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Alyssa Zima
December 18, 2015
College English 12
Research Paper
Taking a Deeper Look at the Increase
The adolescents who are denied treatment for anxiety and depression are at an elevated
risk to suffer from life threatening consequences, so how can one justify not giving treatment
proven to be beneficial? The accusation of an over diagnosis of patients leads professionals to
give no diagnosis, resulting in patients self-diagnosing. Forcing patients to pinpoint the solution
contributes to the negative reputation of medications. Although without the medications the
results are shocking, a quarter of suicides in the United States of America are felt to be
undiagnosed or misdiagnosed (Major). The hasty accusations of over diagnosing proves there
is an unwillingness to seek and acknowledge the copious evolution that prove there is no over
diagnosis. The medical field has a principled and paid obligation to provide information about
the illness and treatment, however, there are patients are frequently left undiagnosed and given
no vital treatment due to fear of over diagnosis. The diagnosis of anxiety and depression will
continue to steadily skyrocket, as of right now twenty percent of the world population has
anxiety and five percent has depression (Lawson). These percents are miniscule for the general
population because patients who are diagnosed with one illness often have another alongside of
it. The anxiety percentage was measured to include post-traumatic stress disorder which alone
carries three and a half percent and panic disorder carries close to three percent of the total
percentage (Facts). The gradual refinements in society can be paired to those in the rates of
diagnosis. The diagnosis of adolescents with anxiety and depression has transformed from simple
provocations to an extensive variety of provocations providing validation that warrants
medication to ameliorate their condition, effectively ensuring recovery among patients.

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Diagnosis continues to evolve allowing for the modernized technology to justify that the
diagnosis process has been strengthened with the knowledge and resources. Depression and
anxiety are relatively recent, yet there have still been tremendous developments in the diagnosis
and treatment. Diagnosis centers have gathered a coherent understanding of these illnesses as
well as the symptoms. For depression these include a lack of interest, physical aches, lack of
energy, changes in appetite, changes in sleep pattern and thoughts of suicide for depression.
Anxiety originates from surges of panic, loss of control, heart palpitations, chest pain, hot flashes
and chills (Carbonell). Even though these are general symptoms, the precision has been proven
through the thousands of successful diagnosis and treatments. The cause behind symptoms can
be reduced to a single repeating thought; anxiety roots from a sense of doubt and vulnerability
about future events(Carbonell). While depression develops from the idea of unpleasant and
distressing events currently occurring, and will continue, no transformation can stop it. The
diagnosis process demands more from the medical field than ever before since probability for
clinical depression has expanded, revealing it is ten time more likely for people born after the
nineteen fifties (Clinical). This statistic can be validated with another study that reported, an
analysis found that use of medication in this country increased nearly four hundred percent when
four year increments were compared (Lane). There is no question numerous diagnosis
modifications reinforce the justification for the increase of diagnosis. One of these modifications
would be the promotion of safer antidepressant drugs in the early nineteen nineties (Hickie). This
was a distinct catalyst for change, the assurance of safety in medications increase the amount of
amendable patients. The inflated diagnosis for anxiety is due to how recently this illness became
known, the history available of this illness is recent. Anxiety disorders have not been in the scope
of medical diagnosis for long, in fact it was not registered for treatment until nineteen eighty.

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Once the patient is diagnosed, many treatment routes are available, often times medications are
immediately suggested since the they have an abundance of successful medications. Hospitalized
patients are treated as any other illness even though the majority of depressed patients are treated
in an outpatient basis. Hospitals do not give a diagnosis and then permanently force that specific
illness, the programs are designed to address and treat illness along with accompanying illnesses.
These may include post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, which are
known to accompany anxiety disorders. The diagnosis process alone has benefited from the
constant spread understanding in the world, but there are various explanations to be derived for
the growth.
Although some claim over diagnosis, they fail to recognize the cogent sources of genetic
predispositions, awareness and diet. The genetic predisposition strongly influences the
probability of these illnesses. When a child is younger, than about seven, both the male and
female have the same chance to be diagnosed with an illness. Although as the child grows into an
adolescent, it appears to be more common in girls between the ages of 11 and 25(Hollen). This
is a change from the past, where depression and anxiety were more common in adults. The
adolescents are more severely influenced than ever before with the constant alterations, such as
divorce or unattainable expectations. Now that illness risks are appearing earlier they will, tend
to recur, and a younger age of onset only increases the risk of more episodes in the
future(Andrews 2). There is no cure for depression or anxiety and with the recurring effect, the
count can only continue to accumulate, as prescription drugs may only solve the effects of the
depression rather than depression itself(Clinical). There have been recent discoveries that can
trace the cause of depression to a chemical imbalance in the brain, Scientists believed that
monoamines mood related chemicals such as serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine are low in

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the brain during major depression episodes referred to as a chemical imbalance (Nauert).
However, the rapid multiplication clearly revealed that the root cause of most depression is not a
chemical imbalance. Human genes do not change that fast, therefore there are additional side
explanations for the substantial expansion in diagnosis. Throughout time, society as a whole has
been becoming more accepting to illnesses and opinions. Society is adapting to the truth,
allowing for depression and anxiety to hold a more consciousness view in society. Among many
other awareness activities, there is a National Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week which is
May 3-9, 2015. The NADAW led for a growth in understanding for the public, developing a
more knowledgeable population. Awareness can also come from the common diagnosis of these
illnesses; since suicide is the 8th largest cause of death in the U.S, its no wonder that major
depression is classed as the nations leading mental health problem(Major). With these
awareness events, the causes are focused on. There have been persistent studies proving that the
diet of a patient affects the whole body. Anything put into the body will affect the whole health
of the person, all the different nutrients react with a specific part of the body. Since these
illnesses are known for the irregularity of the mood, more fatty acids could be consumed to
neutralize the unsteady moods. Unhealthy lifestyles have contributed to the illnesses. Obesity has
become alarmingly common and affects everyone. Eating disorders are another factor that cause
depression and anxiety which are often disregarded of. Eating disorders deprive the patient of the
necessary nutrients while obesity overwhelms the body with too many worthless nutrients. Diet
is not the only interior influence in the body, medications will affect the prominence of the illness
by diminishing the symptoms and effects. The growth in the diagnosis of depression and anxiety
can be accounted for in the surplus of changes.

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To pinpoint the direct cause is impossible, although increased stress level is the most
accountable and explanatory cause for depression and anxiety. A healthy amount of stress is
recommended by health experts, it keeps motivation and awareness. With an unhealthy stress
level, one will face problems with their daily life. The development of technology maintains an
accessibility allowing for greater amounts of information to be obtained than ever before. The
digital age forces an awareness upon all the mediocre and controversial news. The effect of
awareness depends on the gender, according Hampton this is, especially for women, this greater
awareness is tied to higher levels of stress and it has been called the cost of caring. Genetically
the genders contrast each other to then complement each other. Hampton avows that women
scored seven tenths higher in stress than males. When both genders were tested for the stress
level after several different occurrences, throughout each events the women's stress level
increased by at least five percent while a men's stress level only increased slightly for two of the
four topics. These topics included death, jail and unemployment of acquaintances. As expected,
after about five hundred patients completed a study questionnaire, women had twelve percent
higher in depression and thirteen percent higher in anxiety associated difficulty (Alosaimi). This
awareness often originates from social media, an increased awareness of distressing events in
others lives, that explains how the use of social media can result in users feeling more
stressed(Hampton). Social media awareness includes knowledge of a desirable and undesirable
events of even acquaintances. Ranosa referred to when Dr. Cleland Woods explained that it is
important to understand how the engagement to social media may relate to adolescence as a
period of increased vulnerability on the onset of depression and anxiety. The adolescence is a
period of change that will determine future attitudes and habits. Aristotle unveils the secret to
self-awareness, one is what one repetitively does. A study held was held in the British

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Psychological Society testing the effects of social media. Ranosa emphasizes the importance that
social media leads to emotional investment, which persists in a lack of quality in sleep,
especially when social media is used at night. He urged that overall social media results in high
anxiety, depression levels and lower self-esteem, simply because of exposure that was never
available before. These all cause a life threatening chain affect, these illnesses can later led to
drug usage and eating disorders (Clinical). Similar to college students, patients will major in
one illness and have multiple minors in different illnesses. With the access to the knowledgeable
internet, adolescents are replacing their parents with social media, the study suggested that the
cause of stress was likely from the increasing anxiety that stems from making important life
decisions and that most adolescents suffer from decision paralysis (Hampton). Parents and
friends can hinder the intensity of an illness by relieving a partial amount of the stress. The
simple and potentially harmless increase in stress, could rapidly transform, to life threatening
outcomes, without precautions.
Resources have provided patients with readily available and harmless medications and
without providing them with the correct resources, the hope of a recovery is overly expectant.
Wouldnt it be more beneficial to have the treatments readily available for these ailing patients?
There are numerous different medications for these illnesses, ensuring it will improve the illness.
There are twenty seven different antidepressant medications currently being sold (Andrews 1);
this includes an antidepressant, PRISTIQ which, helped improve patients ability to function
according to a scale used to measure how depression disrupts the following areas; work, social
life/leisure activities and family life/home responsibilities(Home). Although, like most
antidepressants this is not approved for use of adolescents under eighteen, since the body will
still go through major developments. In the coming years, it is expected to see an accumulation

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in adolescent medication. As mental illnesses were being first diagnosed it took over a decade to
compile a variety of effective medications for the public for adults. Overall both the depression
and anxiety medications reduce stigma, while improving the access to life insurance and physical
health outcomes (Hickie). The medications regulate the body and stigmas are often noted as an
unreliability of the patients but with the use of these medications that is inaccurate. Medication
usage differs greatly with adolescents because the resources are not as widely available and the
impact of mental illnesses among children are unknown. This explains the prodigious and
otherwise unexplainable figures that show... eighty percent of adolescents with diagnosable
anxiety disorder and sixty percent of adolescents with diagnosable depression are not getting
treatment according to the child mind institute children's mental health report (Children). Not
only are adolescents disregarding, one-third of all suffering from anxiety disorders do not receive
treatment (Facts). The gap is not only due to the resources for adolescents under eighteen
because throughout all ages there is still a strong percentage that do not treat the illness. This
data can suggest that because of the under diagnosis of these illnesses, the patients that need
these medications are denied. With any medication, there should be a multiple week trial to test
the reaction the medication or combination of medications effect on the body. The misdiagnosis
count is escalating so the idea of an over diagnosis must be terminated because if the diagnosis
of depression and anxiety is not strengthened the negative effects of under diagnosis will climb
savagely.
After these precautions have been made, the medications show effective and lifesaving
evidence for even the average healthy person by stabilizing the mood. Even though, there is no
cure for depression and anxiety medications have prevented countless deaths. It was extrapolated
that roughly six out of ten people with depression improve after the first antidepressant they

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try (Andrews 1). This statistic does not appear monumental, though the successes gradually rise
as the patient tries the dozens of antidepressants or even combinations of medications.
Antidepressants improve the patient's depression by bestowing a better and satisfying life at
home, school and with their friends, since the medications stabilize the mood and create
chemical balance. Interestingly, adolescents under eighteen years old benefit the most from
psychological and drug treatments. Yet, there are diminished medication directed towards the
adolescence. The diagnosis and treatment of these illnesses needs to be given to those
exemplifying the symptoms of these illnesses. Even though only five percent of the population is
diagnosed with depression, ten percent take antidepressant medication (Lawson). Since we are
under diagnosing the patients with depression, the patients medicate themselves without
professional consultation. Bongiorno acknowledges, according to research of the Journal of
Clinical Psychiatry, about twenty five percent of people who are given those dangerous
medications do not have proper diagnosis. When patients are given no diagnosis, there is no
awareness given about these dangerous medications. Patients should be given a diagnosis,
therefore the symptoms can be treated because patients are told to wait and see if anything
changes. Without these worthwhile treatments the suicide rate will climb, eighty percent of all
suicides in the United States occur in those suffering from major depression(Clinical).
Suicides are directly and mainly influenced by mental health. Anxiety disorders cannot be
viewed as discounted from the suicide rate, since both are often connected. The diagnosis and
treatment of patients is valued and necessary no matter the quantity.
As a society we do not have to choose between quality and quantity for the diagnosis and
treatment of depression and anxiety. There can be both quality and quantity for all patients and if
this change is not made patients will continue to self-medicate. The mere fact that the patients are

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acknowledging the illness, by seeking medical assistance, demonstrates recovery is possible. The
United States is not over diagnosing patients because there are just explanations for the rise in
diagnosed patients. Overall the United States of America are corresponding with the rates from
the other countries. After a worldwide study was completed, the United States, Ukraine, France,
the Netherlands, Colombia, Belgium, Spain and other countries have commensurate depression
rates (Van Dusen). Therefore, the over diagnosis claim must dismiss these rates in other countries
or else the accusation would be terminated. If there was an over diagnosis in the United States
the percentage of these illnesses would be inflated when compared to the other countries. The
whole world is adjusting to these transformations with amplifying of anxiety and depression.
There is not an over diagnosis in the world since diagnosis serves as an effective and essential
tool to expose the problem allowing there to be a solution.

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Works Cited
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Web. 14 Dec. 2015.

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