Depression and anxiety

Depression and anxiety have caught the attention of many researchers as many youths have been victims of depression and anxiety. By the end of high school, 50% of adolescents found to experience depression (Lewinsohn et al., 1993). The majority of the victim of depression and anxiety are adolescents age 13-16 years old and in some people, it remains for a lifetime. The WHO report of 2017 showed that 11% of depression and 30% of anxiety among 13-16 remained for a lifetime. It is also a leading cause of disability worldwide (WHO, 2017) as not only adolescents but every person can be a victim of depression and anxiety. Thus, depression and anxiety cannot be ignored. 

What are depression and anxiety?

Depression is a mental health disorder that is characterized by continuous sadness or loss of interest in daily activities that causes significant impairment in daily life.

Anxiety is also a mental health disorder and is characterized by the emotion of worry, fear that affects day to day activities.

Are depression and anxiety important for well-being? 

Mental health is an important element of well-being, or we can say, well-being is not only the absence of physical disease but also the absence of mental illnesses (WHO, 2013). People tend to ignore mental well-being as the majority of people have misconceptions that only being physically healthy is important. Therefore, leading to depression and anxiety and sometimes resulting to suicide as well. Negative attribution style and rumination are psychological procedures that have oftentimes been identified in showing symptoms of depression (Smith et. al., 2018). 

How does the well-being/resilience approach help in reducing depression and anxiety symptoms?

A study done on well-being therapy found that well-being therapy accomplishes to address the etiological elements which limit the capacity of development, adaptation, and growth. This helped in leading patients to an expanded level of recuperation and strength (Fava . G and Tomba. E., 2009). The findings from their research also suggest that mental pain and helplessness to life occasions might be neutralized, and even forestalled, by expanding levels of well-being through well-being therapy). The well-being therapy also showed relatively increased psychological well-being, mainly in Personal growth scale. The emphasis on mental prosperity and its changes for the duration of the existence cycle permits us to distinguish potential qualities and vulnerabilities in mental working over the existing course. Also, the comparison between well-being and cognitive-behavioral therapies which were associated with a significant reduction of residual symptoms showed a significant advantage over well-being therapy over cognitive-behavioral therapy (Fava and Tomba., 2009).

Another research done on young and middle-aged adolescents suggested that psychological wellbeing (PSW) indirectly affects mental health symptoms rather than affecting depression and anxiety. PSW also directly affects an increase in positive effects by reducing negative emotions. Their study also found that the strong relationship among well-being and resilience with positive effect strategically decreases depression and anxiety symptoms and construct psychological well-being segments (Burns, Windsor & Anstey., 2010). 

A study shows that depression and anxiety symptoms are also reduced by increasing positive emotions (Lyubomirsky et al., 2011). Positive emotions not only make people make feel good but also influence people’s marital satisfaction, interpersonal interaction, career success, and good physical conditions (Lyubomirsky, King & Diener., 2005). This statement was also supported by another research on infertile women (Moeenizadeh & Zarif, 2017) 

Recommendation:

• Parents, teachers, and elders must always take care of the mental health of their children.
• In case of need of help, seeking help from well-being therapy centers can be taken, but one should not ignore it.

REFERENCES:

1. Burns, Richard A, Kaarin J Anstey, and Timothy D Windsor. “Subjective Well-Being Mediates the Effects of Resilience and Mastery on Depression and Anxiety in a Large Community Sample of Young and Middle-Aged Adults.” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 45.3 (2011): 240-48. DOI: 10.3109/00048674.2010.529604
2. Fava, Giovanni A., and Elena Tomba. “Increasing Psychological Well‐Being and Resilience by Psychotherapeutic Methods.” Journal of Personality 77.6 (2009): 1903-934. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00604.x
3. Fava, Giovanni A., Fiammetta Cosci, Jenny Guidi, and Elena Tomba. “Well‐being Therapy in Depression: New Insights into the Role of Psychological Well‐being in the Clinical Process.” Depression and Anxiety 34.9 (2017): 801-08. DOI: 10.1002/da.22629
4. Lewinsohn, P.M., Rohde, P., Seeley, J.R. & Fischer, S.A. (1993) Age-cohort changes in the lifetime occurrence of depression and other mental disorders, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 110–120.
5. Lyubomirsky S, Dickerhoof R, Boehm JK, Sheldon KM. Becoming happier takes both a will and a proper way: an experimental longitudinal intervention to boost well-being. Emotion. 2011; 11(2): 391-402.
6. Lyubomirsky S, King L, Diener E. The benefits of frequent positive affect: does happiness lead to success? Psychol Bull. 2005; 131(6): 803-855.28.2
7. Moeenizadeh, Majid, and Haniyeh Zarif. “The Efficacy of Well-Being Therapy for Depression in Infertile Women.” International Journal of Fertility & Sterility 10.4 (2017): 363-370. Web.
8. World Health Organisation, (2013), Mental Health Action Plan: 2013-2020, ISBN: 978 924 150602.
9. World Health Organisation, 2017. Depression Fact Sheet. . http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/. Accessed on: 06/10/2017.