Adolescents and young adults often suffer from depression, but tend to avoid seeking professional help. The aim of this study was to explore the reasons for non-professional-help-seeking in a sample of young adults resident in Catalonia with depressive symptoms through a qualitative study. In addition, the subjects were invited to offer their recommendations for making mental health care services more accessible. We recruited 105 young persons (17–21 years of age) who had participated in a national survey on adolescents. The sample was divided into thirds, with 37 who had a previous diagnosis of depression, 33 who had self-perceived emotional distress, and 35 controls. The participants were interviewed in depth about their reasons for avoiding professional mental health care services, and the interview results were analyzed using both qualitative and cultural domain techniques and corroborated through comparison with the results of three focus groups. Participants’ reasons for avoidance varied both by gender and according to prior experience with health services. Male study participants and female controls mainly understood depressive symptoms as normal and therefore not requiring treatment. Female participants with self-perceived distress were more likely to cite problems of access to treatment and fear of speaking to an unknown person about their problems. Females with a diagnosis expressed lack of trust in the benefits of treatment and fear of the social consequences of help-seeking. In their recommendations for best practices, the study participants suggested educational initiatives, as well as changes in the organization of mental health care services. A better understanding of the views of young people and a greater effort to involve them as active participants is important for facilitating help-seeking in this age group, and for adapting mental health care services to adolescent users and their social context.

Sleep disorders are often not regarded as an important health problem, despite their impact on heath. Insomnia is the most frequent sleep disorder in mental health. The aim is to quantify the prevalence of insomnia in a population with schizophrenic disorder and assess its influence on quality of life. This is a descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional study conducted in a sample of 267 schizophrenic patients over 18 years of age using consecutive non-probabilistic sampling. The variables of interest were collected by means of the "Cuestionario Oviedo de Sueño," "Insomnia Severity Index" and EuqoQol-5D. The estimation of insomnia in our schizophrenic population according to the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) criteria was 23.2%. The likelihood of insomnia when there are problems in the quality of life is significant in all its dimensions: mobility OR: 3.54 (95% CI 1.88– 6.65), self-care OR: 2.69 (95% CI 1.36–5.32), usual activities OR: 3.56 (95% CI 1.97–6.44), pain/discomfort OR: 4.29 (95% CI 2.37–7.74) and anxiety/depression OR: 3.01 (95% CI 1.61–5.65). The prevalence of insomnia fluctuates depending on the diagnostic criteria; however, the schizophrenic population shows high prevalence in some clinical characteristics. People with insomnia have a lower quality of life.

Emotional distress is common in adolescence, and self-care strategies are frequently preferred to address it. The aim of this article is to analyze the self-care strategies among adolescents and young people diagnosed with depression or with self-perceived depressive distress in Catalonia using a qualitative design. We analyzed the self-care strategies of 105 young people (17–21 years of age) in Catalonia who had participated in a national survey on adolescents. The sample was divided into thirds, with 37 who had a previous diagnosis of depression, 33 who had self-perceived emotional distress, and 35 controls. The participants’ narratives on self-care strategies for emotional distress were elicited through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The data were managed using ATLAS-Ti 6.5 software18. We applied hermeneutic theory and the ethnographic method to analyze the interviews. The ten self-care strategies identified in the analysis were grouped into four areas covering the various pathways the young people followed according to whether they had a diagnosis of depression or their depressive distress was self-perceived. The young people feel responsible for their emotional distress and consider that they are capable of resolving it through their own resources. Their strategies ranged from their individuality to sociability expressed through their relationships with others, membership of groups or other self-care strategies (relaxation, meditation, naturopathy, etc.). The study results highlight the importance of sensitivity in considering young people’s self-care strategies as another option in the care of emotional distress.

El consumo de tabaco y los problemas de salud mental de tipo depresivo/ansioso son dos fenómenos que suelen iniciarse en la adolescencia y juventud con cierta co-ocurrencia. Ambos fenómenos guardan una relación bidireccional que, en el caso de los jóvenes, la hipótesis de automedicación parece explicar de forma más exhaustiva que otras opciones. El objetivo de este estudio es explorar la relación entre consumo de tabaco, síntomas de depresión y ansiedad y percepción de los jóvenes sobre el uso del tabaco como forma de automedicación. Para ello se seleccionaron 105 jóvenes (17-21 años) de un estudio sociológico longitudinal previo considerando tres grupos de participantes: 1) sujetos con diagnóstico de depresión/ansiedad en anteriores oleadas, 2) sujetos con malestar depresivo/ansioso autopercibido y sin diagnóstico previo y 3) sujetos control. Se aplicó un cuestionario mixto cuantitativo/cualitativo de consumo de substancias y las escalas BDI-II de depresión y GHQ en su cribado de ansiedad-depresión, así como la escala MISS (Mannheim Interview on Social Support). Los resultados indican que los sujetos afectados por síntomas de depresión/ansiedad en la adolescencia se inician más tarde en el consumo de cigarrillos, pero los que son fumadores alegan principalmente como motivo la automedicación. La asociación entre consumo habitual de tabaco y niveles de depresión de la escala BDI no fue significativa para la muestra general, pero sí para los jóvenes varones (OR: 6,22, IC95%, 1,06-36,21, p=.042). Las iniciativas antitabáquicas dirigidas a los jóvenes deben considerar los problemas de malestar emocional y el consumo de tabaco como forma de automedicación.

Psychosomatic disorders can develop unevenly depending on certain health determinants; therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of psychosomatic disorders and the differences by age and sex in a rural area. We conducted an observational descriptive retrospective population study to determine the prevalence of 201 diagnoses of psychosomatic nature grouped into 25 diagnostic categories by sex and age groups. A total of 33,680 participants with a diagnosis of psychosomatic disorder were identified (64.6% women, 35.4% men). We found statistically significant differences based on sex in 13 of the 25 diagnostic categories previously defined. When we analyzed these categories by age, we found that women showed a higher probability, between 1.23 and 10.85 times, of suffering from most of these health issues. We also observed that the older the age group, the most often they had a diagnosis. Notably, more women seem to suffer from psychosomatic disorders when compared to men in the same situation. In most of these disorders, being of the female sex was a risk factor, and the older the participants, the greater the probability of developing a disorder.