Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
News >> General >>
India, the most depressed nation
By siliconindia
|
Wednesday, 27 July 2011, 23:51 IST |
50 Comments
Bangalore: "Indians are the unhappiest," revealed a study sponsored by World Health Organization. It is reported that around 9 percent people in India suffers from extended period of depression within their lifetime and 36 percent suffer from Major Depressive Episode (MDE).
Sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy and poor concentration and feeling depressed are a few characteristics of MDE.
China, on the other hand, is reported to be the country with lowest predominance (12 percent) of MDE. The average age of depression in India is 31.9 years compared to 18.8 years in China, and 22.7 years in the US.
The BMC Medicine journal published the study based on interviews of more than 89,000 people in 18 different countries by 20 different researchers and reports that nearly 121 million people are affected by depression, worldwide. In the interview, people were first screened on the basis of three questions for depression sadness/depressed mood, feelings of discouragement, and loss of interest lasting several days or longer. They were put through a questionnaire to detect MDE.
The study includes countries such as the US, China, Japan, India, Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine and Spain, Germany, Lebanon, Mexico, and South Africa.
A person had to qualify for five of the nine cardinal symptoms, including indicators in appetite, sleep, mood, lack of concentration and tendency of suicidal thoughts, to be a positive for MDE. Depression is pointed out as the second contributor to shorten the lifespan for individual in the age group of 15-44.
Countries with high income (28 percent) are reported to suffer more from lifetime MDE than low-income countries (19.8 percent). France (21 percent) and the US (19.2percent) are reported to be the highest in rates of lifetime depression. The main reason women suffer from depression as twice as men, is due to the loss of a partner, whether from death or divorce.
