Do We Have an Epidemic of Depression?

It seems that many people today are depressed. Friends talk about feeling “blue” or are on medications for depression. Commercials abound with medications to treat depression.

We have all seen them: advertisements for Celexa, Zoloft, and many others. However, if we think about our parents and grandparents of the post-WWII years…

Do we really remember that they talked about being depressed? Probably not in most cases.

What is it that is making so many people depressed?

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the depression epidemic, reporting that by the year 2020, at least 30% of adults will suffer from major depression at some time in their lives.

More frightening is the fact that WHO believes depression will be the second leading cause of death. It is thought that insecurity in relationships and work are major causes of depression. (Source BBC News (1999).

It is clear by reading reports that we do, in fact, have a depression epidemic, but many times depression is missed by many doctors, and, as a result, depressed people do not receive the appropriate treatment. However, it is important that physicians begin recognizing that some of the symptoms they are treating are, in fact, due to depression.

Things like aches and pains, headaches, and other non-descript ailments may be caused by depression.

The fact that WHO recognizes that some of the major causes of depression include insecurity in relationships and jobs seem to point the way to prevent depression by understanding how it comes about. However, it is not all that clear-cut.

Many types of depression are known to come from a chemical imbalance in the brain. Some people have this unbalance and some don’t. Those that have this imbalance might go along fine for years, but then some life trigger – loss of a job, loss of a relationship – or other significant negative event, will trigger the depression.

The issue then is complicated on how to prevent depression. Some holistic approaches to prevention and treatment of depression discuss the importance of nutrition and vitamins to ensure a healthy body and a healthy brain.

Other reports focus on today’s lifestyle – the incessant drive to work long hours to make more money, at the expense of family time, and the breakdown of key relationships in the family – as causes of depression. The prevention and cure in these situations would be stable family relationships and a more settled lifestyle.

Obviously, depression, like many other illnesses, can come about in different ways and has different sources. The important thing is to recognize it when it occurs in a person, treat it appropriately, and hopefully prevent those at high risk from becoming depressed.

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Photo By bard of the lake- flickr.com