Alternative Medicine Use by Individuals with Major Depression

Abstract

, Mar ga ret L Rus sell, MD, PhD 3Ob jec tive: To de scribe the use of al ter na tive med i cine (AM) by per sons with ma jor de pres sion and to ex am ine the factors as so ci ated with AM use among these in di vid u als. Methods: We used data from the 1994-1995 and 1996-1997 Na tional Pop u la tion Health Sur veys. We se lected subjects who had ma jor de pres sion ac cord ing to the Com pos ite In ter na tional Di ag nos tic In ter view Short Form for Ma jor De pres sion (CIDI-SFMD). The prev a lence of AM and con ven tional health ser vice use by the sub jects was cal cu lated for each sur vey and was strat i fied by prov ince. We em ployed lo gis tic re gres sion to ex am i ne the fac tors as so ci ated with AM use. Re sults: There was a tem po ral trend to ward in creas ing use of AM among per sons with ma jor de pres sion. The prev alence of AM use among sub jects with ma jor de pres sion was 7.8% in 1994-1995 and 12.9% in 1996-1997. Fe male sex, hav ing more than 12 years' ed u ca tion, and hav ing 1 or more long-term med i cal con di tions were as so ci ated with an increased like li hood of us ing AM. The sex dif fer ence in AM use de pended on sub jects' age in 1996-1997. Con clu sion: Gen eral prac ti tio ners, men tal health spe cial ists, and AM pro vid ers should be aware of their pa tients' use of both con ven tional med i cal ser vices and AM be cause there may be in ter ac tions be tween con ven tional and al ter na tive treat ments. Com mu ni ca tion and, if pos si ble, co op er a tion may lead to im proved out comes in the man age ment of de pressive dis or ders.(Can J Psy chi a try 2001;46:528-533)

Age-related patterns in mental health-related complementary and alternative medicine utilization in Canada

“…In our study, older adults were slightly more likely than middle-aged adults to use CAM products and self-help groups, but no more or less likely to use practitioner-based CAM services. In a sample of individuals meeting criteria for major depression, Wang et al (2001) reported a significant interaction between age and gender in consultations with CAM providers for any purpose. Additionally, whereas the rate of CAM use specifically for mental health purposes was less than 20% in a sample of older adults with self-reported anxiety or depression (Grzywacz et al, 2006), the rate in a similar sample of adults of all ages was over 60% (Kessler et al, 2001).…”

Use of mental health services and complementary and alternative medicine in persons with common mental disorders

“…Kessler et. Wang et al (11) found that 23.8% of those with major depression had used CAM in the previous 12 months, and in AssionÕs and col-leaguesÕ (12) study, 41.9% of psychiatric inpatients, mainly diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression or substance abuse, reported use of at least one unconventional therapy. Ü nutzer et al (9) found the following rates of CAM use according to mental disorder in the previous 12 months for respondents: major depression 22.4%, dysthymia 16.4% (37.8% in our study), panic disorder 32% (46.4% in our study), generalised anxiety disorder 20.5% (49.9% in our study) and mania or psychosis 22.3%.…”

Yoga for depression: The research evidence

“…A trend towards increasing use of complementary therapies among people with major depression was demonstrated by a study conducted in Canada (Wang et al, 2001). Analysis of data from the National Population Health Surveys indicated that the prevalence of use in those with major depression was 7.8% (19.4% including chiropractic) in 1994-95 and 12.9% (23.8% including chiropractic) in 1996-97.…”