Analysis Of Depression As A Global Crisis: Ottawa Charter For Health Promotion Essay.

Depression

Discuss about the Analysis of Depression as a Global Crisis Implementation of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.

Depression is a major contributor to the global affliction of disease, and it impacts people from different walks of life in society. According to the World Health Organisation (2001), depression is estimated to affect 350 million individuals. Depressive disorders typically begin at a young age and end up interfering with a person’s functions as they occur time and time again. Depression thus is classified as the leading cause of a significant number of years lost as result of mental disability. This paper will analyze depression as a prevalent mental disorder in Australian society.

Depression is a type of a mental disorder that presents itself with sad disposition loss of energy, pleasure or interest, low self-worth, poor concentration, disturbed sleep, and feelings of guilt (Parker, 2007). These problems ultimately become chronic and result in a persona’s inability to handle their responsibilities. If left untreated, depression leads to suicide. According to Highet (2002), an estimated 1 million Australians are diagnosed with depression on an annual basis. Depression affects an estimated 20% of adults in Australia with the number of women doubling that of men as far as diagnosis are concerned (Highet, 2002). Depression is on many occasions linked to other disorders such as substance use, eating disorder and anxiety disorder.

Depression is a disease that gets diagnosed and treated. Treatment options include psychosocial support alongside psychotherapy and antidepressant medication. While the global affliction of depression poses a public health challenge both at the economic and social level, some strategies tackle the overall burden of depression. There are some service frameworks in Australia that serve the purpose of improving mental health and well-being of an entire population by reducing inequalities and enhancing the quality of health and social care in situations involving mental health.

The Beyond Blue initiative is intended to improve the community’s capacity to prevent cases and effectively respond to cases involving depression. It is a combined initiative of the Australian federal state and different territory governments and works in partnership with schools; health services workplaces including other related agencies with an aim to increase awareness regarding depression and reduce stigma relating to depression (Dunt et al., 2011). The beyond blue framework works on the premise of five priorities which include:

1. To promote community awareness regarding depression, anxiety, substance use disorders and tackling associated social stigma.
2. To provide individuals living with depression as well as their carers with information about the disease and effective treatment methods and promoting their experiences and needs with healthcare service providers and policy makers.
3. By developing programs for early intervention and depression prevention initiatives.
4. By improving training and support for health professionals on depression.
5. Through initiating depression related research.

Since the year 2000, the beyond blue initiative has been undertaking twelve-monthly national telephone surveys as a way of monitoring state-level estimates of community knowledge and awareness about depression. The organization also conducts studies of general practice to evaluate the changing patterns of medicine prescription and use of antidepressant medication.

Managing depression

The framework recognizes that depressive disorder has a significant impact on the European Union’s productivity (Lehtinen, 2001). Restricting access to lethal substances and decreasing social exclusion is identified in the model as reducing the rate of susceptibility to depression. Majority EU member states have individual national programs for dealing with depression which include policies such as employing professionals and peer groups and empowerment of gatekeepers. However, the European framework for action on mental health and well-being stresses that more effort is in public health in terms of scaling up stoppage efforts and awareness in addition to building capacity as a way to boost recognition rates in the general health sector (Herman & Jane-Llopis, 2005). In the European context legislation and action plans in member states perform the crucial function of implementing the tools for broadening awareness on a national level. Additionally, the EU also recognizes that coordinated efforts in the use of e-health approach for preventing depression (McDaid et al., 2005). The current e-health documents coupled with psycho-education and mental health learning materials are a crucial part of the solution towards dealing with depression in the EU.

The framework elaborates on the idea that children in the United Kingdom have to deal with emotions and situations that lead to depression (Bracken & Thomas, 2001). The framework draws its premise for dealing with depression from the overarching standards stipulated in the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The overarching standard 28 elaborates on what ought to get done in cases of children and young people suffering from mild to moderate depression. The standard explains that a young person with mild depression ought to have a comprehensive evaluation in primary care followed by onward referral to pinpoint mental health needs to enable early intervention (Walshe, 2002). Furthermore, the young person’s family ought to receive information and training regarding the depressive disorder. The overarching standard 28 helps a person caring for a young to respond appropriately to ensure that a young person with depression receives appropriate early intervention to prevent long-term issues developing. Secondly, the overarching standard 29 of NICE relates to children and young individuals with moderate to severe depression. The principle explains that a young person with severe to moderate depression ought to receive particular psychological therapy which includes cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and short-term family therapy provided by professionals such as therapist trained in Adolescent and childhood mental health (Mitchie et al., 2011). The standard further advises against prescribing or giving antidepressant medication placing great emphasis on psychological interventions. Such an approach acts as a measure to improve the quality of life for young people with depression.

Beyond Blue: Australia’s National Depression Initiative

In the WHO’s report on health for the world’s adolescents, depression represents the primary cause of disability, illness, and suicide among teens (World Health Organization, 2014). The Australian department of health explains that older adolescent teens are increasingly experiencing depression (Bond et al., 2007). A combination of cultural, economic and schooling factors are the main contributors to the growing problem. Teenagers in Australia are faced with distress at school as they cope with a variety of expectations in their final year of their school vocation. Teens face different pressures and choices, and the modern education structure presents a variety of problems. A study conducted at the Queensland University of Technology found that suicide caused by negative school experiences among teenage students between the ages 15 to 19 increased by 63 percent from 2011 to 2012 (Rigby, 2000). Culture also has a significant on the depression rate given that in the teenage life phase, young men and women struggle with appearance and identity issues. As teenagers grow, they continuously seek emotional and financial independence hence become increasingly exposed to external cultures that present different exposure from those in the family sphere. For example, teenagers in Australia get exposed to the culture of binge drinking, marijuana and tobacco smoking which counts as rites of passage for adolescents. Teenagers, therefore, get exposed to depression as they struggle to assert themselves in a culture that forces them to want to conform to the behaviors of their peers. In Australia, 30% of the population lives in rural areas many of whom are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin (Bailie, 2010). Australians in the countryside are relatively poorer owing to the longstanding history of discrimination and prejudice against indigenous communities. Hence, due to the socio-economic differences, the suicide rate and rate of depression is higher in children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin.

Application of the Ottawa Charter in developing a health promotion initiative for the rising rate of depression among teenagers in Australia

The Ottawa Charter for health promotion focuses on the needs of industrialized countries as a response to the issues that arise (Beaudoin, 2011). Health promotion according to the charter is a procedure that involves enabling individuals to have control over and improve their health. The Ottawa charter depicts five key actions for the rising rate of depression among teenagers in Australia.

There is a need for public policy to help put health on the agenda of policy makers, directing them to mind the consequences of failing to consider the rising rate of depression among teenagers. The health promotion policies combine a list of education, cultural and economic factors that contribute to the growing depression rate among adolescents that leads to the adoption of health public policy to eliminate the factors.

European framework for action on mental health and well-being

The complex association between people and their surroundings provided the basis for a sociological approach to dealing with the problem of increased depression among teenagers. The overall guiding philosophy for nations and communities is the need to care for each other, communities and natural environment. Health promotion comes about through changing the patterns of life in schooling and leisure to minimalize the rate at which teenagers get exposed to depression.

At the core of reducing teens’ exposure to depression, is engaging communities and encouraging them to text ownership and control of their destinies. Community development exploits meaning from material and existing human resources to tackle the problem of teenage susceptibility to depression and identifying current and new solutions to deal with the health matter.

Health promotion enables people to tap into health-related information and life enhancing skills as far as depression is concerned. Such info increases the options for individuals to make favorable choices as far as teenage depression is concerned and have more influence over teenage health matters. Positive repercussions come about by promoting educational, commercial, and professional institutional actions towards tackling the problem.

The responsibility for health promotion as far as teenage depression is concerned is shared among communities, individuals, health service institutions, health professionals, and governments. The parties involved must combine efforts to develop a healthcare system that encompasses the psychological and physical needs for teenagers beyond the responsibility of providing therapeutic and clinical services. Also, reorienting health services requires stronger emphasis on health research and alterations in professional education as well as training.

Conclusion

Depression is a global health concern, and as depicted in this paper, some frameworks have been developed to address the problem. The article also provides justification for research studies aimed at dealing with the problem of increased depression among teenagers in Australia. Finally, the paper implements the WHO’s Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion framework to illustrate strategies to curb the increasing rate of depression among adolescents in Australia.

References

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