Mental Health: Understanding Depressive Disorder and Treatment Options

This article discusses the signs, symptoms, prevalence, and etiological theories of depressive disorder. It also provides information on treatment options including medication and somatic therapies. The article aims to educate readers on understanding and managing depressive disorder.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

1MENTAL HEALTH
Depressive disorder
1.
a. The last time I felt sad was when my brother-in-law died all of a sudden because of heart
attack. This was an unexpected setback for my family as he was neither hospitalized nor
suffering from any heart ailments. It occurred all of a sudden.
No, I did not took any service help for this feeling. The feeling went away as time passed by
and when I could finally accept the truth.
b. Yes, there are several other circumstances when I feel sad. These include failure of
certain plans, inability to complete a task or being criticized by someone.
c. The prevalence of depressive disorder in United State is estimated to be about 16.2
million adults in 2017 and this represents 6.7% of the total U.S. population
d. To deal with feelings of sadness or depression, I try to distract my mind from negative
thoughts by participating in activities that I love doing. Being surrounded by group of
friends or close relatives also alleviates the feelings.
2.
a. The sign and symptoms of depression includes poor concentration, social withdrawal,
dependence on alcohol, irritability, feelings of disappointment and frustration, fatigue and
feelings of worthlessness.
b. Behaviorist theory, psychodynamic theory and cognitive theory are different etiological theory
to explain the cause behind depression. The behaviourist theory is based on the assumption that
environment plays a role in shaping behaviour of an individual and certain conditions support

2MENTAL HEALTH
people to learn behaviour. For example classical condition supports that depressive thought
occurs due to association of certain stimuli with negative emotional states. In contrast,
psychodynamic theory linked depression to psychodynamic ideas such as loss of self-esteem or
exposure to loss events. The cognitive theory differs from the other theory in the fact that it
focuses on people’s beliefs rather than behaviour to evaluate the cause behind depression.
3.
a. The following information will be provided to patients who are prescribed the following:
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor:
While prescribing the drug, the patient should be informed regarding the side-effects of
the drug like weight gain, irritability and vomiting and diarrhea. The patient should be advised to
take the medication at night and change postures slowly due to drowsiness after taking the
medication.
Tricyclic Antidepressant or a Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor:
The patient must be educated regarding the side effects of the drug such as dry mouth,
edema, migraine, weight gain and hypertensive crisis. The patient should also be advised not to
take any fermented food while taking the medication and not to discontinue the treatment.
b. Some example of somatic therapies that can treat depression includes electroconvulsive
therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, deep brain stimulation and the vagal nerve
stimulation.