14 DAY TRIAL // Most people who experience depressive symptoms and figure this out want to see the doctor. However, they avoid bringing the issue up with their family physician because they are afraid to be prescribed antidepressant medication.
According to the results of a new investigation, this is the primary reason why this happens. The research was carried out on a sample of 1.054 patients, and the results were published in the September 12 issue of the esteemed medical journal Annals of Family Medicine.
All recent statistics, collected both in the United States and abroad, indicate that depression, anxiety and insomnia are the most under-reported health problems. In Europe, a new study found that at least 40 percent of the general population suffered from at least one mental disorders.
In the study, researchers learned that as much as 43 percent of all patients described themselves as being “hesitant” to talk to their physicians about the symptoms they were displaying. The questionnaire also included queries about the beliefs test subjects held on clinical depression.
More than 23 percent of all test participants said that they avoided talking to their doctors because they were afraid they would be put under medication. These people preferred to steer clear of drugs such as Wellbutrin, Effexor, Prozac or Paxil, the most commonly used chemicals against depression.
An additional 16 percent responded that understanding their emotional issues should not be a part of their physicians' duties towards them. The privacy of their own medical records also constituted a great reason for concern among the study respondents, PsychCentral reports.
Many feared that their employers would be granted access to these records, and said that such an action could lead to them missing out on career or job opportunities. Being cataloged as a psychiatric patient with a mental disorder, they said, would not bode well with their lives' plans.
Less educated, lower-income women represent the most unlikely population subgroup to sit down and talk to their doctors about their mental health, followed closely by people of Hispanic descent in general. University of California in Davis (UCD) expert Robert Bell led the new investigation.
He explains that conditions such as depression are caused by an interplay of factors, including genetics, hormones, stress, environmental and family factors, and an individual's own psychological makeup. As such, when out-of-the-ordinary symptoms occur, people should go see a doctor immediately.