Another issue is the fact that it can prove to be rather difficult to make distinctions between types of depressions. For example, a person who is suffering from bipolar may have the same symptoms as a person who is suffering from unipolar, so a person could potentially end up being misdiagnosed and be given treatment which may have no effect on the depression that they are suffering from.
Another issue is the fact that depression can remain under diagnosed in children because the symptoms are displayed differently in children. The depressive symptoms in children are irritability rather than low mood. Irritability can also be a depressive symptom in adolescents; however, they may still be under diagnosed as their behaviour that they show may be reduced down to pubity.
Another issue is the fact that depression often occurs alongside other illness such as schizophrenia and eating disorder. The clinician often has to treat the primary disorder in order to prevent other disorders that may be caused by the primary disorder, however, it may be difficult to determine whether depression is the primary disorder or not if there are also other disorders taking place.
Another issue is the fact that patients usually go to their GPs if they have depressive symptoms. This is an issue because GPs may not specialise in mental health or psychiatry, so they may misdiagnose their patients who have depression by saying they do not have depression. It has been found that approximately half of the people who go to their GP with depressive symptoms are not recognised as having depression.
Another issue is the fact that symptoms can differ in western and non western cultures. In non western culture, depressive symptoms seems to be bodily, whilst in western cultures, it seems to be psychological symptoms. It might look like there is less depression in non western cultures when it is not the case.
In addition to this, it is thought that women are more likely to become depressed than men. This may be an issue because it may not always be true. In reality, there may be an equal chance of men and women to suffer from depression, but men may be less likely to admit to depressive symptoms because they may feel that it is not socially acceptable for them to suffer from depression. However, having said that, it may be true- it may be true that women are more likely than men to suffer from depression because it may be due to women having more hormonal changes than men.
by
rodzable (student)
