Comorbidity of Learning Disabilities and Depression

[ast...@yahoo.com]

Hi all,

I want to share share some stuff to show the comorbidity of learning
disabilities and depression.I also feel that psychiatrists and other
mental health professionals
need to consider learning disabilities before diagnosing somebody
with
depression. I have a long history of depression,and not one single
mental health professional even considered that I had learning
disabilities.

"Children with learning disabilities are prone to chronic depression.
Older adolescents and adults tend to become withdrawn. They may be
quiet or become agitated, irritable, and angry; they may also look sad
and talk about their sadness. Young children, on the other hand, tend
to exhibit non-verbal clues and express their emotional struggles more
by their behavior than by talking. A major depression typically lasts
several weeks and may be intense. Mild chronic depression (dysthymia)
may last for an extended period of time and frequently appears to be
an aspect of a child's usual moods and personality."
http://www.ldanatl.org/aboutld/parents/ … ession.asp
Learning Disabilities Association of America

"There's all sorts of research in the field to suggest and support the
concomitance of learning disabilities and mental health problems.
Several recent studies show that 50% of individuals diagnosed with
learning disabilities have scores above the clinical range on a well
known depression scale. One thing we know is that attentional problems
are a common feature of both. Another study summary says, Teachers
have long known and reported that students with learning disabilities
at lower educational levels have similar but more, and more severe,
depression, than their peers without learning disabilities. There's no
reason to think this link disappears with age. In fact, it becomes
more urgent. And the stakes are higher. Failure to remediate at this
adult stage has more serious consequences."
http://dyslexia.mtsu.edu/modules/articl … .jsp?id=17

"About 75 percent of dropouts have trouble reading, according to
research conducted by Reid Lyon of the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development. About half of adolescents with criminal
records and substance abuse histories have reading problems, according
to a study published by the National Institutes of Health in 2001."
http://www.hopelit.com/Star-telegram.htm

Social Skills Deficits in Learning Disabilities:The Psychiatric
Comorbidity Hypothesis
http://suicideandmentalhealthassociatio … psych.html

"For some the humiliation becomes too much. In one study, Peck found
that over 50 percent of all suicides under age fifteen in Los Angeles
County had been previously diagnosed as having learning disabilities.
The actual percentage of youngsters labeled “learning disabled� in
most school districts in the United States is below 5 percent;
therefore, it seems clear that youngsters with learning disabilities
constitute a disproportionately large percentage of adolescent
suicides compared with the general adolescent population."

"Results from a study in the U.S.A. by the National Center for State
Courts demonstrated that youths with LD were 200 percent more likely
to be arrested than nondisabled peers for comparable offences.
According to the U.S. Department of Education 60 percent of America's
prison inmates are illiterate and 85 percent of all juvenile offenders
have reading problems."
http://www.audiblox.com/learning_disabilities.htm

"Depression is also a frequent complication in dyslexia. Although most
dyslexics are not depressed, children with this kind of learning
disability are at higher risk for intense feelings of sorrow and pain.
Perhaps because of their low self-esteem, dyslexics are afraid to turn
their anger toward their environment and instead turn it toward
themselves."

"However, depressed children and adolescents often have different
symptoms than do depressed
adults. The depressed child is unlikely to be lethargic or to talk
about feeling sad. Instead he or she may become more active or
misbehave to cover up the painful feelings. In the case of masked
depression, the child may not seem
obviously unhappy. However, both children and adults who are depressed
tend to have three similar characteristics:

▪ First, they tend to have negative thoughts about themselves, i.e. a
negative self-image.

▪ Second, they tend to view the world negatively. They are less likely
to enjoy the positive experiences in life. This makes it difficult for
them to have fun.

▪ Finally, most depressed youngsters have great trouble imagining
anything positive about the future. The depressed dyslexic not only
experiences great pain in his present experiences, but also foresees a
life of continuing failure."
http://www.interdys.org/FactSheets.htm
Social and Emotional Problems Related to Dyslexia

"Children with both dyslexia and ADD are at dramatically increased
risk for substance abuse and felony convictions if they do not receive
appropriate interventions."
http://www.dys-add.com/nowknow.html

Please share your experiences about learning disabled(not referring to
UK term which has to do with mental retardation)

note: in USA, the term,learning disabled referred to people of average
to above average intellgence who some problems processing that makes
learning some subjects difficult
in UK, the term,learning disabled refers to intellectually handicapped
or mental retardation
I don't want to confuse the British with my use of learning disability
and get corrected when I am actually talking about USA version of
learning disability

Raymond N. Andrews
posting as a learning disability advocate in regards to better
understanding of the learning disabled to avoid psychiatric
misdiagnoses and get to the bottom of mental health problems.