Uticopa Blog

Mind-body connections: Is there a link between depression and diabetes?

Studies have shown that there may be a definite link between depression and diabetes.

It was found that people suffering from both diabetes and depression were more likely to be older, female and from ethnic minorities. Also included in the risk group were those who didn't exercise, were overweight or obese, and those who had a history of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. Additionally at risk were those who were poorer, less educated, and the unmarried. They also had the highest death rates; people without diabetes and depression had the lowest.

What are the implications of these studies?

People with diabetes should be checked to see if they have any symptoms of depression. Past studies have found that depression is associated with bad blood glucose control and a lower quality of life in general. Also, diabetes has been shown to be a leading cause of dying from coronary heart disease, and more studies are showing that people with depression also have a higher risk of dying from coronary heart disease.

Not only is depression one of the worst illnesses known to humankind, it is also implicated in another - diabetes. For someone with a severe case of diabetes, the disease can amount to a slow and painful demise extending over years and decades. For many years it was thought that depression was a complication of diabetes, which indeed has now been proved to be the case. More recent research, however, points to depression as a possible cause or trigger.

What we know about depression and diabetes?

Often, individuals with depression do not realize that they are depressed. It is easy to attribute the symptoms of depression to the diabetes. This is particularly difficult since depressed diabetics may have poorer glucose control. Medical  professionals or mental health therapists may be the best ones to determine what is the diabetes and what is due to depression. A psychiatrist has had medical training before specialising in mental health. He or she can sort out the diagnosis, communicate with your regular doctor and help coordinate the treatment of the depression with treatment of the diabetes.

Those with diabetes are more likely to have been treated for depression up to six months before their diabetes diagnosis. There is also evidence that a large percentage of diabetics also report a higher rate of earlier depressive episodes, in many cases depressive symptoms predicting incident type 2 diabetes.

According to an evaluation of twenty studies over the past ten years, the prevalence rate of diabetics with major depression is three to four times greater than in the general population. While depression affects maybe three or five percent of the population at any given time, the rate is between fifteen and twenty percent in patients with diabetes, according to the American Diabetic Association. Women, in particular are at greater risk, according to other studies.

Whether a cause or an effect, the combination of diabetes and depression can be deadly. Because of physiological and behavioural interactions between diabetes and depression, each becomes more difficult to control, increasing the risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetic retinopathy causing blindness, neuropathy and other complications. In particular, obesity is cited as a risk factor for macrovascular disease. Unfortunately, depressed people tend to eat more (probably for comfort reasons) and exercise less, which results in weight gain. This, in turn, sabotages efforts at controlling blood sugar levels. One study found that depressed adults with diabetes had significantly higher body mass indexes than non-depressed adults with diabetes.

What is clear is that if depression does trigger diabetes or make it much worse, it becomes increasingly important effectively to manage the depression and so help to bring the diabetes under control. It is also thought that taking medicines like Prozac can help bring blood sugar levels back to normal.

So, if you suffer from depression, you should bear in mind that you could be at risk of diabetes and act accordingly. Here’s what you should do:  comply with your medicine regime; ensure you have a good diet, sufficient sleep, exercise, and avoid stress. All of this is good depression-management as well as possible diabetes prevention.

Similarly, if you suffer from diabetes, ask your doctor for a depression-screening at once. While we may not be absolutely certain if depression can cause or trigger diabetes, we do know that depression can make diabetes a lot worse. If a screening reveals you do have depression, do not hesitate to treat your depression with both anti-depressants and talking therapy.

Many people do not like the idea that they may have emotional difficulties. Some find it easier to attribute everything to physical problems or life circumstances. However, good diabetic management is dependent on the development of self-knowledge. Many of the things that other people's bodies do automatically, diabetics must do consciously. This includes closer monitoring of both one's blood glucose and one's emotional state. Ultimately, the years of deliberately imitating nature’s beautiful and complex feedback systems can lead to a greater understanding and appreciation of how the mind is irrefutably linked to the body.