@rangerrebew @mystery-ak @Freya @CatherineofAragon @Cripplecreek My response to this article:
“Respondents are asked how often over the past month they felt certain feelings, such as being so sad nothing could cheer them up, or that everything they did was an effort or worthless. The frequency of such feelings gives an indication of whether someone is in serious psychological distress (SPD).”
The way the question is asked will prompt people to buy into those feelings when they answer so you get more “sick” people – they want to be in that group. If the question was something like, “How many times this past month did you feel good about yourself, that you did something worthwhile?” People are likely to agree with that to be part of that group.
Availability of mental help and reason for being depressed:
Most people choose not to get mental help so the numbers/percentages they give as to how many don’t get mental care because it is not available, is off. If there was free mental care on every corner, they still wouldn’t go due to the stigma attached to go to a “shrink”.
“…more prevalent in women than in men” :
Women are more likely to answer their questions than men. However, it is an historic truth that women have less “power” to change their predicament than men, so more women are likely to be depressed than men.
“She found that SPD was more prevalent ...in Hispanic and black people versus white people.”
This is a family issue. Hispanic and black families tend to have less family values than whites due to Hispanic/black families are more likely to be fragmented and have less fathers at home. Daily needs consume their thinking; not enough money for daily needs will cause depression that won’t end. Mental help is not high on their values, money is, and few would seek mental help.
“’There is this generation of middle aged adults that are really suffering right now and if policies change, if we increase access to mental health care and we increase coverage for mental health care, we can save the next generation,’ she says.”
More mental help services is not the answer as most people will not go.
Here is the answer to depression and loss of hope:
Religion has gone by the wayside in this country – if more families attended church, had a belief in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, more families would stay together, depression numbers would fall, there would be less suicides, and there would be much less need for mental help services which they aren’t going to anyway.
Churches tend to help their members who need help with their daily lives. These members are more likely to find jobs and help themselves. I have seen this happen over and over in our church. Before government “took over” people’s lives, churches were the place to go for help. This help is personal, not fill out a form and get impersonal government “help”. Personal help means someone cares about them and this leads to the person wanting to use that help so he/she can make a change in his/her life so he/she doesn’t need help anymore.
