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Episode 1 - Introduction To Anxiety & Depression - Your Stress Cup PDF
Episode 1 - Introduction To Anxiety & Depression - Your Stress Cup PDF
Mental health problems are one of the main causes of the overall disease burden
worldwide.
Mental health and behavioural problems (e.g. depression, anxiety and drug use) are
reported to be the primary drivers of disability worldwide, causing over 40 million
years of disability in 20 to 29yearolds.
Major depression is thought to be the second leading cause of disability worldwide
and a significant contributor to the burden of suicide and I schemic heart disease .
It is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental
health problem.
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting
40 million adults in the country aged 18 and above, or 18% of the population.
(Source: National Institute of Mental Health)
One in four people in the United Kingdom will experience a mental health problem in
any given year. In fact, the UK has displayed the most pronounced figures of
depreciating mental health of any developed nation, constituting 28% of the total
disease burden figures, compared to 16% each for cancer and heart disease.
Moreover, even by the most conservative of estimates, over 50 million people in
India live with a mental health illness making it a daunting challenge to be overcome
even in developing nations.
Rajesh Sagar, an associate professor of psychiatry at New Delhi's All India Institute
of Medical Sciences, told DNA that there is just one psychiatrist for four lakh Indians.
Another expert reiterating the clear shortage of medical professionals in the country
said there were only 4,000 psychiatrists, 1,000 psychologists and 3,000 social
workers for the whole of the country and a mere 1,022 college seats for mental
health professionals in the country’s institutions.
Curiously, access to education and working in industries seems to be significantly
associated with mental health problems. A rational conclusion is that a fast paced
society has become difficult for us to cope with, without the right tools and training.
With the population figures being sky high (excess of 1.2 billion people), and a
shortage of medical professionals, access to a psychiatrist or a psychologist is a
privilege that only a few can enjoy, and that is why we thought that the prospect of
putting together a course to help people a dapt their minds to become attuned to a
fast paced world was important. Let’s start with an overview of common mental
health disorders.
Anxiety and Depression
Anxiety is the feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an
uncertain outcome. Some people describe it as an uncomfortable mental or physical
feeling that comes up during times of stress.
Depression is a set of feelings of severe despondency and dejection. It comes with
it's own set of physical and mental symptoms, and most of these symptoms aren't "In
someone's head". They are very real and are caused by neurochemical imbalances
in the body irrespective of the cause.
Why do we get anxious or depressed? ,
While there are several factors genetics, diet and even climate the main cause
has been emotional stress. A British research team recently isolated a gene that
appears to be prevalent in multiple family members with depression. The
chromosome 3p2526 was found in more than 800 families with recurrent
depression. Scientists believe that as many as 40 percent of those with depression
can trace it to a genetic link. Environmental and other factors make up the other 60
percent. Most of these episodes are periodic i.e. you can have depression for a
period of 6 months to a year and then not have any symptoms for decades only to be
hit by a bout of depression again. Prolonged stress can cause immune system
malfunction, chronic migraines, digestive issues, long standing fatigue, eczema and
some autoimmune diseases.
Research has also shown that people with parents or siblings who have depression
are up to three times more likely to have the condition. This can be due to heredity or
environmental factors that have a strong influence. However, it is important to
remember that everything is a spectrum. Depression can vary widely in severity and
depends on several triggers. Compared to pharmacological approaches
(medication), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy had similar effects on chronic
depressive symptoms, with effect sizes in the mediumlarge range (Vos, Haby,
Barendregt, Kruijshaar, Corry, & Andrews, 2004). Other studies indicated that
pharmacotherapy could be a useful addition to CBT; specifically, combination therapy
of CBT with pharmacotherapy was more effective in comparison to CBT alone
(Chan, 2006).
In general, CBT is a reliable firstline approach for treatment of anxiety disorders
(Hofmann & Smits, 2008), with support for significant positive effects of CBT on other
symptoms such as sleep dysfunction and anxiety sensitivity (Ghahramanlou, 2003).
Further, internetdelivered or guided selfhelp CBT showed some promise in
immediate symptom relief as compared to no treatment (Öst, 2008; Coull &
Morris, 2011).
Similarly, CBT was found to be more efficient than some antidepressants (Eddy,
Dutra, Bradley, & Westen, 2004).
Our aim, through this treatment, is to first help you gauge your level of depression
and/or anxiety, and help you build unending resilience by teaching you a new set of
thinking patterns.
Yes, we are going to teach you to think.
Before we begin, we want you to take a short quiz, called the Burn's inventory, which
will help figure out where you lie on the depression, anxiety and stress scale. We are
also going to measure how well you are sleeping so we can help you sleep better as
well. Our sleep therapy has proven to be even better than medication and lasts years
after therapy without pharmaceutical drugs. While we give you valuable perspective
on the kinds of medication available in the market and how they work, our primary
motive is to teach you new methods of thinking wherein any need for medical
intervention is minimized.