spitz, 1946). Similar effects have been observed when
infant rhesus monkeys are separated from their mothers. A regular sequence
of the reaction to the separation-first protest, then despair, then reattachment-
has been documented (Bowlby, 1960; Kaufman and Rosenblum,
1967; McKinney, Suomi, and Harlow, 1972).
Childhood depression is a controversial issue (Schulterbr and and Raven,
1977). Until recently, it was alleged that depression in childhood with the
core symptoms of passivity, negative cognitions, resigned behavior, sadness,
and inhibition in working and loving, was relatively rare. Instead, reaction
to loss was thought to take other forms, such as hyperactivity, aggression,
and delinquency (Cytryn and McKnew, 1972). More sensitive tests of depression
in childhood have recently been developed and have revealed as
high a rate of depressive symptoms in children as among adults, along with
accompanying intellectual deficits (Kovacs and Beck, 1977; Kaslow, Tanenbaum,
Abramson, Peterson, and Seligman, 1983).
The loss of a parent by divorce may precipitate depression among children,
as illustrated by the following case:
Peter, arginine, had not seen his father, who lived nearby, more than once every
Two to three months. We expected that he would be troubled, but we were entirely
unprepared for the extent of this child's misery. The interviewer observed: "I
asked Peter when he had last seen his dad. The child looked at me blankly and his thinking became confused, his speech halting. Just then, a police car went by with its siren screaming. The child stared into space and seemed lost in reverie. As this continued for a few minutes, I gently suggested that the police car had reminded him of his father, a police officer. Peter began to cry and sobbed without stopping or 35 minutes. (Wallerstein and Kelly, 1980)
In adolescents, depression has all the symptoms that we saw for depression
in adults. In addition to the core symptoms of depression, depressed adolescents, particularly boys, are commonly 'negativistic' and even antisocial.
Restlessness, grouchiness, aggression, and strong desire to leave home are
also common symptoms; and sulkiness, un-cooperativeness in family activities,
school difficulties, alcohol and drug abuse can also be symptoms of adolescent depression.
Depression among adults seems to increase somewhat in frequency and
in severity with age. So prevalent is depression between the ages of forty-five
and sixty, particularly among women, that the category
of in volitional melancholia was widely used in
diagnosis for the last twenty-five years.
This category was associated with the endocrine changes of menopause, the loss of
role with children grown up, doubts about sexual attractiveness, and a taking
stock of life as death approached. This category has now been abandoned
since therapy and prognosis is similar in this group to therapy and
prognosis for the other unipolar depressions. Finally, in old age, depression
is compounded by the helplessness induced by increasing physical and
mental in-capacities. Depression is widespread among the aged; a visit to any
old-age home will dramatically confirm this.
Race and Social Class
There are no strong or consistent differences in the incidence of depression
according to race or social class. For many years, depression was thought to
be uncommon among North American blacks, but recent research does not
bear this out. In the largest study to date, race and social class made little
difference in incidence of depression among 159 black and 555 white patients.
There was a tendency for the blacks to be more
negativistic, more angry, and to make more suicidal attempts that the whites.
In addition, the blacks were younger and had more rapid onset of symptoms (Raskin,
Crook, and Herman, 1975). Caution should be used, however, in interpreting
any study of cross-racial, cross-age, cross-sex, or cross-cultural psychological
disorders. Since diagnosis is, for the most part, made by middle-class
white psychiatrists and psychologists, insensitivity to symptoms of depression
within another culture or elicitation of greater hostility among the patients
may easily contaminate the results (Tonks, Paykel, and Klerman, 1970).
No strong differences occur in depression among social classes. Unlike
schizophrenia, which is less frequent in middle and upper classes, depression
is democratic. Again, however, it is possible that depression may have
different manifestations according to the patient's social class: lower-class
patients may show more feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness, middle-
class patients stronger feelings of loneliness and rejection, and upper class
patients greater pessimism and social withdrawal (Schwab, Bialow,
Holzer, Brown, and Stevenson, 1967).
At any rate, the similarities in the occurrence of depression between black people and white
people and between rich people and poor people, far outweigh the differences.
Children who suffer early
childhood loss may be at risk for
depression in adulthood.
Are the lives of depressed people, before the onset of their depression, different
from the lives of people who do not become depressed? Depressed individuals
have experienced more early childhood losses than non-depressed
individuals and more frequent stressful losses within a year or two before the
onset of the depression. Yet, many individuals suffer both early childhood
loss and recent loss without becoming depressed, and a substantial number
of depressed individuals do not suffer early childhood loss or recent loss. So
we are far from saying that such life events cause depression, but some
events do seem to increase the risk of depression.
EARLY CHILDHOOD LOSS
The death of a person's mother before the
child is eleven years old may predispose an individual to depression ill
adulthood. In a study of depression in its natural setting, the English sociologists
George W. Brown and Tirril Harris interviewed women door-to-door
in the working class borough of Camberwell in London. They found that an
alarmingly high percentage-15 to 20 percent-were moderately to severely
depressed and that these women were not receiving treatment for
their depression. The rate of depression was almost three times higher
among women who, before age eleven, had lost their mother and who also
had experienced a severe recent loss than among women who before age
eleven, had not lost their mother but who had experienced a similar recent
loss. Death of the mother after the child reached age eleven, or of the father
at any time, had no effect on risk for depression according to this study
(Brown and Harris, 1978).
RECENT LOSS
Most depressions are preceded by a recent stressful loss.
Failure at work, marital separation, failure at school, loss of a job, rejection
by a loved one, illness of a family member, and physical illness are common precipitants of depression. Individuals who become depressed show more
such losses preceding their depression than matched controls (Leff, Roatch
and Bunney, 1970; Paykel, 1973; Brown and Harris, 1978).
But such losses do not always bring on depressions, by any means. Only
about 10 percent of those persons who experience losses equivalent in severity
to those of an average depressed person, themselves become depressed.
Why is it that the other 90 percent do not become depressed? Brown and
Harris proposed that there are four invulnerability factors that can help
prevent depression from occurring, even in the presence of the predisposing
factors and recent loss. Only half the women who, before age eleven, had
lost their mother and who also had suffered a recent loss became depressed.
What about the other half? The invulnerable women had either (1) an intimate
relationship with a spouse or a lover, or (2) a part-time or full-time job
away from home, or (3) fewer than three children still at home, or (4) a serious
religious commitment. So intimacy, employment, a life not overburdened
by child care, and strong religious belief may protect against
depression. Perhaps what these four invulnerability factors have in common
is that they contribute self-esteem and a sense of mastery, while undercutting
the formation of an outlook pervaded by hopelessness. All of these, in
effect, help to ward off depression.
Depression and Suicide
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Social Anxiety
Generalized Anxiety
Panic Disorder
Major Depression Disorder
Agoraphobia
For the Therapy I recommend click here:
The Liberator Method
No age group is exempt from depression, although the older one is the
greater the risk for depression. Comparison of the frequency of depression
across age is controversial since depression may have different manifestations
at different times of life.
The earliest psychological state that may be related to depression was described
by the American psychiatrist Rene Spitz in 1946 and was called anaclitic
depression. Spitz observed that when infants between the ages of six
and eighteen months were separated from their mothers for prolonged periods
of time, a state of unresponsive apathy, listlessness, weight loss, increased
susceptibility to serious childhood illness, and even death occurred.
The mothers' return, or the substitution of a different, permanent mother,
reversed these effects (Spitz, 1946). Similar effects have been observed when
infant rhesus monkeys are separated from their mothers. A regular sequence
of the reaction to the separation-first protest, then despair, then reattachment-
has been documented (Bowlby, 1960; Kaufman and Rosenblum,
1967; McKinney, Suomi, and Harlow, 1972).
Childhood depression is a controversial issue (Schulterbr and and Raven,
1977). Until recently, it was alleged that depression in childhood with the
core symptoms of passivity, negative cognitions, resigned behavior, sadness,
and inhibition in working and loving, was relatively rare. Instead, reaction
to loss was thought to take other forms, such as hyperactivity, aggression,
and delinquency (Cytryn and McKnew, 1972). More sensitive tests of depression
in childhood have recently been developed and have revealed as
high a rate of depressive symptoms in children as among adults, along with
accompanying intellectual deficits (Kovacs and Beck, 1977; Kaslow, Tanenbaum,
Abramson, Peterson, and Seligman, 1983).
The loss of a parent by divorce may precipitate depression among children,
as illustrated by the following case:
Peter, arginine, had not seen his father, who lived nearby, more than once every
Two to three months. We expected that he would be troubled, but we were entirely
unprepared for the extent of this child's misery. The interviewer observed: "I
asked Peter when he had last seen his dad. The child looked at me blankly and his thinking became confused, his speech halting. Just then, a police car went by with its siren screaming. The child stared into space and seemed lost in reverie. As this continued for a few minutes, I gently suggested that the police car had reminded him of his father, a police officer. Peter began to cry and sobbed without stopping or 35 minutes. (Wallerstein and Kelly, 1980)
In adolescents, depression has all the symptoms that we saw for depression
in adults. In addition to the core symptoms of depression, depressed adolescents, particularly boys, are commonly 'negativistic' and even antisocial.
Restlessness, grouchiness, aggression, and strong desire to leave home are
also common symptoms; and sulkiness, un-cooperativeness in family activities,
school difficulties, alcohol and drug abuse can also be symptoms of adolescent depression.
Depression among adults seems to increase somewhat in frequency and
in severity with age. So prevalent is depression between the ages of forty-five
and sixty, particularly among women, that the category
of in volitional melancholia was widely used in
diagnosis for the last twenty-five years.
This category was associated with the endocrine changes of menopause, the loss of
role with children grown up, doubts about sexual attractiveness, and a taking
stock of life as death approached. This category has now been abandoned
since therapy and prognosis is similar in this group to therapy and
prognosis for the other unipolar depressions. Finally, in old age, depression
is compounded by the helplessness induced by increasing physical and
mental in-capacities. Depression is widespread among the aged; a visit to any
old-age home will dramatically confirm this.
Race and Social Class
There are no strong or consistent differences in the incidence of depression
according to race or social class. For many years, depression was thought to
be uncommon among North American blacks, but recent research does not
bear this out. In the largest study to date, race and social class made little
difference in incidence of depression among 159 black and 555 white patients.
There was a tendency for the blacks to be more
negativistic, more angry, and to make more suicidal attempts that the whites.
In addition, the blacks were younger and had more rapid onset of symptoms (Raskin,
Crook, and Herman, 1975). Caution should be used, however, in interpreting
any study of cross-racial, cross-age, cross-sex, or cross-cultural psychological
disorders. Since diagnosis is, for the most part, made by middle-class
white psychiatrists and psychologists, insensitivity to symptoms of depression
within another culture or elicitation of greater hostility among the patients
may easily contaminate the results (Tonks, Paykel, and Klerman, 1970).
No strong differences occur in depression among social classes. Unlike
schizophrenia, which is less frequent in middle and upper classes, depression
is democratic. Again, however, it is possible that depression may have
different manifestations according to the patient's social class: lower-class
patients may show more feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness, middle-
class patients stronger feelings of loneliness and rejection, and upper class
patients greater pessimism and social withdrawal (Schwab, Bialow,
Holzer, Brown, and Stevenson, 1967).
At any rate, the similarities in the occurrence of depression between black people and white
people and between rich people and poor people, far outweigh the differences.
Children who suffer early
childhood loss may be at risk for
depression in adulthood.
Are the lives of depressed people, before the onset of their depression, different
from the lives of people who do not become depressed? Depressed individuals
have experienced more early childhood losses than non-depressed
individuals and more frequent stressful losses within a year or two before the
onset of the depression. Yet, many individuals suffer both early childhood
loss and recent loss without becoming depressed, and a substantial number
of depressed individuals do not suffer early childhood loss or recent loss. So
we are far from saying that such life events cause depression, but some
events do seem to increase the risk of depression.
EARLY CHILDHOOD LOSS
The death of a person's mother before the
child is eleven years old may predispose an individual to depression ill
adulthood. In a study of depression in its natural setting, the English sociologists
George W. Brown and Tirril Harris interviewed women door-to-door
in the working class borough of Camberwell in London. They found that an
alarmingly high percentage-15 to 20 percent-were moderately to severely
depressed and that these women were not receiving treatment for
their depression. The rate of depression was almost three times higher
among women who, before age eleven, had lost their mother and who also
had experienced a severe recent loss than among women who before age
eleven, had not lost their mother but who had experienced a similar recent
loss. Death of the mother after the child reached age eleven, or of the father
at any time, had no effect on risk for depression according to this study
(Brown and Harris, 1978).
RECENT LOSS
Most depressions are preceded by a recent stressful loss.
Failure at work, marital separation, failure at school, loss of a job, rejection
by a loved one, illness of a family member, and physical illness are common precipitants of depression. Individuals who become depressed show more
such losses preceding their depression than matched controls (Leff, Roatch
and Bunney, 1970; Paykel, 1973; Brown and Harris, 1978).
But such losses do not always bring on depressions, by any means. Only
about 10 percent of those persons who experience losses equivalent in severity
to those of an average depressed person, themselves become depressed.
Why is it that the other 90 percent do not become depressed? Brown and
Harris proposed that there are four invulnerability factors that can help
prevent depression from occurring, even in the presence of the predisposing
factors and recent loss. Only half the women who, before age eleven, had
lost their mother and who also had suffered a recent loss became depressed.
What about the other half? The invulnerable women had either (1) an intimate
relationship with a spouse or a lover, or (2) a part-time or full-time job
away from home, or (3) fewer than three children still at home, or (4) a serious
religious commitment. So intimacy, employment, a life not overburdened
by child care, and strong religious belief may protect against
depression. Perhaps what these four invulnerability factors have in common
is that they contribute self-esteem and a sense of mastery, while undercutting
the formation of an outlook pervaded by hopelessness. All of these, in
effect, help to ward off depression.
Depression and Suicide
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Social Anxiety
Generalized Anxiety
Panic Disorder
Major Depression Disorder
Agoraphobia
For the Therapy I recommend click here:
The Liberator Method