Do Analogue Samples in Depression Aid in Our Knowledge of Depression and Its Treatment?
Do Analogue Samples in Depression Aid in our knowledge of Depression and its Treatment?
Over the years, it has been evident that many scholars, researchers, and mental health professionals in the psychology field are heavily relying on college/university students when studying mental health conditions. More specifically, a prominent mental condition that has dramatically risen over the years in its prevalence is what most people encounter at least once in their lifetime but the extreme aspects of this disorder causes excruciating emotional pain and is highly debilitating. This disorder is depression. Depression is a disorder on a spectrum and the more extreme the illness is, the higher level of damaging effects it has, incapacitating an individual. Moreover the diagnosis, impact, and effect of depression vary from person to person. Almost everyone feels melancholic and depressed at one point in time due to external factors that they are faced with, but a clinical diagnosis is made when the ‘depressed’ state of mind takes control of one’s life and becomes detrimental to their health. For example, it can take a toll on one’s health and intervene with one’s lifestyle limiting their ability to do several things such as working, interacting with individuals, finding the energy to do things and so forth. According to the DSM IV model, an individual who suffers from major depressive disorder must have symptoms of depression such that they either have a depressed mood or a loss of interest/lack of pleasure in daily activities consistently for at least a period of 2 weeks. This requirement excludes depressed moods caused by substance use such as drugs, alcohol and medications. A major multifaceted issue that has come to controversial grounds when studying depression in depth is the population that is being used in the studies related to the depression diagnosis criteria. Sears (1986) recorded that most of the studies in social psychology over the
Over the years, it has been evident that many scholars, researchers, and mental health professionals in the psychology field are heavily relying on college/university students when studying mental health conditions. More specifically, a prominent mental condition that has dramatically risen over the years in its prevalence is what most people encounter at least once in their lifetime but the extreme aspects of this disorder causes excruciating emotional pain and is highly debilitating. This disorder is depression. Depression is a disorder on a spectrum and the more extreme the illness is, the higher level of damaging effects it has, incapacitating an individual. Moreover the diagnosis, impact, and effect of depression vary from person to person. Almost everyone feels melancholic and depressed at one point in time due to external factors that they are faced with, but a clinical diagnosis is made when the ‘depressed’ state of mind takes control of one’s life and becomes detrimental to their health. For example, it can take a toll on one’s health and intervene with one’s lifestyle limiting their ability to do several things such as working, interacting with individuals, finding the energy to do things and so forth. According to the DSM IV model, an individual who suffers from major depressive disorder must have symptoms of depression such that they either have a depressed mood or a loss of interest/lack of pleasure in daily activities consistently for at least a period of 2 weeks. This requirement excludes depressed moods caused by substance use such as drugs, alcohol and medications. A major multifaceted issue that has come to controversial grounds when studying depression in depth is the population that is being used in the studies related to the depression diagnosis criteria. Sears (1986) recorded that most of the studies in social psychology over the
References: Coyne, J.C. (1994). Self-Reported Distress: Analog or Ersatz Depression? Psychological Bulletin, 116 (1), 29-45. Enns, M.W., Cox, B.J., & Borger, S.C. (2001). Correlates of analogue and clinical depression: a further test of the phenomenological continuity hypothesis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 66, 175-183. Shean, G., & Baldwin, G. (2008). Sensitivity and Specificity of Depression questionnaires in a College-Age Sample. The Journal of Genetic Psychology: Research and Theory on Human Development, 169(3), 281-292. Vredenburg, K., Flett, G.L., & Krames, L. (1993). Analogue versus Clinical Depression: A Critical Reappraisal. Psychological Bulletin, 113 (2), 327-344.