A recent Finnish study reveals that people often receive misleading information about depression, making it difficult for them to understand the causes of their distress.
Researchers point out that most psychiatric diagnoses, including depression, are purely descriptive and do not explain the causes of symptoms. Despite this, depression is often talked about as a disorder that causes low mood and other symptoms, which researchers describe as circular reasoning. This misconception complicates people’s understanding of their mental health.
“Depression should be considered a diagnosis similar to that of a headache. Both are medical diagnoses, but neither explains what causes the symptoms. Like a headache, depression is a description of a problem that can have many different causes. A diagnosis of depression does not explain the cause of a depressed mood, just as a diagnosis of headaches does not explain the cause of a headache.”
explains Jani Kajanoja, a postdoctoral researcher and psychiatrist at the University of Turku in Finland.
A study by the University of Turku and the University of the Arts in Helsinki examined information on depression from major international health organizations, including the WHO, the APA, the NHS, and top universities such as Harvard and Johns Hopkins. These organizations often presented depression as a disorder that causes symptoms, which is misleading. None of them accurately presented depression as a pure description of symptoms.
“Presenting depression as a uniform disorder that causes depressive symptoms is circular reasoning that blurs our understanding of the nature of mental health problems and makes it harder for people to understand their distress.”
says Kajanoja.
Researchers suggest that this problem may be due to a cognitive bias that causes people to view the diagnosis as an explanation. “It is important that professionals do not reinforce this misconception with their communication and instead help people understand their illness,” says professor and neuropsychologist Jussi Valtonen from the University of the Arts in Helsinki.
Learn more about depression here.
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