Lack of interest, inability to enjoy activities that are usually rewarding, to react to external stimuli. It is anhedonia, one of the main symptoms of depression, a disease often hidden out of shame. But just as often not recognized either by those who suffer from it or by those around them. This is why the figures on depression are more than estimates, and for this very reason they are alarming: according to the World Health Organization, 300 million people suffer from it all over the world, 40 million in Europe, over 3 million in Italy, of which more than 2 million are women. Of these 3 million, 1 million suffer from major depression.
The two years of the pandemic have only increased the burden, as shown by a study conducted in the USA: depressive symptoms have tripled, a traumatic trend with a greater increase than the collective traumas of 11 September 2001 and Hurricane Katrina. Depression can affect all individuals across the board, although it manifests itself more in low or medium-low income groups, women than men and the elderly. Women are more depressed than men (5.1% vs 3.6%), but between the ages of 55 and 74 the figures increase to 7.5% for women and above 5.5% for men.
The delay in diagnosis
Depression is among the leading causes of disability in the world and is not adequately treated: only 1 in 4 people with major depression receive timely and appropriate treatment following diagnosis, half of patients have to wait more than 3 months to have access to psychological therapies, and 10% wait more than a year for an assessment. During this period, 40% of individuals perform self-injurious gestures and 1 in 6 patients attempt suicide. A Doxa survey indicates that as many as 68% of family members do not speak to others about their sick relative.
Furthermore, a very recent national survey has confirmed that the stigma towards mental disorders strongly conditions the awareness of the suffering person and his family and consequently significantly delays the meeting with the psychiatrist specialist. The consequence is therefore that in 85% of cases the doctor is faced with patients who are not in the onset phase of the disease and therefore who have already lost concrete opportunities for full recovery.
Recovery goal
In short, depression cannot be minimized. It is important that it is recognized in time and that professionals who can help those affected and their families are contacted. The goal must be that of a full recovery of the patient, a return to an active, participatory, conscious life, where the anhedonia has disappeared along with the residual symptoms. How to do? Digital psychiatry can help.
There are various tools that allow you to stay close to the patient with computer and telematic methods, as well as telephone applications. In this way we can try to avoid the interruption of treatment, to build a new way of making the diagnosis, carrying out the therapy, preventing relapses and guaranteeing a complete recovery. Therapeutic adherence is in fact a critical element for many patients suffering from long-lasting pathologies and who foresee a long-term therapy. And digital can be a valuable tool, especially in a pandemic period.
Words are not enough
Depression is therefore a disease that must first of all be known, so that it can be recognized and treated. “Come on, get up”, “Try to react”, “Go out and see how you recover” are not phrases to use when we have a depressed person in front of us. This is why the “Depression does not defeat words” campaign, created by Janssen Italia with the patronage of the major scientific societies in the sector and patient associations, plays in an original way on the contrast between the patient’s experience and the exhortations that in good faith they are offered by the people around him, to communicate, even visually, how much the nature and impact of this pathology can be distorted.
And it makes available to everyone valuable information on the disease, the symptoms, the importance of a correct and timely diagnosis, of an effective treatment, of an adequate medical support both on the Facebook page abcdepression both on website abcdetente.it.
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