Street music or the blues? The lived experience and social environment of depression

The effect of music on pain and vital signs of children before and after endoscopy

Background and Aim

Gentle music has relaxing and pain reducing effects. In this study, the effect of music on patients’ vital signs and pain was investigated before and after endoscopy.

Methods

This clinical trial study was conducted on 100 children from seven to fourteen years of age in Gha’em Hospital, Mashhad in 2015. Children were divided into two equal groups (case group=50 and control group=50). The control group received endoscopy according to the standards, without any other procedure. For the case group, a classic musical piece by Clayderman was played during endoscopy (from the time of entering the endoscopy room to the end of the process). After conducting endoscopy, FALCC scale and Baker-Wong pain scale were filled for both groups. In addition, children’s vital signs including: heart rate (pulse), diastolic and systolic blood pressure were measured before and after endoscopy for both groups. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS16 with the help of Mann-Whitney and Chi-square tests.

Results

No significant difference was found in age, gender distribution of case or control groups (p>0.05). Heart rate and diastolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the music (case) group compared to the control group before endoscopy (p=0.012). In addition, pain score in patients of the music group was lower than the control group (p<0.05).

Conclusion

Playing music for children during endoscopy can reduce pain and anxiety in patients before and after endoscopy.

``Struggling with life'': Narratives from women with signs of postpartum depression

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore and describe how Swedish women with signs of postpartum depression two months postpartum experience the first months with their child. Method: A grounded theory approach was chosen. Twenty-two women who showed signs of depression, i.e. scored 10 or more on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), were interviewed at an average of 80 days after the delivery. Results: The new mothers were struggling with life related to the self, the child, and the partner. They expressed feelings of loss of who they are, felt overwhelmed by the responsibility for the child, and were struggling with feelings of abandonment, worries, and breastfeeding problems. They often felt like ``bad mothers'' but they never blamed the child. Most mothers were reluctant to speak about their feelings and they assigned their depressed mood to personal weakness rather than illness. In relationship to the partner the mothers were struggling to keep their equality in the new situation and to get him involved in childcare. Conclusions: The findings suggest that depressed feelings postpartum may be explained in terms of losses and changes. However, postpartum depressive symptoms remain hidden and it is important to understand the complexity of postpartum depressive mood, described here as struggling with life related to three different dimensions: the self, the child, and the partner.

Being stuck in a vice: The process of coping with severe depression in late life

Articles describing older persons’ experiences of coping with severe depression are, to our knowledge, lacking. This article is methodologically grounded in phenomenological hermeneutics, inspired by Paul Ricoeur, and applies a descriptive design with in-depth interviews for producing the data. We included 18 older persons, 13 women and 5 men, with a mean age of 77.9 years, depressed to a severe or moderate degree, 1–2 weeks after admission to a hospital for treatment of depression. We found the metaphor “being in a vice” to capture the essence of meaning from the participants’ stories, and can be understood as being stuck in an immensely painful existence entirely dominated by depression in late life. This is the first article where coping in older men and women experiencing the most severe phase of depression is explored.

Exploring lived experiences of persons with severe mental illness: a review of the literature

This paper describes a literature review concerning the use of phenomenology to explore the experiences of persons with severe mental illness. Data from 35 publications were abstracted and summarized. The congruence between philosophical underpinnings and methods are critiqued. Findings of individual studies are summarized and reveal desires for normalcy, social relationships, meaningful activities, and opportunities for involvement and participation in treatment. The experience of suffering demonstrated the grave effect of severe mental illness on the individual's life experience. Utilization of phenomenology as a philosophy and methodology can guide the development of interventions that honor individual experience and meaning.

Patients' experiences of recurrent depression

This study explores the lived experiences of individuals who are suffering from recurrent depression. Open interviews were conducted in Sweden with ten participants aged 19-67. Guided by the phenomenological method of Giorgi, data were analyzed within a Reflective Lifeworld Approach. The findings revealed a pattern of meaning, described as being alienated from oneself and others. Depression is described as an insidious disorder and participants described their experiences variously as elusive, extensive, complex, contradictory, paradoxical and stated that depression pervaded the person's whole lifeworld, involved both body and soul, and affected relationships with others. Relationships with others could be the reason for both wanting to live or to die. How best to confirm this form of suffering is something of a challenge to mental health care professionals.

A música como recurso no cuidado à criança hospitalizada: uma intervenção possível?

Trata-se de um estudo bibliográfico realizado a partir das bases de dados MEDLINE e LILACS e vias não-sistematizadas, no período de 1994 a 2004. Teve como objetivo analisar a produção bibliográfica da enfermagem pediátrica quanto à utilização da música como recurso terapêutico no espaço hospitalar, a fim de identificar o estado do conhecimento desta área nesse campo. Da análise do material empírico, emergiram três unidades de significados: o cenário, as intervenções e as repercussões. Os resultados evidenciaram os benefícios da música para a criança hospitalizada, seus familiares e equipe de saúde e constatou-se que este recurso pode ser utilizado no espaço hospitalar como uma intervenção de baixo custo, não-farmacológica e não-invasiva, promovendo um processo de desenvolvimento que visa à saúde da criança, da família e dos trabalhadores.

Depression, alcohol abuse, and generational differences in Mazahua women in a rural Mexican village

This first study of depression and alcohol abuse in indigenous women in Mexico focuses on Mazahua women in a rural village. Women between the ages of 15 and 55 were interviewed using the Beck Depression Inventory, an Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse survey, and a socioeconomic survey. Unexpected results showed that although alcohol abuse was absent, these women experience depression a generation earlier than the international and national averages for women, with an overall incidence about twice as great. Depression was associated with spouse's emigration, infidelity, or alcoholism. Sharp intergenerational differences were found in identity and socioeconomic status.

No comfort in the rural South: women living depressed

Despite the widespread notion of the bucolic life in the country, major depressive disorder (MDD) is common among impoverished women in the rural South. Women with MDD seldom get treated because of the paucity of treatment available, the inability to pay for services because of no insurance, and the distance they must travel to reach care. Even if treatment was available, impoverished rural Southern women are unlikely to seek services because of cultural and social prohibitions. These include incongruence between the biomedical model of MDD and sociocultural explanations for its causes and manifestations, stigma, and traditional viewpoints of women that keep them isolated and invisible. Innovative treatment strategies must be devised for these women that are based on local views of MDD and its treatment, and people and monetary resources available in poor rural economies. Needed research with this population include ethnographic studies to gain understanding of the cultural factors associated with MDD and its treatment and evaluation of outreach, and other novel paradigms of rural service delivery including the use of nonprofessional personnel. Although the problems of treatment and research with this population are daunting, there is an opportunity for imagination, innovation, and creativity in devising local solutions to local problems.