Depression & its affects
“The World Health Organization
(2000) estimates that unipolar depression is the currently the most prevalent
psychiatric condition and predicts it to become the second most significant
cause of global disease burden by 2020” (Thomas & Hersen, 2004, p.133). Depression affects people of all genders,
races, ages, and economic backgrounds, yet is twice more prevalent among women
than men. Factors causing depression
include biochemistry, genetics, family history, substance abuse, illness, and
traumatic life events. In some cases the
depression may be mild, while others are quite severe. Some of these factors also become the effects
of depression, i.e. substance abuse and illness. This indirectly leads to increased accident
rates, medical hospitalization, and outpatient care. “The manifestations of depression are estimated
to burden the U.S. economy as much as $44 billion per year…The most significant
indirect cost is decreased productivity, which is a result of increased
absenteeism” (Thomas & Hersen, 2004, p. 133).
Due
to the nature of the affects of depression on a national and personal level,
Julie Totten founded Families for Depression Awareness (FFDA), a non-profit
organization whose mission is to “help families recognize and cope with
depressive disorders, to get people well, and prevent suicides”
(familyaware.org, 2010). (It’s one of
the eighty national partners of the Outreach Partnership Program of the
National Institute of Mental Health: NIMH).
They provide education, outreach, and advocacy to support families who
have lost a loved one to suicide or have witnessed a family member experience depression,
with little knowledge concerning how to assist them. Families for Depression Awareness provide
family profiles / interviews, promotional activities, speaking engagements,
conferences, workshops, community outreach to schools, police stations, health
facilities, religious organizations, nursing homes, and employers. A workplace program to assist employers was
created in response to the current economic crisis. This program helps employers to lower costs,
increase productivity, and realize a better utilization of the company’s Employee
Assistance Programs (EAP). Within this
program, FFDA implements workplace training, community service, employee
communications, and disability education.
To learn more, contact: Julie Totten at
( 781)-890-0220 or info@familyaware.org.
The Nurse Practitioner, the American Journal
of Primary Health Care, posted a review of depression’s effects on work
performance. Between 2001 and 2003,
“researchers compared the workplace habits of 286 depressed workers to those of
193 who were not depressed” (Lerner, Adler, Rogers, 2010). The depressed group suffered from a lack of
motivation, fatigue, managing their workload and routines, keeping up with a
fast pace, and multitasking, all of which decreased their productivity. Again this problem has become widespread and
poses large economic and personal costs.
As
more outreach organizations such as Families for Depression Awareness and
Employee Assistance Programs combat depression in the workplace, hopefully
America will “reduce indirect workplace costs caused by the disorder” (Lerner et al., 2010).
References:
Families for Depression Awareness.
Retrieved from http://www.familyaware.org.
Lerner, D., Adler, D.A., Rogers,
W.H. et al. (2010). Workplace
Performance of
Employees with
Depression: the impact of work stressors. Literature Review: Depression’s
effects on work performance. The Nurse Practitioner: The American Journal of Primary
Health Care, Vol. 35, 6-6. Retrieved from American Journal of Health Promotion,
24(3): 205-213.
Thomas, J. & Hersen, M. (2004).
Psychopathology in the Workplace. New
York, NY:
Brunner-Routledge.
