8 in 10 people with depression suffer discrimination

Discrimination is a common occurrence in both the private and working lives of those suffering from depression, a new study claims.The international study, published in The Lancet, involved more than 1,000 sufferers of depression in 35 countries across the world. It found that almost eight out of ten (79 per cent) reported experiencing discrimination in at least one life domain. The findings suggested that in many cases this experience of discrimination is preventing those with depression from enjoying full educational, social and workplace inclusion.

More than a third (37 per cent) of participants said they had stopped themselves from initiating a close personal relationship because of their fear of discrimination, a quarter said it had prevented them from applying for work, and 20 per cent said discrimination had stopped them from applying for education or training.The study also found that those who were less willing to disclose their depression to others were more likely to experience discrimination.

Read more via the HR Review here.

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Men bearing brunt of worsening mental health in England since start of 2008 recession

Men have borne the brunt of worsening mental health across the population of England since the start of the economic downturn in 2008, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open. But unemployment and a falling household income don’t seem to be the culprits, prompting the authors to suggest that it is the threat of losing their jobs that has affected men’s mental health.

“The finding that mental health across the general population has deteriorated following the recession’s onset, and that this association does not appear to be limited to those out of employment nor those whose household income has declined, has important implications,” say the authors.

They suggest that the reason for the gender differences in the impact of recession could be that men’s mental health is more vulnerable to the fear of job loss. “One potential explanation for our results would be that job insecurity during the current recession is responsible for the deterioration in mental health, with men’s psychological health remaining more affected by economic fluctuations despite greater female labour market participation,” they conclude.

Read more here via Rochdale News.

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Threefold risk of dementia with anxiety

Patients diagnosed with anxiety have an almost three times greater risk of developing dementia and it is a stronger risk factor than both depression and cerebrovascular disease, according to a UK primary care study.

The study’s authors suggest older patients could be presenting with anxiety which is caused by their first experiences of cognitive impairment.

Primary care researchers at Keele University in Staffordshire used the Consultations in Primary Care Archive to identify 400 cases of dementia and matched them to 1,353 controls without dementia.

Read the full article via Pulse here.

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Stalking your ex on Facebook is bad for your mental health

New research shows that obsessing over your ex on Facebook might seem like it helps ease the pain of breaking up, but it's potentially harmful for your mental health.

Facebook Surveillance of Former Romantic Partners: Associations with PostBreakup Recovery and Personal Growth by Dr. Tara C. Marshall, Ph.D., tells us that online post-breakup fixation on your ex is really not a good idea if you want to get over it, heal your heart, or get back into personal growth patterns.

And even though "all the kids are doing it" - it's not going to be helping out anyone's mental health anytime soon. 

The paper explains, "Not only do people use Facebook to monitor the activities of current romantic partners, but as many as one-third use Facebook to keep tabs on former romantic partners.While Facebook surveillance of ex-partners has been linked to negative outcomes such as online and offline relational intrusion, the potential for Facebook contact and surveillance to disrupt emotional recovery and growth following a breakup has received little research attention."

Read more via ZDNet here.

Depression in the workplace increasing in the UK

A new survey from the European Depression Association has revealed that one in ten working people surveyed in Europe have taken time off work due to depression.

The IDEA survey questioned over 7,000 people across Europe and discovered that 20% of the respondents had received a diagnosis of depression at some point. Great Britain had the highest percentage recorded (26%), and of those experiencing depression, it suggested that 58% were likely to take time off work because of it.

Read more via the HR Review here.

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