A third of intensive care patients develop depression that typically manifests as physical, or somatic, symptoms such as weakness, appetite change, and fatigue, rather than psychological symptoms. [s]Medical Xpress[/s] reports that this is according to one of the largest studies to investigate the mental health and functional outcomes of survivors of critical care. The study suggests that intensive care unit (ICU) survivors could be three times more likely to experience depression than the general population, and that depression is four times more common than post-traumatic stress disorder after critical illness. Study leader Dr James Jackson, psychologist and assistant professor of medicine at [b]Vanderbilt University Medical Centre[/b] said: 'We need to pay more attention to preventing and treating the physical rather than psychological symptoms of depression in ICU survivors.'
[link url=http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-intensive-survivors-depression-manifests-physical.html]Full Medical Xpress report[/link]
[link url=http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(14)70051-7/fulltext]Article summary[/link]