Miss Essay

For the purpose of this assignment depression and its variant forms will be discussed. National and local policies will also be reviewed and the need for nurses to have knowledge and understanding as to the impact this illness has upon the individual and wider society will also be discussed.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes depression as a “Common mental health disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure feelings of guilt, low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite low energy and poor concentration”.

Depression can affect a person at any time with in their live from babies to the older adult. At present there research is being carried out on pregnant women and their levels of cortisol.   The research is seeking possible biological explanations as to why depression can affect babies and young children.   The findings found that dependent on the amount of cortisol a foetus is exposed to could lead to poor concentration, poor self-control and could lead to depression when older (Sharma 2010).   However there is more evidence from sociological theories.
The National Statistics 2004 found that one in ten children between the age of five and sixteen have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder.   It was found that four percent of children had an emotional disorder which was either anxiety or depression.
Many sociologists argue that children from lone parent families are at higher risk of developing depression the findings of the National Survey 2004 also supports these views.   Some of the findings of the study were that   the incidence of depression was sixteen percent higher with lone parent families compared to eight percent with both parents.   Twenty percent of children suffered depression when both families did not work compared to eight percent whose parents did work.   The national Institute Of Clinical Institute 2005 also found similar findings.   The affect this can have on a child is that they can become withdrawn...