Depression and obesity has been the study of a lot of different research. We see people every day whom we as people would say is over weight or is wearing a bigger size clothing than another person. People die every day due to being overweight causing them to not be in a good health conditions. What could be the cause of this taking place? Could it be because a person likes to be overweight or is there some type of mental instability taking place that makes them to become overweight or possibly overtime gaining weight and they turn into the term known as obese? In this paper the goal is to show that a leading cause of obesity is due to depression. In doing so we will review research that explains how depression is a cause of obesity in different countries. After we will make the connection of obesity and depression and how they are related. I feel it is important to show the effects of obesity and how it truly leads to depression, after, we will give evidence of how it relates directly connected to depression. The last concrete proof that I would like to present is that there is a direct relationship between the obesity and depression. The overall goal of this research is to show that depression is one of the major causes of obesity.
Obesity is an epidemic all over the world therefore we do not just want to focus on the United States. Let's review this and how it effects Turkish people. "Obesity and depression has always been associated with lots of different health problems for example cardiovascular diseases and diabetes to disability. When it comes to specifically the elderly there is an increase in obesity given the increase it is leading to frailty, and premature death due to a not having enough physical activity. A study was completed to see how depression of the European elderly as caused obesity. The study consisted of 65-87 year obese participants with an even mixture of men and women. Given the results it was found that depression rate was 54.9% in the obese group. It was found that the % of depression was higher in women than in men. Living alone and in a low economical areas resulted in a much higher risk of depression in both genders. In another current study it investigated obesity and depression and found that depression rates were higher in obese elderly women than men. The study ended with saying that given the evidence that depression existed with women with severe obesity (ÇAKMUR, Hülya, and Sadık ARDIÇ)". Now that we have reviewed obesity as being a major issue let's review how obesity is directly related to depression.
There are many issues that can plague a country but obesity is something that s steadily growing in the United States. We can blame obesity on many different things for example fast food, candy, and not monitoring one's own health. "Obesity and major depressive disorder have been recognized as major problem. Both of the two have been known to have an increase in the risk of adverse health outcomes; for example diabetes II, cardiovascular dieseases and premature death. Depression is on the rise and is now expected to rank first in disease burden in developed countries by 2030. The incidence of major depress is about 16% in the United States relating to the general population. Moreover pharmaceutical companies are making money from this give that lots of antidepressant medication is being commonly prescribed to treat this depression. Statistics is showing that obesity has more than doubled along with the rate of depression in many countries. A longitudinal study was performed in a cohort of 1094 participants and data was collected over a two year period in which follow ups were performed. Given the data the findings concluded that obesity might specifically be associated with the onset of more than one episodes of major depression. The results gave way that studies are needed to fully rule that it is directly related but given the results of this study it tend to be associated with te subsequent development of obesity. The key part to this student that it needs to go deeper with being male or female in relation to hormones to fully conclude the association". (Nigatu, Yeshambel T., Ute Bültmann, and Sijmen A. Reijneveld) Now that we have revised the association lets review the factors of how depression leads to obesity.
I have always felt that when a person is depressed they look for something to resort too. Some may do something they really like for example; my cousin would always go to a Theme Park when he felt depressed and he would take the family only to make himself feel better about life. The reverse side to this is a friend of mind would always resort to eating when they felt depressed. Eating as we know can lead to health issues and moreover obesity. "Another study that was completed had an aim of studying depression and the impulse in obese people when it comes to something called binge eating. The student consisted of 149 obese people and the goal was to compare them to non-obese people. They found that binge eating disorder was more prevalent in female women than in mails. Out of all that were tested depressive disorder was prevalent in 41% of them. To conclude the study it was found that Obesity appears to be associated with Depression rather than impulse". ( Burcak Annagur, Bilge, et). This study shows that depression can lead to obesity just as I am proving. The binge eating is related to depression and given this it can lad to a person become extremely obese. The Key with all of this is how we are going to deal with this. Are there things out there that can help a person deal with their depression for example some type of counseling? As we are showing direct connection now let's discussed how it can lead to obesity.
Psychiatrist are facing different issues on a daily basis with depressed individuals who are usually not active and have very high BMI's. The issue is that these types of individuals do not monitor there health and do not see a primary care physician often. A MD by the name of Julio Licinio highlighted several factors that are extremely important which gives reasons to why obesity and depression are related: The two does coexist, the epidemiological does suggest that depression can casue obesity and vice versa, antidepressant can result in weight gain and are the second highly sold drug category in the US, lastly stress have been known to cause depression and obesity, and they both can have a negative cardio metabolic effect. Dr. Licinio says that stress that is usually caused by money, job, or family issues lead to depression and the depression leads to obesity .Dr. Licinio stated that due to the rise antidepressants has also lead to the obesity rates given that depressed individuals who have exposure to antidepressants for only a short period may have lasting effects on their propensity to gain weight when they are exposed to high- fat diet. And if they are using these antidepressant the issue is tha they are used for a decade at a time therefore this along could contribute to a high obesity rates in depressed individuals. Lastly, Dr. Licino feels that more than likely stress will continue to rise and again this is contributing to the depression and obesity. Obesity will remain high and continue to be a huge epidemic and may contribute to depression". (Naidoo, Yedistra.). I agree with Dr. Licinio given that the facts that are given are based on real life events. People do take anti-depressants and people are also depressed. The key is that depression does lead to obesity the only different is Dr. is given the credit to antidepressants. I have family member who uses anit-depressants. In doing so they always seem down but enjoys movies and ice cream. Although they enjoy movies and ice cream they don't realize that they have went from 145lbs to 195lbs. Then from 195lbs over the last two years have jumped up to 325lbs. They now have high blood pressure and have developed diabetes. Who am I as a person to say anything when this makes them happy? Another thing is that he may be eating himself into an early grave I still want to be supportive without offending him therefore I may show him recent statistics that proves the depression and obesity. Or possibly speak to him about the relationship between the two.
The relationship between obesity and depression has been proven given the information that has been given above. Given this let's take it a bit further. In order to show this direct relationship. The goal is to prove that they are directly related in order to show that depression can lead to obesity. "Understanding the variables associated with the relationship between obesity and depression is essential given the increased health risks associated with comorbidity and the potential implications this information has on the prevention and treatment of comorbid obesity and depression. The current review indicated some consistent evidence for a number of associated variables of the relationship between obesity and depression, which provide important information about risk factors for comorbid obesity and depression and intervention points for effective treatment of comorbid obesity and depression. These variables included severity of obesity, educational attainment, body image, psychological factors, physical health, psychological characteristics, interpersonal effectiveness, binge eating and experience of stigma. Moreover, the review highlighted the complexity of the relationship and the importance of understanding the heterogeneity of an obese population. While further research is important to elucidate these relationships, the current review provides valuable evidence of risk factors associated with developing comorbid obesity and depression and may help to direct further research into developing practical clinical interventions for comorbid obesity and depression. Specifically, the review suggests that clinical interventions targeting body image dissatisfaction, disordered eating, interpersonal effectiveness and experience of stigma, may be useful in the prevention and treatment of comorbid obesity and depression, given that they appear to consistent risk factors. In sum, the relationship between obesity and depression is complex and further research designed to determine the mechanisms underpinning the relationship is a vital step towards effective prevention and treatment of comorbid obesity and depression". (Preiss, K., L. Brennan, and D. Clarke). This gives us background knowledge on the relationship between depression and obesity and it should that research that has been completed on the topic has proven that depression and obesity are related. The key here is to gather enough information to prove a major point given the research that has been completed. Now let's examine other reasons why obesity exist particularly in African American adolescents.
"Bluestone and Tamis noted that parental depression appeared to compromise African American mothers' abilities to engage in more optimal forms of parenting-child-centered parenting and reasoning-but was not associated with negative forms of parenting, such as punishment or scolding. In addition it was said that African American females do not readily recognize depressive symptoms because of their "strong black woman" filter. Shird (2004) observed a perception among African Americans that their mental health need (i.e., near nervous break-down) did not warrant a mental health care professional. Clearly, a failure to recognize depressive symptoms and a perception that recognized symptoms do not require a mental health professional create a high-risk environment for effective parenting. Effective parenting is essential for controlling childhood obesity. A significant relationship was observed between parental and child body mass index. Increases in one were associated with increases in the other. This increase appears to be related to genetic factors and the relationship between parental depression and parenting. As noted earlier, depression can compromise African American mothers' abilities to engage in more optimal forms of parenting. Lastly, the current study suggests that if two families, with similar predispositions for obesity and residing in similar macro-systems, have different childhood obesity outcomes, these outcomes might be attributed to parental factors' interactions with the macro-system. Thus, approaches to childhood obesity should target parental factors and macro system factors, which intensify parental depression.
Anecdotal information suggests childhood obesity is more accepted within the African American community. If it is more accepted, this fact does not insulate obese African American children from the effects of being obese. The current study reported a positive relationship between percentage of body fat for child and internalizing behavioral problems with child body fat being a significant predictor. Thus, increases in percentage of body fat for child predicted increases in withdrawn, somatic complaints, anxious/depressed, social problems, thought problems, and attention problems". (Davis, Melvin).
To conclude something should be done in order to help people lead a healthier and happy life. Some people have the will power to do this on their own and then some people need a helping hand in order to motivate themselves to lead a heather happier life. When it comes to depression it is an epidemic that truthfully is not known if there is any way to control it. So, if it cannot be controlled; then possibly trying to contain it by counteracting the reason why it is affecting a person life from an obese aspect. For example if a person becomes depressed and decides to sit around and eat all day then maybe get them out and exercise to try and motivate them to do something different than eating all the unhealthy things. Given what was set out to prove much information was given. First we started out by showing the direct relationship between obesity and depression, and much time was spent on this given that proving a point like this goes much further than raw statistics. After, we went into raw studies that were complete and each conclude that there was a significant relationship between depression and obesity. Therefore obesity is something that is needed to be put on the fore front of any countries health problems. If so people will know and understand how to deal with it and understand how to take notice when depression is settling in.
