Depression's Affect on your General Health

By Courtney George

Mental health issues can jeopardize an individual’s physical health and well-being, even causing an increased risk of illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and strokes! Impaired mental health is also likely to affect other aspects of one’s lifestyle, such as healthy food consumption, exercise/physicality, job stability, school/work attendance, and performance.

A common measurement of population health is morbidity rate, the weight of an illness on a population. These morbidity rates measure DALYs (Disability-adjusted life years) and YLD (Years lost to disability), and major depressive disorder has been in the top five leading causes of DALYS for both males and females since 2005. Untreated depression is also one of the principal risk factors for suicide, the fourth leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15-29. In addition, Thrive NYC mentions that the mortality rate is about eight years lower for those with a mental illness. These startling statistics need more serious attention.

To tackle this, preventative strategies that target early intervention can be beneficial. Common preventative strategies include better public initiatives with primary care doctors, schools, and workplaces so that they can refer people to specialized providers such as psychologists and psychiatrists. This method would encourage more people to take charge of their mental health as it would be more prioritized and discussed in their everyday lives. Plus, it could naturally lead to a broader understanding of treating and managing these issues before they get out of control.

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