Publication: Ideas equivocadas sobre la depresión y su tratamiento (I)
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Publication Date
2017
Authors
García Vera, María Paz
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Consejo General de la Psicología de España
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Abstract
Este trabajo y su segunda parte (Sanz y García-Vera, 2017) analizan la veracidad de diez ideas sobre la depresión y su tratamiento que se defienden en medios de comunicación de amplia difusión en Internet o en algunas guías de práctica clínica y manuales de psicopatología o psiquiatría de prestigio. Estas ideas obstaculizan que los pacientes accedan a un tratamiento adecuado para su depresión y favorecen la medicalización del mismo en perjuicio de los tratamientos psicológicos. En este primer trabajo se contrastan cuatro ideas sobre la naturaleza de la depresión con los resultados de la literatura científica. Una revisión de esta literatura indica que, contrariamente a esas ideas: a) la depresión es considerada actualmente un trastorno mental, no una enfermedad mental; b) la existencia de una causa biológica es simplemente una hipótesis más, no una realidad constatada empíricamente de manera inequívoca; c) los acontecimientos vitales negativos aumentan el riesgo de depresión mientras que la extraversión y el optimismo lo disminuyen, y d) existen tasas de simulación de depresión pequeñas, pero nada despreciables, en contextos clínicos tanto ordinarios como legales o forenses. Los resultados se discuten en el contexto de la fiabilidad de la información sobre la salud en Internet.
This paper and its second part (Sanz & García-Vera, 2017) analyze the veracity of ten ideas about depression and its treatment that are defended in media widely available on the Internet or in some prestigious clinical practice guidelines or manuals of psychopathology or psychiatry. These ideas hinder patients’ access to appropriate treatment for their depression and favor the medicalization of this treatment over the use of psychotherapy. In this first paper, four ideas about the nature of depression are contrasted with the results of the scientific literature. A review of this literature indicates that, contrary to these ideas: a) depression is considered a mental disorder, not a mental illness; b) the existence of a biological cause is simply a hypothesis, not a reality proven empirically in an unequivocal manner; c) negative life events increase the risk of depression whereas extraversion and optimism diminish it, and d) there are small but not insignificant rates of malingered depression in both legal-forensic and ordinary clinical settings. The results of this review are discussed in the context of the reliability of the health information on the Internet.
This paper and its second part (Sanz & García-Vera, 2017) analyze the veracity of ten ideas about depression and its treatment that are defended in media widely available on the Internet or in some prestigious clinical practice guidelines or manuals of psychopathology or psychiatry. These ideas hinder patients’ access to appropriate treatment for their depression and favor the medicalization of this treatment over the use of psychotherapy. In this first paper, four ideas about the nature of depression are contrasted with the results of the scientific literature. A review of this literature indicates that, contrary to these ideas: a) depression is considered a mental disorder, not a mental illness; b) the existence of a biological cause is simply a hypothesis, not a reality proven empirically in an unequivocal manner; c) negative life events increase the risk of depression whereas extraversion and optimism diminish it, and d) there are small but not insignificant rates of malingered depression in both legal-forensic and ordinary clinical settings. The results of this review are discussed in the context of the reliability of the health information on the Internet.