Depression becomes a common disease

Hospital Report 2011: More and more people have to be hospitalized because of depression

29/07/2011

Every fifth German is purely statistically affected by a depression or depressive episode. According to the health insurance companies, more than four million people in Germany suffer from therapy-needy depression. The number of mental disorders is increasing dramatically. This was also shown by the Hospital Report 2011 of the health insurance company Barmer GEK.

Depression is on the way to become the number one common disease. Although the disease is a taboo subject in many areas of public life, more and more people are suffering from the mental illness. The diagnosis is not only increasingly being made in Germany. Worldwide, more than 121 million people suffer from depressive symptoms, according to an international science team from the State University of New York in the science magazine „BMC Medicine“ reported. Most often, people in affluent countries are affected.

Symptoms are often not recognized
For sufferers, it's not easy to draw the line between a manifested depression and a general depression. Therefore, the disease is often recognized late or not at all. „Many people suffer from psychosomatic complaints such as headache, dizziness and tiredness“, reports Dipl. Gritli Bertram, social worker and trauma expert. „Most people think of depression only last.“ Clearer indications are symptoms such as listlessness, persistent indifference, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. In addition, previous problems such as sleep disorders can quickly develop into depression.

Depression, the common disease in the industrialized nations
The disturbance picture is particularly evident in the western industrialized countries, as the study authors report. „One in five people in the developed world has ever suffered from depression or a depressive phase in their lives“. Thus, the serious illness that can lead to suicide is on the way to becoming a diverse common disease. Above all, people in high-income countries are relatively frequently affected. Those who are relatively successful in the profession and sometimes have high incomes, according to study results disproportionately with the risk of suffering from depression. People with a lower income and in countries where the average earnings are significantly lower, have a lower risk of depression by a good 11 percent. Why this is so, at first you can only speculate. But an old proverb has already put it in a nutshell: „Making money alone does not make you happy“. Such is the pursuit „Wealth and prosperity“ not synonymous with the state of general bliss. On the contrary, most people have to sacrifice a significant part of their lifetime to have a higher income. However, just that fallacy lets the life energy more and more escape. „If you do not have time for yourself anymore, then you will no longer have any joy in life“, so the social pedagogue.

In Germany, depression is on the rise
Germany is one of the richest countries on earth. The general standard of living is among the highest in the world. But since 1990, the proportion of mental disorders requiring treatment has risen massively. At that time, a good 4 (3.7) patients were affected by a thousand insured persons, today it is almost 9 (8.5). Even faster, the proportion of depression has risen. Here, the health insurance Barmer GEK in their current health report „Barmer GEK Hospital Report 2011“ since 2000, an increase of 117 percent. Is that the price for prosperity and fast pace?

Health insurance pleads for semi-stationary and outpatient therapies
If today's clinics are not always undergoing inpatient treatment on an inpatient basis, the rise in sick days would have been even more serious, reports the deputy chairman of the statutory health insurance company Barmer GEK. Rolf-Ulrich Schlenker. In 2000, a full-time admission still took a good 45 days. Today it is only 31 days of treatment. It was therefore „It is remarkable to what extent German hospitals are now taking care of mentally ill people“, said the Barmer vice-chairman. Nevertheless, one must ask oneself, „whether every case belongs to the hospital”. In some cases, inpatient hospital admission is the most adequate solution. Better his many home-based restorations in the outpatient and semi-stationary area. g by one and the same treatment team in the outpatient or semi-stationary ward. “Nowhere else are individual treatment concepts and cross-sectoral approaches more urgent than in the field of mental illness.”

The increase in mental suffering is increasingly becoming an economic factor. The studies of all health insurance companies showed that more and more employees were absent due to mental illness in the workplace. By now, mentally-related illnesses rank 12 percent in the upper echelons of most job losses. (Sb)

Also read:
Hospital admissions for mental disorders
Underserved: Patients with chronic pain
Animal-assisted therapy for depression