Archives for Depression
The Murder of the Self: Men and Suicide
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
Religious and bureaucratic prejudices, family sensitivity, the vagaries and differences in the proceedings of corner's courts and post-mortem examinations, the shadowy distinctions between suicides and accidents-in short, personal, official, and traditional unwillingness to recognize the actfor what it is-all help to pervert and diminish our knowledge of the extent to which suicide pervades society.
A. Alvarez
Although prevalence studies utilizing general population samples indicate that men suffer from depression at only about ... Read More
Suicide In Men: The Facts
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
When data on suicide are examined closely, the grim reality of the impact of depression on men is obvious. Studies of suicide have consistently found that men of all ages are at higher risk for suicide than are women. This finding holds true for men of all races. Suicide is the ninth leading cause of death in men, accounting for 25,950 deaths in 1995. At this rate, 20 out of ... Read More
Comorbidity And Suicide In Men
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
Men and women who make suicide attempts and who commit suicide have been found to suffer from a number of psychiatric and psychological disturbances. In addition to the obvious contribution of major depression and related mood disorders, two major conditions that dramatically increase risk of suicide for men are alcoholism or other substance abuse and severe personality disorders. Even though mood disorders, typically major depression, are present in completed suicides ... Read More
Increased Risk Of Suicide In Men
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
Data on suicide attempts and completions clearly paint a grim picture for depressed men: depressed men complete suicide in very high numbers. Even if it is true that there are fewer men who suffer from a diagnosable clinical depression, there are many men who take their own and others' lives and who must be in the throes of some kind of depressive disorder. This is especially troubling since men visit ... Read More
Assessment Of Suicide Risk In Men
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
In light of men's higher risk for suicide, careful assessment of suicide risk is essential when treating men for depression. This assessment of risk in men focuses on specifying the level of risk and identifying the contribution of any comorbid conditions that increase suicide risk in the context of male depression. These comorbid conditions include alcohol and other drug abuse, personality disturbances, and other serious psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia ... Read More
Management Of Suicide Risk
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
Assessment of suicide risk invariably directs clinician attention to the management of suicide risk. Goals and strategies for management of suicide risk may vary, depending upon the context in which the clinician is functioning. Chiles and Strosahl (1995) outline two contexts in which management of suicide risk occurs: an assessment context and a treatment context. In an assessment context, specification of the level of suicide risk and the implementation of ... Read More
Psychopharrnacologic Treatment of Depression in Men
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
I could feel the tears within me, undiscovered and untouched in their inland sea. Those tears had been with me always. I thought that, at birth, American men are allowed just as many tears as American women. But because we are forbidden to shed them, we die long before women do, with our hearts exploding or our blood pressure rising or our livers eaten away by alcohol because that ... Read More
Antidepressants And Depression In Men
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
Though the population-based data demonstrate equal response to antidepressant medication, there are, of course, compelling reasons to choose a particular medication for a given individual. Primary among predictors of depression remission is previous response to a medication — if a patient has done well before with particular medication, then it should obviously be the first choice should a new episode of depression occur.
A family history of response to a specific ... Read More
Testosterone And Depression In Men
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
Another issue which is unique to the assessment and treatment of depressed men is the potential role played by testosterone in the genesis and maintenance of low mood. There is some evidence that reductions in testosterone levels may be associated with depression, particularly in elderly men, and it has been speculated that testosterone may be useful in the treatment of depression in those cases in which testosterone levels are low. ... Read More
Assessing Depression in Men
Posted By Kelly On Monday, August 8th 2011 under: Depression
He who conceals his disease cannot expect to be cured.
Ethiopian Proverb
The title of Whybrow's (1997) popular treatise on mood disorders, "A Mood Apart," anticipates the difficulty clinicians encounter when attempting to accurately assess depressive conditions. What "sets apart" those mood states that we know as depression, which require medical and psychological treatment, from the normal spectrum of human emotions? How are we to know that a deeper sadness or an ... Read More