After reading this article, Improving services for women with depression in primary care settings by Wade Katon and Evette Ludman, I realized how backward our country can be and how cycles of poverty and depression are hard to be broken. This article discusses the risk factors and why women have a higher prevalence rate of depression and the barrier to proper access to mental health services. Especially women with a lower socioeconomically status which has been shown to have a higher risk for depression. Also the most common age for the early onset of major depression is during the years that a teenager or young adult is making important decisions like education (15-24), which 12-18% earned less compared to those which the onset of major depression occurred after the age of 21. These women also have the hardest time to get proper treatment and many go to a primary care physician because of either lack of support or insurance not covering help for mental illnesses. But many primary care providers cannot properly care for major depression due to barriers in the health field. Recently studies have come up with a cost effective approach for primary caregivers that help patients with a mental disorder including depression, using stepped care principles. This is an integrative approach between psychologists and other health professions, including nurses. This approach is proven to work in large clinics, but not with smaller, rural or inner city clinics because of lack of mental health professions. And these are the places that have the highest levels of poverty and need it the most, so the cycle continues (2003)! How can we help break this cycle?
Reference
Katon, W. & Ludwin, E. (2003). Improving services for women in primary care settings. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 27, 114-120.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteReading your post as well as in reading the chapter, I wonder if the correlation between the poverty level and the prevalence of depression is kind of like which came first, the chicken or the egg? What I mean by that is, are people who are depressed more likely to be below the poverty line, or are people below the poverty line more likely to be depressed due to circumstance? I hope that made sense! It is an issue that needs to be addressed. If they are depressed, their self esteem is probably so low they do not think they are worthy to break the cycle of the poverty. Addressing stigmas with mental health will, I think, make more people willing to seek out help.
Kerri