Is protesting getting you down?
March 20, 2017 at 9:50 pm
(This post was last modified: March 20, 2017 at 9:51 pm by brewer.)
Does Participation in Social Protest Lead to Depression?
Joel Yager, MD Reviewing Ni MY et al., Am J Public Health 2017 Apr 107:593
Although most participants in the Hong Kong Occupy/Umbrella protest movement showed no subsequent psychological distress, a few suffered persistent, moderate depressive symptoms.
Although major social protests seem increasingly common, their psychological sequelae remain unclear. In a secondary analysis from a prospective epidemiological study of family health, investigators studied 1170 participants in the Occupy/Umbrella protest movement (OCUM) in Hong Kong to ascertain the long-term psychological consequences of participation. The analysis over sampled young adults (age range, 18–35), who completed baseline assessments including Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) within 2 years before OCUM took place; follow-up assessment was conducted in 4 more waves during and up to 14 months after the 79-day protest. Extent of protest participation was gauged with various indicators (e.g., sitting down, staying overnight).
At 14 months after OCUM ended, depression trajectories were categorized as resistant (23% of participants), resilient (37%), mildly depressed (33%), or persistently moderately depressed (8%) based on PHQ-9 scores (adjusted for factors such as family harmony and support, neighborhood cohesion, self-rated health, baseline depressive symptoms, and physician-diagnosed psychiatric problems). Individuals who were older, less educated, and poorer were over represented in the persistently moderately depressed group. Overall, depressive symptom scores correlated with stressful life events, less family harmony and support, less neighborhood cohesion, poorer self-rated health, and lower baseline resilience.
Comment
This analysis (which probably over sampled healthy families) relied on self-report instruments and did not include a comparison group of nonparticipants. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that, even though OCUM did not appear to achieve its primary political goals, most participants were not significantly negatively affected. Given that potentially ineffective protests aren't likely to go away soon and that OCUM participants showing subsequent depression had less social support and more pre-existing illness, preventive interventions for at-risk protestors could be helpful.
Joel Yager, MD Reviewing Ni MY et al., Am J Public Health 2017 Apr 107:593
Although most participants in the Hong Kong Occupy/Umbrella protest movement showed no subsequent psychological distress, a few suffered persistent, moderate depressive symptoms.
Although major social protests seem increasingly common, their psychological sequelae remain unclear. In a secondary analysis from a prospective epidemiological study of family health, investigators studied 1170 participants in the Occupy/Umbrella protest movement (OCUM) in Hong Kong to ascertain the long-term psychological consequences of participation. The analysis over sampled young adults (age range, 18–35), who completed baseline assessments including Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) within 2 years before OCUM took place; follow-up assessment was conducted in 4 more waves during and up to 14 months after the 79-day protest. Extent of protest participation was gauged with various indicators (e.g., sitting down, staying overnight).
At 14 months after OCUM ended, depression trajectories were categorized as resistant (23% of participants), resilient (37%), mildly depressed (33%), or persistently moderately depressed (8%) based on PHQ-9 scores (adjusted for factors such as family harmony and support, neighborhood cohesion, self-rated health, baseline depressive symptoms, and physician-diagnosed psychiatric problems). Individuals who were older, less educated, and poorer were over represented in the persistently moderately depressed group. Overall, depressive symptom scores correlated with stressful life events, less family harmony and support, less neighborhood cohesion, poorer self-rated health, and lower baseline resilience.
Comment
This analysis (which probably over sampled healthy families) relied on self-report instruments and did not include a comparison group of nonparticipants. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that, even though OCUM did not appear to achieve its primary political goals, most participants were not significantly negatively affected. Given that potentially ineffective protests aren't likely to go away soon and that OCUM participants showing subsequent depression had less social support and more pre-existing illness, preventive interventions for at-risk protestors could be helpful.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
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