Impact of Anxiety and Depression on Service Users, Families, Carers

This report provides a detailed analysis of the effects of anxiety and depression on service users, their families, and carers. It highlights the mental and physical health consequences for service users, including memory loss, overwhelming sadness, anger, and potential substance abuse. Social pr...Read More

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION DISORDER
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Introduction
This report discusses the impact of anxiety and depression on the service users. The report also
analyzes how anxiety and depression mental disorder affects family and carer. Anxiety and
depression is a type of mental disorder that causes a patient to become mentally unstable due to
excess and prolonged stress. Attention is a disorder that causes nervousness, fear,apprehension
and worry (Psychiatric Comorbidity in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Severity of Anxiety and
Depression, 2016). This disorder affects how a person feels and behaves. Anxiety can be seen
through physical symptoms and can affect day to day living seriously.More than 26% of adults in
the world suffer from depression(Byrne & Neville, 2010). This report analyzes the effect that
anxiety disorder, as well as depression, has on the health of an individual as well as close family
members.
Anxiety and depression have a huge effect on the health of service users. Feeling anxious at
ti.mes is a normal life feeling. However, when these feelings last more than 14 days it may turn
into depression. If clinical depression is left untreated it could affect the central nervous system
of an individual. Depression causes memory loss because it interferes with the nervous system of
a human being(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression Among Children of War, 2013).
An individual is able to retain less information and they keep forgetting more often than its
normal. Anxiety and depression cause overwhelming sadness, grief, and feeling of guilt. A
person feels hopeless and they may end u causing physical injuries to themselves due to despair.
In addition to these, depression and anxiety causes anger and irritability and hence affecting the
sex life of an individual. This happens because anger and irritability make a person lose interest
in many things such as sex and interacting with people(Kimberly , 2014).
Anxiety cause headaches and chronic body pain that does not respond to medication. This

continuous headache affects the mental health of an individual and they may eventually result in
mental sicknesses(Shattell, 2010). Depression and anxiety may make an individual result to
alcohol and substance abuse (World Health Organization, 2009). This increases instances of
abusive behavior and recklessness. When the service user begins using drugs as a result of
anxiety, it becomes a tragedy since they face the problem of substance disorder as well as
depression and hence making it difficult to treat(Cadogan, 2016).
Depression and anxiety bring about social problems to the service users. Depression results in
disputes in the family between the children and the parents. When a person is depressed, they are
easily irritated and this makes it difficult to interact with a person who is depressed(Thomas,
2016). As a result of this, domestic conflicts occur at home and hence resulting in breakage of
families and marriages(Hettema, 2008). The nosologic relationship between generalized anxiety
disorder and major depression. A person with depression may engage in fights that may result in
injuries to other people.
Effect on family
Anxiety and depression also have an effect on the family of the patient suffering from the mental
disorder. Depression brings about stress issues to the family since they cannot get peace of mind
when their loved ones are mentally ill. The family members themselves may fall into depression
if the service user does not get treated promptly(Outreville and Desrochers, 2016). The
performance of the children of the service user at school may get affected. The children find it
difficult to concentrate due to the abuse they may be suffering at home and hence their academic
performance may take a dip.
The family of a service user may be affected as a result of depression since it affects the ability

of a person to work. A person suffering from anxiety and depression disorder may not be able to
perform their daily activities (Lloyd, 2012). If the service user is the breadwinner in the family
the family may lose their livelihood and their economic life may get affected (Nashat, Rendall&
Harris, 2011). Paying bills and feeding the family becomes a difficult task to the family.
A person with depression disorder becomes like an intruder in the family. They become
downcast and get less involved in family activities. The close family members are always filled
with fear and anxiety and it affects their social life greatly(Tracy, 2018).
Effect on the carer
Caring for anxiety and depression patient comes with many challenges. Carers are affected both
psychologically and physically as a result of providing care to the service user. Carers may get
affected psychologically when the patient shares their stories of agony and stress with them
(Booker & Waugh, 2007).They may reach a point where it becomes difficult to handle some
cases and they may get affected mentally due to the experiences they undergo while providing
care to the patient with anxiety and depression disorders.
The carers may also suffer verbal and physical abuse from the patients with clinical depression.
Some patients get mentally unstable to the point that they abuse their carers verbally and
sometimes it gets physical(EverydayHealth.com, 2018). Patients who reach this point need to be
restricted and offered special care to avoid causing bodily harm to other people.
Therapeutic interventions for mental health
Therapeutic interventions are the actions and treatment taken in order to provide treatment and
cure to a patient suffering from mental health disorder (Jones, 2005). They include:
Psychotherapy- therapy or counseling is very important in treating mental disorder since it
enables the carer to understand the root cause of the problem and hence making it easier to arrive

at the solution (Hardy & Gray, 2012).
Cognitive behavioral therapy is another therapeutic intervention that is used to treat depression.
CBT identifies and addresses thought pattern proactively. The technique also analyzes the beliefs
and behaviors that a patient exhibits and hence help to understand reasons for the behavior or
pattern of thought
Medication is also an effective method of treating mental disorders. Pharmacological assistance
is important to manage the symptoms experienced by the patient.
Rehabilitation services- these are a variety of different support services such as job skills, legal
skills, and social skills( Frais, 2015). These help in providing support for the patient to help boost
their self-esteem and help the patient deal with the problem.
Conclusion
Anxiety and depression is a mental disorder that greatly affects both the service seeker, their
family as well as the carer. Depression destroys the social life of the patient. This is because
makes a person become easily irritable and angry and hence making it difficult for the individual
to interact with other people freely. In addition to this, a person suffering from anxiety gets
neglected by most people and they may end up feeling unwanted and hence lose self-esteem.
Depression also interferes with the livelihood of a person since they are not able to work
normally and hence a person cannot earn income. Depression and anxiety bring about marriage
breakups and family disputes. The carers are also affected psychologically when they deal with
patients suffering from acute clinical depression.

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