The epidemiology of depression has been studied across the world. Depression is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, as the epidemiology has shown. [1] Lifetime prevalence estimates vary widely, from 3% in Japan to 17% in India. Epidemiological data shows higher rates of depression in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and the United States than in other regions and countries. [2] For most countries among the 10 studied, the number of people who experience depression during their lifetimes falls within an 8–12% range. [3] [4]
In North America, the probability of having a major depressive episode within any year-long period is 3–5% for males and 8–10% for females. [5] [6]
Population studies have consistently shown major depression to be about twice as common in women as in men, although it is not yet clear why this is so. [7] The relative increase in occurrence is related to pubertal development rather than chronological age, reaches adult ratios between the ages of 15 and 18, and appears associated with psychosocial more than hormonal factors. [7]
People are most likely to suffer their first depressive episode between the ages of 30 and 40, and there is a second, smaller peak of incidence between ages 50 and 60. [8] The risk of major depression is increased with neurological conditions such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, or multiple sclerosis and during the first year after childbirth. [9] The risk of major depression has also been related to environmental stressors faced by population groups such as war combatants or physicians in training. [10] [11]
It is also more common after cardiovascular illnesses, and is related to a poor outcome of cardiovascular diseases. [12] [13] Studies conflict on the prevalence of depression in the elderly, but most data suggest there is a reduction in this age group. [14] Depressive disorders are most common in urban than in rural population and, in general, the prevalence is higher in groups with adverse socio-economic factors (for example in homeless people). [15]
Data on the relative prevalence of major depression among different ethnic groups have reached no clear consensus. However, the only known study to have covered dysthymia in the US specifically found it to be more common in African and Mexican Americans than in European Americans. [16]
Projections indicate that depression may be the second leading cause of life lost after heart disease by 2020. [17]
In 2016, a study, published by JAMA Psychiatry, and written by Charlotte Wessel Skovlund, found an association between hormonal contraception and depression. [18]
Age-standardised disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rates per 10,000 inhabitants in 2017. [19]
Category | 1990 | 2017 | Absolute change | Relative change |
---|---|---|---|---|
Afghanistan | 439.81 | 443.57 | +3.75 | <1% |
Albania | 306.48 | 308.44 | +1.96 | <1% |
Algeria | 454.02 | 455.36 | +1.34 | <1% |
American Samoa | 299.00 | 301.44 | +2.43 | <1% |
Andean Latin America | 395.14 | 395.61 | +0.47 | <1% |
Andorra | 462.69 | 466.65 | +3.96 | <1% |
Angola | 300.38 | 307.07 | +6.68 | +2% |
Antigua and Barbuda | 423.69 | 423.07 | –0.63 | >–1% |
Argentina | 554.67 | 555.27 | +0.60 | <1% |
Armenia | 235.57 | 235.64 | +0.07 | <1% |
Australasia | 588.29 | 588.66 | +0.36 | <1% |
Australia | 564.71 | 564.13 | –0.58 | >–1% |
Austria | 473.10 | 470.30 | –2.81 | >–1% |
Azerbaijan | 237.12 | 235.03 | –2.09 | >–1% |
Bahamas | 426.25 | 425.91 | –0.34 | >–1% |
Bahrain | 428.36 | 426.75 | –1.61 | >–1% |
Bangladesh | 390.09 | 399.43 | +9.34 | +2% |
Barbados | 427.13 | 425.42 | –1.71 | >–1% |
Belarus | 262.09 | 261.92 | –0.16 | >–1% |
Belgium | 454.81 | 453.91 | –0.90 | >–1% |
Belize | 417.94 | 421.10 | +3.16 | <1% |
Benin | 270.23 | 272.67 | +2.43 | <1% |
Bermuda | 425.79 | 426.62 | +0.83 | <1% |
Bhutan | 348.85 | 351.02 | +2.17 | <1% |
Bolivia | 393.70 | 393.43 | –0.27 | >–1% |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 308.44 | 307.51 | –0.92 | >–1% |
Botswana | 321.91 | 319.57 | –2.34 | >–1% |
Brazil | 513.45 | 554.75 | +41.30 | +8% |
Brunei | 315.25 | 318.63 | +3.37 | +1% |
Bulgaria | 325.36 | 325.40 | +0.04 | <1% |
Burkina Faso | 269.71 | 273.79 | +4.07 | +2% |
Burundi | 340.21 | 335.02 | –5.19 | –2% |
Cambodia | 306.36 | 306.09 | –0.26 | >–1% |
Cameroon | 269.81 | 271.78 | +1.97 | <1% |
Canada | 484.22 | 450.76 | –33.46 | –7% |
Cape Verde | 278.10 | 274.58 | –3.52 | –1% |
Caribbean | 422.38 | 421.72 | –0.66 | >–1% |
Central African Republic | 300.76 | 303.45 | +2.69 | <1% |
Central Asia | 235.74 | 234.85 | –0.89 | >–1% |
Central Europe | 307.09 | 306.99 | –0.09 | >–1% |
Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia | 271.76 | 268.25 | –3.51 | –1% |
Central Latin America | 264.02 | 270.29 | +6.27 | +2% |
Central Sub-Saharan Africa | 300.88 | 304.43 | +3.55 | +1% |
Chad | 270.61 | 269.81 | -0.80 | >–1% |
Chile | 553.66 | 550.58 | –3.08 | >–1% |
China | 289.57 | 275.39 | –14.18 | –5% |
Colombia | 244.81 | 230.00 | –14.81 | –6% |
Comoros | 334.19 | 339.17 | +4.98 | +1% |
Congo | 303.07 | 304.40 | +1.33 | <1% |
Costa Rica | 264.62 | 267.24 | +2.62 | <1% |
Côte d'Ivoire | 266.99 | 269.37 | +2.38 | <1% |
Croatia | 310.58 | 309.13 | –1.45 | >–1% |
Cuba | 421.37 | 421.70 | +0.33 | <1% |
Cyprus | 470.31 | 472.29 | +1.98 | <1% |
Czechia | 309.12 | 307.16 | –1.96 | >–1% |
Democratic Republic of Congo | 300.71 | 303.61 | +2.90 | <1% |
Denmark | 470.42 | 469.49 | –0.93 | >–1% |
Djibouti | 327.85 | 330.88 | +3.03 | <1% |
Dominica | 422.36 | 418.16 | –4.20 | >–1% |
Dominican Republic | 424.23 | 420.58 | –3.65 | >–1% |
East Asia | 290.12 | 276.32 | –13.80 | –5% |
Eastern Europe | 262.88 | 262.56 | –0.32 | >–1% |
Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa | 336.34 | 340.89 | +4.55 | +1% |
Ecuador | 395.69 | 396.44 | +0.75 | <1% |
Egypt | 398.29 | 398.86 | +0.57 | <1% |
El Salvador | 266.25 | 270.06 | +3.81 | +1% |
England | 395.05 | 395.14 | +0.09 | <1% |
Equatorial Guinea | 304.76 | 303.81 | -0.94 | >–1% |
Eritrea | 331.15 | 339.69 | +8.54 | +3% |
Estonia | 261.91 | 261.21 | -0.70 | >–1% |
Eswatini | 322.64 | 318.73 | –3.90 | –1% |
Ethiopia | 347.39 | 349.31 | +1.92 | <1% |
Fiji | 299.92 | 300.46 | +0.54 | <1% |
Finland | 333.44 | 329.68 | –3.76 | –1% |
France | 576.00 | 576.03 | +0.03 | <1% |
Gabon | 303.27 | 306.57 | +3.31 | +1% |
Gambia | 268.55 | 271.49 | +2.94 | +1% |
Georgia | 238.24 | 235.38 | –2.87 | –1% |
Germany | 564.54 | 565.03 | +0.48 | <1% |
Ghana | 272.17 | 274.68 | +2.51 | <1% |
Greece | 512.06 | 511.19 | –0.87 | >–1% |
Greenland | 492.10 | 500.98 | +8.89 | +2% |
Grenada | 423.74 | 417.51 | –6.23 | –1% |
Guam | 299.44 | 301.30 | +1.86 | <1% |
Guatemala | 263.12 | 267.56 | +4.45 | +2% |
Guinea | 271.79 | 273.08 | +1.29 | <1% |
Guinea-Bissau | 271.17 | 272.76 | +1.59 | <1% |
Guyana | 418.26 | 420.11 | +1.84 | <1% |
Haiti | 417.74 | 420.25 | +2.50 | <1% |
High SDI | 462.62 | 463.66 | +1.04 | <1% |
High-income | 489.63 | 494.52 | +4.89 | <1% |
High-income Asia Pacific | 318.28 | 318.18 | –0.10 | >–1% |
High-middle SDI | 329.26 | 342.11 | +12.86 | +4% |
Honduras | 264.60 | 266.37 | +1.77 | <1% |
Hungary | 308.84 | 309.31 | +0.47 | <1% |
Iceland | 469.33 | 469.26 | –0.06 | >–1% |
India | 309.28 | 306.76 | –2.53 | >–1% |
Indonesia | 304.31 | 304.18 | –0.12 | >–1% |
Iran | 689.12 | 692.26 | –6.25 | >–1% |
Iraq | 427.22 | 430.09 | +2.87 | <1% |
Ireland | 506.29 | 511.29 | +5.00 | <1% |
Israel | 274.39 | 274.00 | –0.40 | >–1% |
Italy | 512.79 | 499.21 | –13.58 | –3% |
Jamaica | 424.62 | 422.32 | –2.30 | >–1% |
Japan | 257.27 | 224.62 | –12.69 | >–1% |
Jordan | 447.61 | 445.91 | –1.70 | >–1% |
Kazakhstan | 235.88 | 236.01 | +0.13 | <1% |
Kenya | 337.41 | 339.52 | +2.10 | <1% |
Kiribati | 302.20 | 303.25 | +1.04 | <1% |
Kuwait | 430.22 | 444.44 | +14.22 | +3% |
Kyrgyzstan | 235.31 | 235.09 | –0.22 | >–1% |
Laos | 388.45 | 390.62 | +2.17 | <1% |
Latin America and Caribbean | 393.06 | 405.65 | +12.59 | +3% |
Latvia | 261.95 | 261.48 | –0.46 | >–1% |
Lebanon | 545.72 | 547.07 | +1.35 | <1% |
Lesotho | 320.94 | 318.40 | –2.54 | >–1% |
Liberia | 266.73 | 267.44 | +0.71 | <1% |
Libya | 443.86 | 449.94 | +6.08 | +1% |
Lithuania | 261.63 | 261.43 | –0.19 | >–1% |
Low SDI | 326.04 | 329.76 | +3.72 | +1% |
Low-middle SDI | 332.91 | 337.68 | +4.77 | +1% |
Luxembourg | 468.43 | 467.04 | –1.39 | >–1% |
Madagascar | 332.44 | 336.98 | +4.53 | +1% |
Malawi | 335.11 | 341.69 | +6.58 | +2% |
Malaysia | 392.10 | 389.83 | –2.26 | >–1% |
Maldives | 295.24 | 291.29 | –3.96 | –1% |
Mali | 268.90 | 270.70 | +1.80 | <1% |
Malta | 472.67 | 468.46 | –4.21 | >–1% |
Marshall Islands | 299.32 | 299.31 | –0.02 | >–1% |
Mauritania | 272.46 | 273.97 | +1.51 | <1% |
Mauritius | 303.11 | 302.78 | –0.33 | >–1% |
Mexico | 271.36 | 289.05 | +17.69 | +7% |
Micronesia (country) | 299.20 | 299.84 | +0.64 | <1% |
Middle SDI | 306.44 | 306.98 | +0.54 | <1% |
Moldova | 260.72 | 261.03 | +0.31 | <1% |
Mongolia | 233.62 | 234.85 | +1.23 | <1% |
Montenegro | 309.18 | 308.71 | –0.47 | >–1% |
Morocco | 452.71 | 453.82 | +1.11 | <1% |
Mozambique | 336.20 | 341.61 | +5.41 | +2% |
Myanmar | 300.93 | 307.06 | +6.13 | +2% |
Namibia | 320.84 | 322.18 | +1.34 | <1% |
Nepal | 348.75 | 359.13 | +10.38 | +3% |
Netherlands | 579.45 | 578.84 | –0.62 | >–1% |
New Zealand | 705.21 | 722.98 | +17.77 | +3% |
Nicaragua | 264.58 | 265.73 | +1.15 | <1% |
Niger | 271.34 | 272.82 | +1.47 | <1% |
Nigeria | 268.96 | 272.57 | +3.61 | +1% |
North Africa and Middle East | 448.40 | 450.80 | +2.39 | <1% |
North America | 561.85 | 561.25 | –0.60 | >–1% |
North Korea | 304.06 | 297.84 | –6.22 | –2% |
North Macedonia | 308.26 | 307.40 | –0.86 | >–1% |
Northern Ireland | 651.12 | 660.19 | +9.07 | +1% |
Northern Mariana Islands | 296.39 | 300.91 | +4.52 | +2% |
Norway | 673.49 | 665.89 | –7.59 | –1% |
Oceania | 296.33 | 297.51 | +1.18 | <1% |
Oman | 421.68 | 413.70 | –7.97 | –2% |
Pakistan | 349.19 | 353.29 | +4.10 | +1% |
Palestine | 455.01 | 451.42 | –3.59 | >–1% |
Panama | 263.33 | 264.25 | +0.92 | <1% |
Papua New Guinea | 294.77 | 296.24 | +1.48 | <1% |
Paraguay | 553.15 | 552.96 | –0.19 | >–1% |
Peru | 395.29 | 395.88 | +0.59 | <1% |
Philippines | 302.25 | 302.49 | +0.24 | <1% |
Poland | 309.40 | 309.37 | –0.04 | >–1% |
Portugal | 472.59 | 473.61 | +1.01 | <1% |
Puerto Rico | 427.30 | 425.85 | –1.45 | >–1% |
Qatar | 403.81 | 391.06 | –12.75 | –3% |
Romania | 292.12 | 292.61 | +0.49 | <1% |
Russia | 262.99 | 262.58 | –0.42 | >–1% |
Rwanda | 338.57 | 343.75 | +5.18 | +2% |
Saint Lucia | 424.55 | 421.42 | –3.13 | >–1% |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 421.10 | 417.18 | –3.92 | >–1% |
Samoa | 299.55 | 300.51 | +0.96 | <1% |
São Tomé and Príncipe | 273.98 | 273.61 | –0.37 | >–1% |
Saudi Arabia | 430.80 | 435.29 | +4.49 | +1% |
Scotland | 421.09 | 419.01 | –2.08 | >–1% |
Senegal | 271.34 | 271.99 | +0.66 | <1% |
Serbia | 308.40 | 307.93 | –0.47 | >–1% |
Seychelles | 305.21 | 300.90 | –4.30 | –1% |
Sierra Leone | 271.01 | 270.96 | –0.05 | >–1% |
Singapore | 319.22 | 326.20 | +6.98 | +2% |
Slovakia | 309.64 | 309.22 | –0.42 | >–1% |
Slovenia | 309.55 | 306.52 | –3.03 | >-1% |
Solomon Islands | 296.00 | 298.91 | +2.91 | <1% |
Somalia | 327.47 | 333.31 | +5.84 | +2% |
South Africa | 367.94 | 365.43 | –2.51 | >–1% |
South Asia | 320.86 | 320.95 | +0.09 | <1% |
South Korea | 338.46 | 335.96 | –2.50 | >–1% |
South Sudan | 317.40 | 329.08 | +11.67 | +4% |
Southeast Asia | 291.86 | 292.91 | +1.05 | <1% |
Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania | 289.93 | 280.40 | –9.53 | –3% |
Southern Latin America | 554.25 | 554.08 | –0.18 | >–1% |
Southern Sub-Saharan Africa | 349.41 | 348.08 | –1.33 | >–1% |
Spain | 444.92 | 463.69 | +18.77 | +4% |
Sri Lanka | 301.85 | 307.85 | +6.00 | +2% |
Sub-Saharan Africa | 307.47 | 308.98 | +1.51 | <1% |
Sudan | 452.15 | 452.80 | +0.65 | <1% |
Suriname | 419.61 | 421.18 | +1.57 | <1% |
Sweden | 469.30 | 467.41 | –1.89 | >–1% |
Switzerland | 468.85 | 468.55 | –0.30 | >–1% |
Syria | 452.10 | 453.39 | +1.29 | <1% |
Taiwan | 307.25 | 306.89 | –0.36 | >–1% |
Tajikistan | 234.35 | 232.74 | –1.62 | >–1% |
Tanzania | 335.95 | 341.24 | +5.30 | +2% |
Thailand | 305.63 | 306.91 | +1.28 | <1% |
Timor | 295.90 | 300.52 | +4.63 | +2% |
Togo | 272.10 | 274.16 | +2.05 | <1% |
Tonga | 302.76 | 302.51 | –0.25 | >–1% |
Trinidad and Tobago | 419.97 | 419.20 | –0.77 | >–1% |
Tropical Latin America | 514.41 | 554.73 | +40.32 | +8% |
Tunisia | 455.67 | 459.67 | +4.00 | <1% |
Turkey | 342.96 | 352.71 | +9.74 | +3% |
Turkmenistan | 236.15 | 233.30 | –2.85 | –1% |
Uganda | 317.76 | 330.35 | +12.59 | +4% |
Ukraine | 263.10 | 262.92 | –0.18 | >–1% |
United Arab Emirates | 390.77 | 386.30 | –4.46 | –1% |
United Kingdom | 406.06 | 406.09 | +0.03 | <1% |
United States | 570.31 | 573.38 | +3.06 | <1% |
United States Virgin Islands | 428.12 | 428.10 | –0.02 | >–1% |
Uruguay | 555.13 | 557.10 | +1.96 | <1% |
Uzbekistan | 234.56 | 234.50 | –0.05 | >–1% |
Vanuatu | 295.97 | 298.94 | +2.97 | +1% |
Venezuela | 265.18 | 264.86 | –0.32 | >–1% |
Vietnam | 192.79 | 192.17 | –0.62 | >–1% |
Wales | 423.11 | 421.79 | –1.32 | >–1% |
Western Europe | 502.89 | 499.26 | –3.63 | >–1% |
Western Sub-Saharan Africa | 269.65 | 272.36 | +2.70 | +1% |
World | 348.53 | 345.69 | –2.84 | >–1% |
Yemen | 442.49 | 446.34 | +3.85 | <1% |
Zambia | 334.01 | 337.31 | +3.30 | <1% |
Zimbabwe | 286.38 | 286.72 | +0.34 | <1% |
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with psychosis, it is called mania; if it is less severe, it is called hypomania. During mania, an individual behaves or feels abnormally energetic, happy or irritable, and they often make impulsive decisions with little regard for the consequences. There is usually also a reduced need for sleep during manic phases. During periods of depression, the individual may experience crying and have a negative outlook on life and poor eye contact with others. The risk of suicide is high; over a period of 20 years, 6% of those with bipolar disorder died by suicide, while 30–40% engaged in self-harm. Other mental health issues, such as anxiety disorders and substance use disorders, are commonly associated with bipolar disorder.
Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introduced by a group of US clinicians in the mid-1970s, the term was adopted by the American Psychiatric Association for this symptom cluster under mood disorders in the 1980 version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), and has become widely used since.
A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where a disturbance in the person's mood is the main underlying feature. The classification is in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
Depression is a mental state of low mood and aversion to activity. It affects more than 280 million people of all ages. Depression affects a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being. Depressed people often experience loss of motivation or interest in, or reduced pleasure or joy from, experiences that would normally bring them pleasure or joy. Depressed mood is a symptom of some mood disorders such as major depressive disorder and dysthymia; it is a normal temporary reaction to life events, such as the loss of a loved one; and it is also a symptom of some physical diseases and a side effect of some drugs and medical treatments. It may feature sadness, difficulty in thinking and concentration and a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping. People experiencing depression may have feelings of dejection or hopelessness and may experience suicidal thoughts. It can either be short term or long term.
Atypical depression is defined in the DSM IV as depression that shares many of the typical symptoms of major depressive disorder or dysthymia but is characterized by improved mood in response to positive events. In contrast to those with atypical depression, people with melancholic depression generally do not experience an improved mood in response to normally pleasurable events. Atypical depression also often features significant weight gain or an increased appetite, hypersomnia, a heavy sensation in the limbs, and interpersonal rejection sensitivity that results in significant social or occupational impairment.
The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), also called the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), sometimes also abbreviated as HAM-D, is a multiple-item questionnaire used to provide an indication of depression, and as a guide to evaluate recovery. Max Hamilton originally published the scale in 1960 and revised it in 1966, 1967, 1969, and 1980. The questionnaire is designed for adults and is used to rate the severity of their depression by probing mood, feelings of guilt, suicide ideation, insomnia, agitation or retardation, anxiety, weight loss, and somatic symptoms.
Psychiatric epidemiology is a field which studies the causes (etiology) of mental disorders in society, as well as conceptualization and prevalence of mental illness. It is a subfield of the more general epidemiology. It has roots in sociological studies of the early 20th century. However, while sociological exposures are still widely studied in psychiatric epidemiology, the field has since expanded to the study of a wide area of environmental risk factors, such as major life events, as well as genetic exposures. Increasingly neuroscientific techniques like MRI are used to explore the mechanisms behind how exposures to risk factors may impact psychological problems and explore the neuroanatomical substrate underlying psychiatric disorders.
Subcortical ischemic depression, also known as vascular depression, is a medical condition most commonly seen in older people with major depressive disorder. Subcortical ischemic depression refers to vascular depression specifically due to lesions and restricted blood flow, known as ischemia, in certain parts of the brain. However, the disorder is typically described as vascular depression in the literature.
Evolutionary approaches to depression are attempts by evolutionary psychologists to use the theory of evolution to shed light on the problem of mood disorders within the perspective of evolutionary psychiatry. Depression is generally thought of as dysfunction or a mental disorder, but its prevalence does not increase with age the way dementia and other organic dysfunction commonly does. Some researchers have surmised that the disorder may have evolutionary roots, in the same way that others suggest evolutionary contributions to schizophrenia, sickle cell anemia, psychopathy and other disorders. Psychology and psychiatry have not generally embraced evolutionary explanations for behaviors, and the proposed explanations for the evolution of depression remain controversial.
In statistics, the Newcastle–Ottawa scale is a tool used for assessing the quality of non-randomized studies included in a systematic review and/or meta-analyses. Using the tool, each study is judged on eight items, categorized into three groups: the selection of the study groups; the comparability of the groups; and the ascertainment of either the exposure or outcome of interest for case-control or cohort studies respectively. Stars awarded for each quality item serve as a quick visual assessment. Stars are awarded such that the highest quality studies are awarded up to nine stars. The method was developed as a collaboration between the University of Newcastle, Australia, and the University of Ottawa, Canada, using a Delphi process to define variables for data extraction. The scale was then tested on systematic reviews and further refined. Separate tools were developed for cohort and case–control studies. It has also been adapted for prevalence studies.
Jeffrey H. Meyer is a scientist and professor working with mood and anxiety disorders using neuroimaging at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. He is currently the head of the Neurochemical Imaging Program in Mood and Anxiety Disorders in the Brain Health Imaging Centre at the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute and is working as a Senior Scientist in the General and Health Systems Psychiatry Division at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He has also been awarded with the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in the Neurochemistry of Major Depression.
The prevalence of mental disorders has been studied around the world, providing estimates on how common mental disorders are. Different criteria or thresholds of severity have sometimes been used.
A depression rating scale is a psychometric instrument (tool), usually a questionnaire whose wording has been validated with experimental evidence, having descriptive words and phrases that indicate the severity of depression for a time period. When used, an observer may make judgements and rate a person at a specified scale level with respect to identified characteristics. Rather than being used to diagnose depression, a depression rating scale may be used to assign a score to a person's behaviour where that score may be used to determine whether that person should be evaluated more thoroughly for a depressive disorder diagnosis. Several rating scales are used for this purpose.
Major depressive disorder, often simply referred to as depression, is a mental disorder characterized by prolonged unhappiness or irritability. It is accompanied by a constellation of somatic and cognitive signs and symptoms such as fatigue, apathy, sleep problems, loss of appetite, loss of engagement, low self-regard/worthlessness, difficulty concentrating or indecisiveness, or recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.
Depression, one of the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorders, is being diagnosed in increasing numbers in various segments of the population worldwide. Depression in the United States alone affects 17.6 million Americans each year or 1 in 6 people. Depressed patients are at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and suicide. Within the next twenty years depression is expected to become the second leading cause of disability worldwide and the leading cause in high-income nations, including the United States. In approximately 75% of suicides, the individuals had seen a physician within the prior year before their death, 45–66% within the prior month. About a third of those who died by suicide had contact with mental health services in the prior year, a fifth within the preceding month.
The World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) is a structured interview for psychiatric disorders. As the interview is designed for epidemiological studies, it can be administered by those who are not clinically trained and can be completed in a short amount of time. Versions of the CIDI were used in two important studies, the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) and National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) which are often used as a reference for estimates of the rates of psychiatric illness in the USA. The first version of the CIDI was published in 1988, and has been periodically updated to reflect the changing diagnostic criteria of DSM and ICD.
Glyn Lewis is a British professor of psychiatric epidemiology and the current head of the Division of Psychiatry at University College London
Sex differences in schizophrenia are widely reported. Men and women exhibit different rates of incidence and prevalence, age at onset, symptom expression, course of illness, and response to treatment. Reviews of the literature suggest that understanding the implications of sex differences on schizophrenia may help inform individualized treatment and positively affect outcomes.
Patricia A. Berglund is a researcher at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. She was included in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Clarivate Analytics lists of "highly cited researchers" in the fields of psychiatry and psychology.
Myrna Milgram Weissman is Diane Goldman Kemper Family Professor of Epidemiology in Psychiatry at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and Chief of the Division of Translational Epidemiology at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She is an epidemiologist known for her research on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and psychiatric epidemiology, as it pertains to rates and risks of anxiety and mood disorders across generations. Among her many influential works are longitudinal studies of the impact of parental depression on their children.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)