Epidemiology

[Quilty]

Sometimes I wonder about epidemiology. So we gain weight and don't exercise and get older and develop diabetes. Sometimes I wonder about the epidemiology of diseases like depression:  Can the onset be like diabetes, an overuse of the body's resources to deal with its environment?

 

 

 

"Epidemiology"

 

If my life leaves me crying

And crying and crying and crying,

Can that use up my heart's ability

To heal itself, to get over the pain

On its own?

And when the chemicals we throw at the pain

Don't stop the tears bleeding from me,

Then what?

Is there a transfusion of strength,

Resilience, re-growth

To cover the scabs and seeping wounds?

[Dazzling Zoomer Gal Diana]

My 2nd cousin and my 1st cousin (in Vienna ) (both doctors) are absolutely convinced that a predilection to certain forms of depression is hereditary. This, coupled with the astonishing stresses we must deal with, makes it an illness that is still misunderstood and underdiagnosed.

I mentioned this elsewhere but an issue of The Economist in 1999 was almost entirely devoted to statistics concerning depression and it's effects on people. It was astonishing, how pervasive depression is world wide. It was an epidemic then. Now - it has to be even worse more than 10 years later. Our anxiety levels have risen 10 fold, even as we grapple daily with our fears, and we all fear something.

[Quilty]

I've suspected this for a long time. It's nice to see my opinion is close to the mark. Thanks for sharing that!

[Dazzling Zoomer Gal Diana]

It's actually thanks to you dear one. I took the liberty of asking Eno ( my cousin - to read your post - and he reminded me fully of what I remembered.

My cousins is going to be publishing a paper on this very subject in the European School of Medicine Journals soon. It's in German but I will ask for an English copy.

There has been some collaborative study to this effect in N.A. too and he promised to check on some links for us to read.

I'm so intent on chasing down that copy of The Economist (I was living in the Caribbean at the time - and left it behind) that I have written to them asking them for a copy of the article. I subscribe, but try as I might I can't lock down the article in their archives.

[Quilty]

Thank you! I would be really interested in reading about this! (Sociology and anthropology have always been "hobbies" of mine.)

[Dazzling Zoomer Gal Diana]

Further study on the disease of depression - world wide:

http://www.prb.org/articles/2006/depressionaleadingcontributortoglo...