- A common mental disorder called depression can cause crippling symptoms.
- Doctors will carefully gather information about a person's symptoms, history, and presentation in order to make an appropriate clinical diagnosis.
- According to data from a recent study, listening to someone's speech could be a crucial tool for identifying depression in those who have not yet received a diagnosis.
- It will take further investigation to comprehend how depressed people's speech alters.
Depression is a serious mental health condition. A correct diagnosis guarantees that people receive the direction and assistance needed to manage their depression. Examining a person's changing behavioral patterns might help diagnose depression in them.
Recent research
A study by Trusted Source that was published in BMC Psychiatry looked into the possibility that analyzing speech patterns could help detect depressed individuals who have not yet been given a diagnosis.
The techniques examined might make it easier to spot depression's early warning symptoms.
Ensuring a correct depression diagnosis
Significant Depressive Disorder
Depression, or simply depression, is a mental disorder that affects mood and behavior Trusted Source. Depression can cause feelings of emptiness or hopelessness, a lack of energy, and a loss of enjoyment in once-pleasurable activities. People who are depressed have enduring symptoms for at least two weeks or longer.
To correctly identify depression
Doctors will consider a patient's medical background, probe about their symptoms, assess their answers, and attempt to rule out any underlying physical explanations.
The difficulties in identifying depression were described to Medical News Today by Dr. Jhilam Biswas, director of the Psychiatry, Law and Society Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, who was not involved in the study.
"A detailed clinical examination with a history taking, background information, review of organ systems, and a targeted symptom checklist is required to make a diagnosis of depression," she stated.
The alterations in speech patterns among depressed individuals are one topic of interest. Researchers are attempting to comprehend these alterations as well as how best to use speech analysis to help diagnose patients with mental diseases.
Speaking to MNT, licensed psychotherapist Dr. Krystina Patton, who was not engaged in the study, pointed out that speech can provide hints about a variety of behaviors.
Depression and speech patterns
This study especially examined speech patterns and signs of depression in a non-clinical group. In a non-clinical sample (i.e., healthy young adults), the authors state that they aimed to "investigate whether there would be an association between minor symptoms of depression and speech traits."
118 young adults were included in the study's analysis. The participants' average age was almost 24.
Each participant completed a survey that examined depression symptoms. A higher score meant that depression was more likely.
Additionally, participants took a test known as the "trail-making test." This exercise evaluated the participants' capacity for sustained attention, information processing, and task switching. Additionally, participants who performed better than the cut-off for clinically significant depressive symptoms took longer to finish a section of the trail-making task.
By asking each subject to discuss one happy and one bad occurrence, researchers were able to examine their speech. On each question, participants spoke for one minute, and researchers recorded their comments.
Following data analysis, it was discovered that 93 participants had scores below the cutoff for significant depressive symptoms, whereas 25 had scores above it. Researchers discovered that the group chatted more than those who scored lower for depressive symptoms did for those who had greater depression scores.
About 93% of the time, researchers could correctly identify which group a person belonged to.
Our findings show that even in a group without a clinical diagnosis of depression, alterations in speech are associated with greater depression scores, write the study's authors.
Study restrictions
There were some significant limitations to the study.
First, only college students were included in the study, and 79% of those chosen were female. These are not typical of the populace as a whole. This suggests that future research can use a wider range of sample populations.
Second, the study only looked at a small number of relatively brief recordings of speech patterns, which can only record a limited amount of data. Additionally, participants were not given clinical interviews by researchers, thus it's possible that some of them already had a clinical diagnosis of depression.
Is speaking more than normal a warning sign?
The results of this study point to the necessity for more investigation into the relationship between speech patterns and depression.
Dr. Patton listed potential future applications for this research:
Although more research is required to validate this, if it is accurate, then these small changes in speech patterns might serve as a helpful screening tool in the early diagnosis of depressive processes, assisting in the identification of those who are at risk for serious depression in the future.
The key conclusion of the study was that converse to what is normally observed in depressed individuals, those with higher indications of depression talked more.
A professional psychologist who was also not involved in the study, David Tzall, hypothesized the following as the cause of this specific finding:
"Those who have higher levels of depression may talk more because they feel alone and alone. Having a conversation can help you build relationships. It makes reasonable that a healthy group would employ communication skills when they feel low since this is a non-clinical population.
Misconceptions about mental health in medicine
Mental health has gradually emerged from the shadows in recent years. Our mental health has been neglected for decades, but it is now gradually getting the attention it needs. Many myths do, nevertheless, still exist. Here, we address 11 widespread misunderstandings.
This installment of Medical Myths will concentrate on mental health as we get closer to World Mental Health DayTrusted Source on October 10th.
There are still numerous myths and misconceptions around mental health, despite the area receiving more attention and research.
Sadly, there is still a lot of stigma around mental health issues, most of it is based on obsolete presumptions and outmoded thinking. Like many other things in life, the more knowledge we possess, the less probable it is that we will allow myths to sway our judgment.
People with mental health issues were once stigmatized by society. Some people held the view that mental illness was caused by malevolent spirits or divine vengeance. Although this method of thinking has largely been eradicated from society, its influence is still felt everywhere.
The world's mental health has suffered as 2020 continues unabatedly. The need to address myths about our mental health is more important than ever.
We examine 9 widespread misunderstandings about mental health below.
1. Mental health issues are rare
The aforementioned claim was untrue even before the COVID-19 epidemic. The statement is possibly more false today than it has ever been.
One in four people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source, will have mental or neurological illnesses at some point in their life.
450 million people worldwide are dealing with these issues right now. Mental illnesses are "among the primary causes of ill health and disability worldwide," according to the WHO.
More than 264 million people worldwide (Trusted Source) experienced depression in 2017, making it one of the most prevalent mental health conditions. The number of people who experience depression has tripled throughout the epidemic, according to a more recent study that focuses on the United States.
Another prevalent mental condition called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is thought to affect 6.8 million adults in the United States or more than 3 in every 100 people.
2. Panic attacks may result in death
The symptoms of panic attacks, which include a pounding heart and an overwhelming sense of anxiety, are extremely unpleasant. They cannot, however, cause death immediately.
However, it is important to keep in mind that someone experiencing a panic episode may be more likely to have a collision. Finding a safe area can help reduce this danger if someone is having a panic attack or can feel one coming on.
3. People with mental illnesses are unable to work
The idea that people with mental health disorders are unable to maintain employment or contribute to the workforce is an ancient but pervasive fallacy. This is wholly untrue.
It is true that a person with a particularly serious mental illness may not be able to perform regular employment. The majority of those who struggle with mental illness, meanwhile, are still capable of being just as productive as those who are healthy.
4. Mental illness is a symptom of fragility
This is not accurate any more than it is correct to argue that a broken leg indicates weakness. Mental health issues are illnesses, not character flaws. Similar to how someone with diabetes or psoriasis cannot instantly recover from their ailment, neither can someone who has depression.
The contrary is actually true: It takes a lot of strength to battle a mental health illness.
5. Only those with no friends require therapy
Speaking with friends is very different from organised talking treatments. Both can offer assistance to those who are suffering from mental illness, but a skilled therapist can do so in ways that even the closest of friends cannot match.
Additionally, not everyone is able to be completely honest with their loved ones. Contrary to more casual conversations with untrained friends, therapy is private, impartial, and fully centred on the individual.
6. Issues with mental health are persistent
A "life sentence" following a mental health diagnosis is not always the case. Every person's experience with mental illness is unique. Some people may go through episodes, after which they get back to what they consider to be "normal." Others could discover remedies, such as prescription drugs or counselling, that help them get their life back in order.
Some people might not feel like they've entirely recovered from a mental illness, and some can have symptoms that get worse over time.
7. A lack of willpower causes addiction.
This assertion is untrue. Drug use problems are viewed as chronic diseases by experts. dependable source
Journal of Addictive Behaviors Reports article
A qualitative longitudinal research examining the connection between willpower and addiction rehabilitation is described in Trusted Source. The researchers discovered that overcoming addiction was not dependent on one's capacity for willpower. They include:
The development of ways to maintain willpower by managing the environment is essential to treatment because people with addiction don't seem to lack it.
8. Split personalities are a symptom of schizophrenia.
This is untrue. The misunderstanding can be caused by the word schizophrenia, which means "splitting of the mind." Eugen Bleuler was attempting to "convey the fragmentation and disintegration of the mind and behaviour as the essence of the condition" when he invented the phrase in 1908, according to Trusted Source.
Schizophrenia "is marked by abnormalities in thought, perception, emotions, language, sense of self, and behaviour," according to the WHOTrusted Source. Hallucinations and delusions are examples of these distortions.
Dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is not the same as schizophrenia.
9. Only women experience eating disorders.
There is a myth that eating problems only affect young, white, and affluent ladies. They may nevertheless impact anybody.
For instance, a study that looked at the ten-year demographic trends of eating disorders discovered that they are changing. Males, persons from lower-income homes, and people 45 years of age and older saw the most increases in prevalence.
Another study found that men make up 10% to 25%Trusted Source of all cases of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and 25% of all cases of binge eating disorders.
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