Health

Students are asked to select one of the following mental illnesses;
Schizophrenia
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Depression
Bi Polar disorder
Eating disorders
Anxiety disorders
1. Imagine you are a medical professional; provide a description of your chosen mental illness. Included in your response include signs and symptoms of the illness, relevant data showing an impact on the health status of Australians, any relevant risk factors and any known protective factors.
Depression is a condition of mental disturbance, with a lack of energy y and difficulty in maintaining concentration or interest in life. It is said that and that within any year at least 10,000 young people in Australia will suffer from depression – though some may recover and improve their state within the year.

Although depression is thought to be an extreme state of sadness, there is a huge difference between clinical depression and sadness. Sadness is a common emotion experienced by all humans regularly – usually on a daily basis. Sadness is a natural reaction to many situations in a person’s life; it is a negative emotion that is said to be healthy – for example, in the case of a loss of spouse. However, depression is both physical and mental illness with many symptoms. Depression doesn’t only involve being in an unhappy mood and can be a huge risk and cause many problems in a person’s life.

Depression is considered to be an emotional, physical and cognitive state that is intense and long-term, it can be categorised as a non-psychotic mental illness in most cases, but can be a psychotic illness in some cases. This is because depression disturbs a person’s ability to cope with many day to day activities as well as many situations. Depression is the most prevalent and common mental illnesses in Australia.

There are many symptoms of depression that can be evident within an individual this can include things such as reckless behaviour (substance abuse, compulsive gambling, dangerous