CNA 347: An Educational Tool on Depressive Disorder for Adolescents

This project provides an educational tool focused on depressive disorder in adolescents aged 10-17, including their families. It aims to address knowledge gaps regarding depression, its signs and symptoms, and effective management techniques. The tool covers various aspects of depressive disorders, including types (Major Depressive Disorder, adjustment disorders, post-natal depression, and bipolar disorder), statistics on affected populations in Australia, causes (genetic factors, stress, social factors, substance use), signs and symptoms (emotional and physical), diagnosis methods, and treatment options (pharmacological, psychological, and medical interventions). Management strategies emphasize awareness programs, reducing social stigma, peer support, and leveraging technology and social media for mental health information dissemination. The project concludes that depressive disorder is a critical concern, particularly among adolescents, but can be managed effectively with appropriate interventions. This resource is available on Desklib, where students can find a wealth of solved assignments and past papers.

Depressive Disorder

Target Audience
 The main target audience for this educational tool is the adolescents and children of
10-17 years.
 In addition, the families of the children are also target audience for this educational
tool.

Learning outcomes
 Target audience will be clearly identified.
 The educational message has to be clear in the presentation.
 List of reference material used in development attached
 Evidences are interpreted and used in a correct manner.
 Information should be presented in a appropriate manner for the
target audience.

What is Depressive disorder
 Depressive disorder refers to feelings of
sadness and it is associated with the
common term depression . The term
depressive disorders are a group of
illness characterized by long-term
depressed mood along with interest loss
in activities.
 Such disorders can disrupt the life of
the patients.
 Depressive disorder or cases of
depression are quite common amomng
the people of Australlia (Health.gov.au
2019).

 .

Types of Depressive Disorders
 In Australia , there are a numbers of mental illnress
that is associated with the depression.
 The most common depressive disorder diagnposed
in Australia is Major depressive Disorder. In this
disorder, the person feels very low sprited and loses
all the enjoyment of the life. Feeliong of guilt is
very common in this disorder.
 Another diagnosed depressive disorder in Australia
is adjustment disorders with depressed mood.
 The post –natal depression that is baby-blue effects
in the pregnant mother is another depressive
disorder in Australia.
 Maniac depression or bipolar mood disorder is
another type of depressive disorfder in Australia
(Health.gov.au 2019).

Who are affected by the Disease
 Depressive disorder is common among the Australian people. 1 out of 5 Austrlians
between the age group of 16-85 years experiences mental illness along with
depression in every year.
 It is documented that almost 45% of Australians will face the problems of depressive
disorders in their whole life.
 The mid-to-late adolesecenvce and youth ( age group of 18-24 years) Australians are
the most vulnerable group for experiencing the depressive disorders . Almost 6% of
the total youth population ( Age 15-19 years) are affected by the depressive
disorders in Australia and 14% are expericing the anxiety disorders.
 4-6% of the total population of Australia are affected by moderate disorder and 9-
12% of people are affected by the mild disorder (Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare 2019)

Statistics

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 From the graph, it can be Said that, the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
( ADHD) is the most common depressive disorder and almost 312000 patients
in Australia is affected by this ADHD in 2016.
 Anxiety disorder affects alsmost 6.9 % or 291000 of total patients of
depressive disorders.
 2.8% of total affected pateints are suffering from major depressive disorder
that is almost 118,000.
 Lastly, 2.1% are suffering from conduct disorder.

Causes of Depressive Disorder
 The depressive disorder is a combination of various factors genetic factors,
stressful life, anxiety, disrupted personal life, social factors and these may promote
the onset of deprtession among the people.
 Extreme sadness can also be a contribuitive factor to the onset of depression.
 Serious illness is another cause of depressive disorder.
 Consumption of alcohol and drug can also promote the depression among the
patients.
 Certain personality such as people with perfectionist tendencies, low self-esteemed
people are more vulnerable to grow the symptoms of depressive disorders
(Healthdirect.gov.au 2019).

Signs and Symptoms
 The main Signs and symptoms of depressive disorder
are-
 Emotional symptoms
 loss of interest
 Isolation from the friends and family
 Feeling of worthlessness
 Feeling sad or empty
 Suicidal tendency
 Physical Symptoms
 Insomnia
 headaches
 Feeling sick
 lowered sex drive
 loss of apetite
 weight loss (Healthdirect.gov.au 2019).

Diagnosis of Depressive Disorder
 The primary step of detecting the
depression is to visit a doctor who is
professionally treating mental ill
patients.
 The doctor will perform a detail
mental health assessment and a
comprehensive interview.
 The assessment comprises of
questions about symptoms and their
effect on the life of the patient.
 Assessing history of the patients

Continued..
 Questions about the alcohol and drug use of the patients
 Doctor should ask questions about the sleeping pattern and daily
schedule of the patients from the family members of the patient.
 Doctors can perform physical examination to exclude the possibility
of any physical problems.
 After taking all the information, the diagnosis should be made
according to the DSM5 criteria (Healthdirect.gov.au 2019).