Health hazards: Doctors ignore most depression symptoms

If any two or more of given symptoms persist for two consecutive weeks, it must be taken as a sure sign of depression.

KARACHI:

Doctors should not ignore some of the most common symptoms linked with depression like lack of sleep, unexplained fatigue, anxiety, poor concentration and suicidal tendencies, said Prof Amin Gadit, a Canada-based psychiatrist who frequently visits Pakistan for research.

If any two or more of the given symptoms persist for two consecutive weeks, it must be taken as a sure sign of depression, the psychiatrist told APP. These symptoms hold all possibilities to cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning.

“Despite being a highly recurrent disorder, it remains under-diagnosed,” said the health expert, who has worked with different Karachi-based hospitals. A depression patient may become susceptible to blood pressure, heart attacks, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and migraine, said Dr Naureen, supplementing her senior professional.

Almost one-third of the patients overlook these symptoms, she added. Medical professionals even in the US fail to realise the intensity of the situation as almost half to one-third of the patients with these symptoms are not actually diagnosed with depression, Dr Gadit regretted. “This may be because most of the time is spent on the patient’s history and physical examination,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2012.